Managing your Social Networks: From Filtering to Digital Deletion
Social networks are simultaneously one of the greatest tools and greatest dangers for anyone who wants to be productive. While it’s fantastic to stay connected with friends, coworkers, family, and even potential clients, it’s also easy to get lost within the sea of information (and/or games). A lot of managing your social networks appropriately comes down to deciding how much you want to hear from people and creating a framework that allows you to monitor communications. Here are a few awesome tips to help you do just that.
Tip 1: Filter Your Notifications
A lot happens on each social network. This can range from someone sending you an important business-related message to asking for your help in raising a purple Farmville cow. While you’ll absolutely want to hear about some of these items, some notices are just a waste of time or unworthy temptations trying to bring you back to the site. Many of the major social networks allow you to customize your notification preferences. If they don’t, you can use the power of your email hosting to customize it anyway. Using simple filters will allow you to avoid any useless bits of information.
Tip 2: Be Invisible
Your friends may not say that you’re wasting time on social networks when you should be working, but statistics are saying it. If you have to visit your social network–and let’s be honest: there are a few legitimate business needs you can do on a network–stay “invisible.” Logging out of chat features, not making new comments that might start discussions, and otherwise lowering your profile can help you avoid the more devastating time wasters.
Tip 3: Backup Information
Whether you want to admit it or not, you have put a lot of time and effort into making your tweets, finding your followers, connecting with old high school buddies, and building the size of your mob. If you were to lose all that information, it could be a notable loss. This is especially true for those who use social media as a business resource. Luckily, there are several types of software that will allow you to backup your account. This includes the information you put into it, your friends, information from their profiles, and more. Similarly, you can archive your profile information into easy-to-read offline records or web databases. This way you can easily use the stored information for other projects.
Tip 4: Filter What You See
Sometimes you connect with people who are very different from you, and that’s good. However, if half of their posts lead to you wasting hours of your day either arguing or fuming, you may want to hide them. You may want to hide game notifications, too. Other little distractions are also best swept under a rug. You can do this through filters on the site or by deleting a person’s digital presence on your page.
There’s no reason not to use social media for maximum impact, both in your personal and professional life. However, this tool is a double-edged sword. For the best results, limit notifications, stick to the shadows, backup your resources, and filter data.
