Just Some Food for Thought
As the number of social networks the average person actively uses daily increases, I find there is an increase in the grievous crime of cross-posting. To that end, I submit the following for everyone to read and consider:
Unlink Your Feeds: A Manifesto
http://unlinkyourfeeds.tumblr.com/post/387644253/a-manifesto
The main piece and its subsequent linked pages are all pretty short, and boil down to the same thing – don’t punish your friends by overvaluing yourself, and:
1. Because your cat, however cute, isn’t that fascinating. For example, I have one friend who I could see the same thing in five different places – five different places. I value this friend quite a bit, and she even knows that I’m reducing my following of her (this is down to 2 as of today). But I still feel like I’m the jerk and the bad friend because I don’t want to see the same freaking cat picture five times! I know she doesn’t think I am, but still…
2. Because all you do is water down your ability to be interesting by posting the same thing multiple times. I know that I’m likely the odd one out here, but hear me out – why is it so hard to be original on different mediums? Oh sure, we can’t all be brilliant all the time, but I’ll use me as an example. I have Facebook, I have G+, two blogs (both dailies), and two Twitters. The blogs take priority, and are vaguely different in theme (one is slightly more private than the other, which means I blather more about playing games and the cute things my kid does… and 100% of the readerships knows who I am rather than the chances of nice random folks here). Then I’ll occasionally try to lob something out to my Twitters (though I don’t feel pressured to make this a daily task), and then I’ll worry about Facebook and G+. I try very hard to post different things to different places, and even though this means that I’m more spread out, I do not think I am so interesting that I need to lump it all in one place repeatedly. And frankly, none of you guys are either, no matter how much I might <3 you.
3. Post less, period. Okay, I admit that this one makes me a bit of a hypocrite, because I post two daily blogs. Obviously, I must think I’m better than everyone zergrushwhee ’cause I post two daily blogs. The answer to that? Nah – I’m not forcing anyone you guys to read either of them, nor would I. I’m happy when people read and engage, because I like trying to expand my brain… which is kind of what both blogs are. This is me attempting to flex and expand my ability to write cogently. And I like to think that I do a good job of not hitting you guys with novels every day, because I respect that most people follow a lot more media than I do. Which leads me to…
4. Make with the cherry picking, already! I like reading blogs and articles and all those nice shiny things. I like consuming media and thoughts as much as anyone, if not more. But you know what? I don’t waste my time with ‘famous’ people thinking they’re clever. I dedicate my time to my friends, and a few blogs that look especially interesting past that; you can see 99% of those listed on the left. Seriously, I keep it that sort of slim, because I don’t think that having thousands of posts sitting around waiting to be read is acceptable. Quality people, not quantity!
And that’s really the long and the short, folks – quality, not quantity. From all of us to all of us – keep it to the point and respect the time your friends have for you, and the time you have for yourself. And now, I’ve got a toddler to smooch, so I shall do that – have a fabulous day!
Oh yeah, and if you happen to like my ramblings, why don’t you go vote for me? It doesn’t do you any harm and strokes my ego ever-so-slightly. You can vote daily too, if that’s your thing (but I won’t expect that of anyone, ha ha):
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