Seven Signs You May Be Ready for a Social Media Detox.
March 3, 2009 by guruofnew
Filed under Featured Home
I gave up Facebook for Lent. For forty days and nights, I will not be updating my status, becoming a fan, poking anyone or commenting on 25 Random Things. I will not be turning to page 56 and finding a sentence, sending good Karma or sipping along with my A Glass of Wine Solves Everything group.
My decision has absolutely nothing to do with any religious fervor, other than being fervently grateful to the Episcopalian calendar which served up a handy excuse to log off. Said calendar also delivered a mighty reason to take a look at Social Media’s impact on my life.
What I saw was not pretty.
And yet my addiction is on the mild side, more like a low-grade fever than a full-on infectious case of Facebook-itis. I may have sampled the Social Media Koolaid, but I’m not chugging the stuff like many of the ‘tweeple’ I know. I’m enamored but not enslaved. In fact, I’ve only made my way through a smattering of Chris Brogan’s 100 Personal Branding Secrets.
Still, as a market researcher and passionate digital anthropologist, I knew it was time for a dig. Like Yahoo’s Internet Deprivation Study of yore, I wanted to understand the grisly details of deprivation. I wanted to know what I would miss about Facebook; what I actually value; what I would be overjoyed to leave behind.
By the time I posted my last status update shortly after Ash Wednesday (which I pretty much only knew about because of Joe Biden’s forehead), I realized I was more than ready to not only give up Facebook for a time but also consider a complete Social Media Detox.
Ask yourself: Do you need to do a Social Media Detox? Here are seven signs you might be ready:
Are you an Early Adopter?
Ho-hum. Are you sort of over it? Those of us who are perpetually on the bleeding edge of new, sometimes either want to ditch it when the vox populi show up in droves or simply because it’s no longer the pretty shiny new thing. We thrive on beta. We thrive on sneaking behind the velvet rope. When they let everybody in . . . On the other hand, there are enough cool new tools popping up virtually every second, especially for Twitter, (Twiddeo) and a parade of nichey new social networks to keep boredom at bay.
Does buzz equal biz?
Despite the constant chatter from all directions about ‘putting yourself out there’ via networking, much of this buzz is total BS. Even if you aggressively transform yourself into a social media rockstar via the notorious TweeterGetter, your newfound fame may not automatically translate into mucho dinero. Those shameless self-promoters swarming over every social network may generate noise but that doesn’t mean they’re doing much real, sustainable business. The dirty secret of social networks? Too many sellers, too few buyers. Consider: What’s the benefit of social media to your bottom line? Show me the money, folks.
This doesn’t mean social media tools aren’t valuable –I’ve met terrific people, gotten great projects and leads, mined countless consumer insights, and overall, found the tools to be worthwhile if sometimes overwhelming. But to be blunt, I have solid skills and talents to back up my putting myself out there. I am not using them to shill for an empty suit.
Who owns your stuff?
Facebook’s recent Terms of Service switcheroo shocked many into re-thinking how they want to use the social network. Although they’ve since reversed themselves and formed a consumer advisory group, the brouhaha was tantamount to social media shock therapy. The pivotal question: who owns my content? Do I want Facebook to ‘own’ it even after I’ve deleted my account? And for businesses who routinely recommend Facebook as part of a social media strategic plan, what are the guidelines for who owns and retains an advertising or promotional campaign that’s appeared Facebook?
Are you blurring your business and personal life?
You may have jumped on to Facebook early on and populated your profile with real-life friends. Then along comes the barrage of networkers, business colleagues and in betweens. Now you’ve got a quixotic stew of business and personal. Sometimes it works just fine. It can be a joy to get to know colleagues and clients in a more human way. Last fall’s political campaigns pointed up a growing issue: For example, do you want your clients to know your thoughts on Prop 8? (I do!) And then there’s its discretional corollary: Do you want your Great Aunt Hazel or favorite high school teacher to see your tipsy party pix?
Is social media a time and energy suck for you?
