louisgray.com - Latest Comments in louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Paul Byrne — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:36:34 -0000

Wow. You've really thought through this. I am journaling a different approach. I'm turning off all popular media in my life for the month of June 2008. It is an experiment I will share online at http://mediadetox.blogspot....

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Mike — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:14:29 -0000

"Am I doing it wrong?" - I don't know in terms of your process, but I'd certainly say your consumption level is waaay out of kilter with anything sustainable, sane or likely to lead to any lasting happiness.

The problem with - for instance - RSS reading is that it is truly druglike, and yet in a totally psychological sense. Once you're subscribed to 300 blogs it's very hard to walk away.

I found myself in a similar place to you, and then looked at a good friend of mine who is about the best connected tech type I know. He has 5 tabs constantly open on his browser with the sites he follows, and that's it. He sometimes Twitters - but not excessively - and rarely uses IM and other tools. Once I'd realised that actually the *quality* of my reading had dropped exponentially by having so much volume, I decided to do similar. I now use AideRSS to filter feeds and am down to around 100 articles a day, if that. And you know what? I feel less panicked, more in-touch, better able to comment, more connected than I did with 800 unread items, none of which was going to get the kind of attention I wanted to give them. Genuinely, less is more.

I love the Herbert Simon quote: "...a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention". I think it's going to become more and more pertinent as information noise increases.

Good luck, either which way :-)

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Eric — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:05:07 -0000

thanks for this post, I found some of the habits and practices you discuss to be quite interesting. I've been doing a lot of thinking (and some research) recently about "consumption" of social media, specifically in the context of looking at blog reading, about what the ostensible democratization of production means for the processes consumption. I'm still sort of wrapping my head around it, but I feel like this idea of making a distinction between production and consumption, while potentially useful, might cause us to miss some of the import ways in which social media is co-constructed by both "producers" and "consumers." on the one hand, I'm a consumer here, because I'm reading your blog. on the other hand, I'm also a producer, in that I'm writing a comment, which in turn affects the tone and atmosphere here and may go on in part to have an influence in shaping your blog.

as I mentioned, I've been doing some research studying blog readers (google "baumer blog readers" if you're interested), but one of the things to which this post really drew my attention is the way that blog reading is really situated within a number of myriad other practices of consuming, producing, and co-constructing social media. there are some rather compelling, and potentially quite important, concepts to explore here with respect to understand how concepts like readership, authorship, identity, and participation get constituted in these evolving cultural forms (yes, I'm waxing a little academic here).

the main take away from this comment is that I'm questioning the distinction between production and consumption in social media: how does this approach frame the ways in which we think about these media, what might it be causing us to miss, and what are some alternative framings we might be able to use?

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Marc Meyer — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:48:35 -0000

Hi Louis, You definitely ought to check out BlogRovr. There's a self serving element in telling you this, as I'm the co-founder and CEO, but in fact (a) we were just bought, so I'm onto other things as well, and (b) we do have close to 200,000 folks who use us who find it a very useful and unintrusive addition to keeping abreast of social media.

Rovr reads all your blogs so that you can just read what they say anywhere on the web they're talking about.

Let me know who you think.

Best,
Marc Meyer, CEO, Activeweave BlogRovr.

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Louis Gray — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:07:45 -0000

Mohan, I'm with you on this one. I am a regular Joe who juggles this with the daily grind. My day job is not Web 2.0 related. http://www.linkedin.com/in/...

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Mohan — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:51:59 -0000

Fascinating! But I guess this set of activities is time consuming? What about us Regualr Joes who also juggle social media consumption with our daily grind... including day-jobs that are not Web-2.0 related?!

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

deepti_1580 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:46:38 -0000

1. This blog solves all my "HOW TO MANAGE THE SOCIAL WEB SEQUENCE FOR THE DAY" related queries upto a much satisfactory level.

I now understand how the entire workflow works with a bonus of what all are the important social media tools that are used in the whole process and how can they make your life much easier. I knew about the latest tools but now the purpose of each becomes much more easier to relate and understand and is tempting enough to inspire me to adopt a similar workflow for the day.

Thanks for this blog Louis Grey! With a hope to receive much more useful stuff in future.

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Daryl Tay — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:52:46 -0000

I meant to follow this today, but got caught up in an event. Definitely trying it tomorrow. I like the way FriendFeed fits in (a service I'm not using a lot now), so it'll be interesting to see if this helps ease it into my day a little more.

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

timbauer — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:53:45 -0000

My consumption process is similar to yours (tagging research materials of note as I hit them, friendfeed at the end) but the research step has a focus around presentations. Theory being that presentations are more developed thoughts due to by (1) the conference screening and (2) the person themselves. Makes it a more probably source of insight and I enjoy the format (getting a sense of the interaction style of the person versus just words on a page via a blog post).

So, outside of reading around 200 feeds in Google reader, and tracking friendfeed I typically troll around for who is speaking where, on what, in what format and then comparing that to what seems to be of interest to clients. Then I queue those up for review as i have time.

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Mark Evans — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:18:24 -0000

Louis,

Curious to know how long it takes you to go through this process.

