Keeping Up With Social Media

How many hours do you have in a day to work? How much of that time can you (or a staff person, if you're lucky) devote to updating your organization's Twitter posts ("tweets"), Facebook Causes items, MySpace page, blog posts, and other social media? OK, how much time can you devote without doing at midnight while in your pajamas or sitting in front of the television on Sunday night? How can you keep up with all social media?

Well, it's easier than you think. Just recently, I had to handle our tweets and do some updates here and there (including today's blog post, which was supposed to be done yesterday). Well, Avi Kaplan here at onLine advises 30 minutes a day to update your social networks. So, try it. Take 30 minutes every other day to see what you can do. Make a few updates, post a tweet or two every couple of hours. Take 20 minutes to write a a great blog post. Just remember to be fun, be social, and get people listening and engaging with your organization.

Here are some interesting topics about social media anxiety/resources to explore... when you have the time:

• Beth's Blog: Information Coping Skills
• Seven Deadly Sins of Social Networking
• Idealist: Add Facebook Friends for a Cause...Or a Living
• DIOSA: Get a volunteer

Comments

[Beth Kanter]

Thanks for the ping. One thing I do when I'm working on social networking sites is to time box - that is set the timer for a specific amount of time (15-30 minutes) with a set of specific tasks. For social networking you have friending, outreaching, profile updates. When the bell goes off, that's it!
That's one of the eight secrets of effective social networking - the title of an article I wrote awhile back on Techsoup
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/page8075.cfm

I tried to quantify time on social networks or rather social media tied to organizational strategy
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/10/how-much-time-d.html

Time management is about stress management, setting goals and priorities, and changing our attitudes, habits, and behavior -- and if you want to track ROI and effectiveness of your social media strategy - it helps to have good social productivity skills.