On Social Media noise

I was working on the post about making friends on Social Media for few weeks. I had some thoughts, they just did not go together into the concise post. And then, just a few days ago, I read this post on SM by RC Conception. His ideas really resonated with me. I knew where I want to go with my post.

I am active on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, with overlapping content. I am trying to share in my stream once a day a good, interesting link to a photography related resource- sometimes about technique, sometimes about composition, sometimes just about photography as a medium. I am not sharing content just because the author shared my link two days ago, not only because it is not happening but also I do believe in sharing only the best. I cannot guarantee that I found interesting will interest you as well, but you probably follow me for the shared interest.

There are days I am able to find 10 great articles that resonate with me and 10 great images that inspire me around the Web. I am searching mostly in my RSS feed, but also I re-share content from my SM streams. Recently, I am discovering power of Zite in exposing me to totally new photographer’s blogs.

But having overabundance content to share is rare. Typically, there are weeks that there is noting all that exciting, and I really need to dig deeper into the Web World of Photography to find something worth sharing. Not another tutorial on same subject, sharing same 10 tips (why the lists always have to have 10 tips, why not 13 for example?).

I follow (like?) 53 people on Facebook, 269 on Twitter and 93 on Google Plus. Even if many of those people are the same between streams, and even if they do the same thing of cross-posting on different SM sites, you would think that if a new, fresh, exciting content is showing up, I should be able to discover it. Yet, most of days, I just scroll through updates, seeing the same posts over and over again, those shared few days ago by somebody else, the slow-motion viral effect. It’s almost like everybody is sharing instead of creating.

I think my Twitter stream is the one I like the least to go through. There is just soo much stuff generated in just few hours. Do I follow too many people? I try being very selective. I always take a look at the last page of person’s tweets before I chose to follow back the person following me. I read their short bio, to see if they will offer something I interested in. And yet, my twitter feed is so incredibly noisy… I am instantly overloaded with info.

So what can be done about the sharing too much content? Not using the SM is not the option, at least not for me. It serves purpose of developing relationships. Just a few weeks ago I thought it is not possible to exchange Tweets (have a conversation?) with people you never met in person. And then I remembered, that I do actually did develop few SM relationships with people leaving far away from me, whom I have never met before.

The bottom line is- I have not found the perfect answer yet. I think in next few days I will cull my following on Twitter. Maybe, like on Google+, I will generate the list of the handful of people sharing the most interesting content for me at the time. It changes, just as my RSS feed changes. And I will focus more on creating great content and building few more relationships, rather then sharing mediocre. How about you?

Meantime, please participate in the poll. You can choose more then one option. If you are active on the place not mentioned, add it in the Other. And let’s meet on your favorite Social Media site.