Social Clutter or Social Clarity?

The past year has been a year of more dashboards, more ways to measure, more apps, more blogs and just more of more. And it’s all happening in real-time. So how can we keep track of what we need to keep track of without losing track of things to track? In fact, there’s so much content that we now call wading through it all content curation.

What do you see? Clutter or potential content?

From our standpoint, we tend to have a lot of information to review and manage; check out our Twitter feed to get an idea of the vast array of topics we need to cover. In order to manage all that’s going on in our world here are my thoughts on what works for me:

• Use a Social Platform: We use Hootsuite and StockTwits for similar and different reasons, but they both work well for us. The reality is there is just no way you can manage finding and reading the content you need and a social platform brings to you the items you need. In addition, most of these now offer a mobile app as well so that you can use while you are away from your desk. The mobile apps tend not to offer the same robust functionality of the desktop versions, but they are good enough to get the job done.
• Review Content Regularly. While time consuming, reviewing the sources your following and reading the content will you keep your sources fresh. I often add sources based on news cycles and trends in order to help me stay on top of what’s happening right now that we need to know. This is probably the most difficult part of the process but also the most important. Twitter lists in my opinion are the best resource for you in order to do this. I also still rely on RSS feeds and Google Reader. By having both of these tools I can cover just about every news source and person that I need to follow.
• Research Your Audience. Again, another obvious observation, but how often do you review a news outlet on Facebook to look for inspiration? Or do you take time to look at a few days worth of your most important Twitter followers?  Take the time to learn from them — what they post and how often — and decide how you need to make adjustments.
• Make Time. Easier said than done, but if you take a little bit of time each day or week to review how you read and distribute content as well as the tools you (may) need you will get better at it. Once you find a routine it does get easier.

What makes this so difficult to control is the rate at which things are changing. If you think you can get into a routine with content curation you’re wrong. There is no cruise control, which makes this a very demanding art to master. What you need to really do is get organized. While my desk wouldn’t show my great organization skills, I have become quite good at organizing my online content.

Perhaps the best advice is to just make sure you step away and let the world go by at times. Don’t ever rule out taking time for yourself away from the digital domains where we tend to reside today. I’ve often found that some of my best ideas for online content and content management come from writing in my Moleskine while grabbing a coffee — or even dumping a box of my son’s Legos on the floor and taking a photo.

If you enjoyed this you may also want to read:

Don’t Overlook the Power of LinkedIn Groups

Content Curation: What Does it Take To Be Successful?

What’s your “I” in social media?

Why LinkedIn’s Company Pages Now Matter More