How do you find time to blog, tweet, update Linkedin, Facebook and MySpace, post your pix on Flickr, your articles on Mixx, Digg, Biznik and Kirtsy, your favorites on Delicio.us, your sites on Stumbleupon, your art on etsy, comment on relevant blogs and networking email lists, search for juicy links to share — and oh by the way, also do your real work? Sure, some Tweeters are using a variety of time-saving organizational tools (Tweetdeck, Friend Feed) to manage their activities. Even so, putting your best business face forward across multiple social media platforms is a challenge. (Quite a few rely on Virtual Admins like the awesome @jkvirtualoffice).
I don’t know about you, folks, but I need time, quiet and focus to serve my clients well and feel good about what I do.
True Value
In the immortal words of Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks: How can I miss you if you won’t go away?
Perfectly said, Dan. I’ll soon know what it is, if anything, that I miss about Facebook.
Do you have a personal social media strategy? Should you get one?
Last night, social media pioneer Chris Brogan mentioned on Twitter that he had already deleted 350 of his Facebook friends. I don’t know his reasons but I do know more and more people are re-defining how they want to use social media. They’re pondering social networking’s role in their lives and rejiggering the balance of business and personal. My neighbor here on the Monterey Peninsula, @fuzznfeathers, recently took a short break from Twitter and enjoyed the extra offline time. Jumping off-the-grid results in more time and energy available for face to face connection. According to research I’ve recently conducted, the blend of online + offline touchpoints turns out to be one powerful combo for increasing engagement.
What have I learned already?
I already know, mere days after exiting Facebook, that I don’t miss the Frammers who weaseled their way into my list of Friends. I do miss seeing the new pictures of my baby cousins and the parade of polls, surveys and beer-apps from my dear sorority sister, Kimberly. I do miss the pithy and often intriguing posts from Laurie Peterson, Eric Weaver and Katherine Ruppe.
But most of all, I miss my daughter’s ever-changing profile pictures, usually taken in the dorm around 2 a.m. while she’s avoiding writing a term paper.
Easter’s so close I can almost smell the egg-salad sandwiches.
{ Tags: article, social media, social network } [...]
I am always feeling a brand schizophrenia when it comes to facebook. I have portraits and bridal clients, I have family and friends. While I am long past the tipsy party pictures I occasionally wonder how much is TMI. I hear you about Prop 8. With this issue I was very vocal and have to say unfriended some over the issue. Even now I have been posting my No on 8 rally pictures. I don’t think it is possible to completely divorce yourself or your ideals from business. Thank you for such a great article to help navigate the social media world.
I could not agree more.
My days have been filled up, with substitute teaching, for 7 weeks. At first I went into a Facebook-withdrawal. Convulsing when I got home as my hubby wanted time with me (didn’t he know I NEEDED to see who was on FB?) But now, as my substitute teaching stint comes to an end, I am grateful for the time away. And quite frankly, don’t know if I’ll come back in the same capacity.
Bravo!
The best thing that happened to me was my work firewalling Facebook. A forced detox of sorts… now it is an occassional glance on weekends, if at all.
Much healthier I must say.
Haha..This is great. I think it’s really just all a matter of keeping things in perspective. Some people just get out of control. I agree with the blurring of business and personal life as well. I try to keep my personal contacts on friendly social sites, like FB, and my professional contacts on work-related social sites like LinkedIn, etc.
Good article. Let’s all get a Social Media Detox!
Say no to Spam.
I guess I agree, but then…being “addicted to social media,” sounds like an excuse for one’s procrastination, which would likely manifest itself in another form like…TV maybe?
Another thought – Brogan is a businessperson. I just don’t think of him shedding friends as a “personal” branding strategy. Last, and on a similar note, those using social media for business w/o a strategy = marketing in any fashion w/o a strategy…a likely waste of resources.
Nonetheless, I like your post and plan to share it! Probably on Facebook.