Mark

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

alan p — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:21:11 -0000

Roughly similar habits except the (i) I also use my RSS reader and email from discussion groups up front, and (ii) the "head to FriendFeed" bit at the end - for relaxation I prefer to bounce ideas off other people so I like interactive media like Twitter and the heavily commented arenas like Slashdot, and my old Web 1.0 favourite, email discussion groups.

In fact I'm increasingly using FriendFeed not as a direct aggregator, but as a repository for "noisy" people, simply because it does a daily dump to email so I know I can sift quickly through the dirt for the occasional gem.

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

socialprofilr — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:14:33 -0000

I have used gmail by subscribing to the RSS feeds that I have although they count into the 100s, not certain it is the most practical wya; but hey thats the way I do it.
Like you I have 100s of information that I need to track and it is no easy task especially on the many projects that I am working on.
The dynamics of the way we filter social media means that there may never be a be all and end all solution that can cater for our exact needs and we will always use multiple streams in social media.
A service that combines RSS feeds + comment tracking + FriendsFeeds, etc would certainly be something considered, but would be every embrace such a tool is yet to be seem.

Got Social Network Profiles? Expose Yourself
http://www.socialprofilr.com

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

dccrowley — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:36:24 -0000

I still use Google reader... but only when I have time. Friendfeed and iGoogle are where I put my attention and they both pull in the important stuff. Good post again Louis! Oh yeah! Alert thingy is a godsend

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

therealmccrea — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:57:05 -0000

You inspired me to share my own workflows and how they're evolving: http://therealmccrea.com/20...

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

gregory — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:23:06 -0000

it is still like peering through holes in a fence at a construction site, or trying to drive while looking through a telescope

still a lot of room for "wholeness of vision" to be enabled, enterprise-wise

and roi on the time spent, yikes, possibly less than we might think, unless one is in the profession

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

therealmccrea — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:38:40 -0000

Great post, as usual, Louis. I was at a dinner party on Saturday, with people who all are Silicon Valley veterans (albeit with long track records in the enterprise space, not the consumer side). I was surprised at how few had heard of Twitter, or were aware of this Social Web transformation underway in any real detail. I really think we are on the cusp of a new phase of the Web. Deep in my bones, I feel the same vibe I did in 1994. Back then, I was sure the Web was where everything was going, but so many of my more experienced colleagues didn't see it. Why? Because they didn't spend time with it; they formed an opinion based on what they heard and read. Hard to believe now, but many dismissed the Web as a toy, or something frivolous, much as many now dismiss Twitter and Facebook, and FriendFeed, and Plaxo Pulse. The world is changing very rapidly. Get ready!

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Scabr — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:06:26 -0000

My most interesting media workflow from twitterland

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Des — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:56:13 -0000

Look Mama, no Videos!
(no youtube?)
-Des
http://techwatch.reviewk.com

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Louis Gray — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:24:33 -0000

As mentioned above, I don't know that you can put a specific time on it.
Part of the answer can come from a note I did at the end of last year:

My Laptop And Me: A Committed Relationship
http://www.louisgray.com/li...

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Louis Gray — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:00:45 -0000

Jason, as I'll be doing this anyway, I don't mind being a filter. You just have to let me know when I'm sharing too many things you believe to be self-serving, rather than general interest.

As for total time, that's hard for me to measure, as I believe most of the time I'm multitasking, with multiple tabs, etc. I check in on some of these items throughout a workday per se, while on the weekends, it'd be easier to measure.

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

PXLated — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:39:30 -0000

The one thing I don't see - how much time does this all take?

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Andy C — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:43:26 -0000

Great article. I would normally comment on FriendFeed but as you now have Disqus, let's Disqus here !

Unfortunately, I have a proper job so can't spend all my time consuming (or generating) content.

However, my pattern is generally

1) Gmail - (includes any blog comments via Disqus). I can simply reply via email here to post any followup comments
2) FriendFeed - comment/like as necessary.
3) Google Reader - Share items, star stuff (mainly video/podcasts or lengthy posts I will view later)
4) Twhirl - some duplication here

Unfortunately, the lines between 2), 3) and 4) are getting increasingly blurred (i.e. duplicate content). I am toying with making the personal blogs/Twittererers I read into 'imaginary friends' on FF to combat this but I am wary about having all my eggs in one basket.

I tend to prefer to reply to Tweets in Twhirl (for the URL shortening) and character counting but I guess FF could do this with GM scripts.

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Robert Seidman — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:17:17 -0000

Amen!

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

webomatica — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:28:30 -0000

Good post. One bit of data that is missing: this seems like a daily activity. How much time would you estimate, it takes you per day to do all of this, and then add on the time spent writing blog posts?

And obviously, you find it worthwhile since you continue doing it. The larger issue is whether or not you find this time excessive for the "reward." Personally, I hope to reduce my time spent with social media activity and invest more time writing better, and fewer blog posts - relying on folks like you to "filter" what's important for me.

Re: louisgray.com: My Social Media Consumption Workflow

Katherine — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:39:18 -0000

If consuming social media is "work", rather than "entertainment", then it should have some connection to tangible rewards. That connection would dictate an appropriate workflow. If it's entertainment, then it doesn't need to be "efficient," it just needs to be rewarding and enjoyable.

For most people, even most early adopters, social media is a means to some other goal. If you're spending so much time with social media that you *need* a workflow, I question whether that other goal (whatever it is) is being served.