The Barter Project

Purging: Social Networks

Cleaning physical clutter is the easiest part of simplifying. The hardest parts are the things that don’t really clutter your desk or dining room table, but your head and your time. 

These days, every web service and site is incorporating social networking, making it easy to belong to 10 or 20 social networks without even knowing it.  While I love the global community that the internet has created, I think it’s really easy for social networking to have a negative affect on day to day life.  

To assess my social networking use, I again turned to making lists. First, I listed the networks I was a part of:

Facebook
Twitter
Flickr
Tumblr 

and then I wrote down my desired goals for using each site:

Facebook: _________________
Twitter: easily and immediately connect with my customers and give quick updates
Flickr: host pictures for web use, follow other artists and photographers new work
Tumblr: share this project and keep an archived log, if even for just myself.  

As you can see, Facebook was left blank. I couldn’t think of any goal I had for using the site- the only thing I actually thought about was how much time I spend mindlessly browsing it’s pages like a junky tabloid at the grocery store. I don’t use it for business, and I don’t really keep up with anyone that I don’t talk to in real life. I wouldn’t even call the time I spend on the very site entertaining, so I’ve decided to get rid of it. 

This is my new golden rule with social networking sites: Pick the sites that work for you, not the sites that make you work for them.

If you have to police yourself while using a site because you know it’s taking your time and giving you nothing in return, it’s probably time to leave it. Connecting with people is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but you have to curate your social networking so that you’re actually networking, learning and even teaching others, and not just reading things that won’t benefit you in your actual life. I know it sounds stupid, but while the internet isn’t “real life”…it’s taking up some of yours. By finding quality, you’ll cut down on quantity, be way more productive, and save time online. Since that’s what I’m looking to do, I’m taking a week to archive the photos of my time in college, and hitting that log out button one last time. Bye Bye, Facebook.