Facebook isn’t my site of choice, but I do have others. The blurring of work and life is getting a little weird now, because I got my job through social media, but the job involves sexuality products and I’m not sure I want my grandmother knowing I sell vibrators, so I’m having to redefine lots of boundaries. It’s an interesting process.
I am definitely hooked on facebook. I discovered it earlier this year after not being to thrilled with my space. Don’t get me wrong , my space is pretty neat, But I felt like I was too old for it. Then along comes Facebook. I will freely admit I love this site! I am now going on three yrs being transplanted into new state 800 miles from where I lived 30 ish years of my life. I find so many of my friends on the site from back home and I keep in touch. It definitely helps with feelings of homesickness. I love browsing everyone pictures and I do enjoy the random chats. I will have to say when I first started with it I was all over it. That has calmed down a bit . I wouldn’t say I am addicted. Every one just needs to use self control . When the little voice on the shoulder says get up and get moving, just do it. Facebook will always be there, as well as any other sites someone is on. .
Well, happy to know I’m not the only social media addict out there
here’s my video of my “2 day Twitter Cleanse” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUjPoL0VYPo&feature=channel_page
thanks for encouraging me to give it up again soon…;)
I could not agree with you more. I think everyone should take an inventory like this and really consider what area of their life (or who) is suffering because of their addiction to social media. I’m a stay at home mom and I decided a few months ago to do my own detox. I want to be tuned into my kids and enjoy the time I have with them rather than spending my days being distracted by stuff (and people) that aren’t nearly as important. I haven’t gone back, by the way. I’m doing just fine.
While I love social media (twitter and facebook are my sites of choice) I would not say I’m addicted.
Being a horse-person I spend as much time as possible particularly on the weekends out at the barn with my horses or go off camping somewhere at an endurnace ride with them…and part of why I enjoy those weekends so much is they are “low tech” by choice.
Sure…I have a blackberry and do have “Tiny Twitter” on there and toss in the occasional update when out “horsing around” but the BB is mainly there for communication back home and to check weather conditions that here in Texas change in a nano-second!
I love nothing more than escaping the 9-5 grind and high tech urban world to go low tech with nothing more than good food, good friends, good wine and a good horse….and of course a good book or two…but totally “unplugged”.
I decided to deactivate my facebook acct this am. I felt like I was spending too much time on it and frankly thought enough is enohg! I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it for the past4 mos though.
I do find it ironic however that you can share this article via Facebook!!!
I find it ironic that you can share this article via Facebook!!!!
It’s not the social networking I’m addicted to. It’s the games. Facebook has many games in it which easily can get people hooked. I am addicted to 2 games, farmville and farm town. These games requires one to plow, plant, harvest and replow and the process goes on and on. As you increase in level, you get to decorate your farm with buildings and such. This is the addiction whereby one will tend to live in this cyber world.
I originally did not open a Facebook account because I felt as if people who were on these social networks were socially autistic types. I recently had a bad break up with a man I had lived with off and on for 12 years. He was a sociopath and con man but of course, I fell for it, hook, line and sinker. I knew he was on Facebook and after 2 years of leaving him I decided to open a Facebook account just to look at his pictures and see what he was doing. Well, unfortunately for me I found out he had been serious with a woman for the has 3 months and professing his love for her to everyone on Facebook. Even going so far to say he had found “the one”. Now mind you, in looking at the dates of his posts he was still calling me occasionally to “come over”. I changed my cell phone number and closed my email accounts last night. I realize that it was me who kept hanging on and it was me who needed to stop this madness. Just like a junkie throwing out his syringes, I needed to get rid of the tools that tied me to this man. I plan to delete the Facebook account tonight and never look at it again. It’s funny, if I never did that, maybe I would still be “going over” to see this creep. I guess even social networks have a purpose for me. Thank you for a great article.
If you agree with these 10 Signs You’re Addicted to Social Media…You’re an Addict http://kdf-comp.blogspot.com/2010/02/10-signs-youre-social-media-addict.html
I am definitely addicted to Facebook and other social networking websites. I need to take a break!