Simplifying and managing your social presence on the web
I’d like to share with you, cousins, a useful series of articles by Muhammad Saleem on Freelance Switch. Titled Social Media and Simplicity, this 10-part series focuses on how to manage your presence on Web 2.0, and consequently how to simplify your online life.
While this definitely applies to all social site participants, I think this overview would also be very useful to artists and freelancers. We all know that we should be “out there” promoting our work and socializing on sites like MySpace, Facebook and so on—but the sheer amount of places to do so can be overwhelming, and incredibly time consuming! Which ones are worth your time? For how to manage it all and not succumb to media overload, check out the articles.
I was happy to discover that I already adhere to the first principle - Reduction. Reduce your web presence to a manageable size. Couple of years ago I realized that I simply don’t have the time and energy to “get around” the web, and so I limited myself to the following sites:
- East-27 personal site & blog (naturally)
- Etsy - for my art & merchandise sales
- Deviant Art - for the unparalleled community interaction, ease of use, inspiration and staggering talent to be found
- LiveJournal - which used to be my main journal, but is now used for promotion and to keep in touch with LJ cousins & communities
- TalentDatabase - most recent discovery, for professional contacts and promotion. Still need to fill it out! :)
- Epilogue - I remain a member with minimal participation (& minimal upkeep)
- MySpace - after two years I finally gave in and filled out my profile. Still not really feeling it tho. :/ The design team has made progress by leaps and bounds, but the site is still extremely confusing and annoying to navigate.
- Google Reader for keeping up with favorite sites through RSS feeds
And that’s it! When on the computer and not working, I hang out in one of these places. There used to be days of multi-hour IM sessions, but those are gone. Since starting my current job (staring into the computer screen for 8 hours a day), coming home and getting back on the computer is becoming less and less appealing.
What about you, cousins? How many sites do you participate in? Where do you enjoy hanging out the most?
