Online Networking Can Be Noisy!

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to keep up with online reading material generated by my network connections. I want to be respectful of others’ work and their recommendations, but as a result end up reading some material of little interest or applicability to me. I recently posted this question on LinkedIn: Blogs, Tweets, other media news & info... How do YOU sort through the noise to get to info that truly informs? With all the information coming at us these days, what are some techniques you use to determine what to read and what to ignore? I could spend all my time online, following up on postings and links - but I am on information overload. I am looking for tips on how you separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to information that comes at you via social and professional networking. Surprisingly, I received little feedback, beyond the obvious ideas of setting up RSS Feeds and/or Google Alerts for specific topics. Some people obviously spend massive amounts of time online every day, tweeting, trolling the internet, commenting on other’s articles, and forwarding material they find interesting. This is all well and good…in moderation. At its worst, the result of too much time spent online makes me feel like a baby bird in a nest – being fed only what mama regurgitates. I’d rather spread my wings and go find my own big, juicy worms when I get hungry. David Fisher, Business Coach and President of RockStar Consulting in Evanston, Illinois (www.rockstar-consulting.com), offered some great advice as an answer to my question: 1. Be OK with not knowing everything - the secret to your everlasting happiness isn't waiting for you in a tweet. 2. Beware of the "noise" creating more problems than solutions. It's similar to marketing - have you ever seen an advertisement for a product that solves a problem you didn't even know you had? I prefer to go out into the world of information when I have a specific challenge that I'm working on. 3. Limit the places you hang out. There are a lot of conversations happening on the web, and trying to take part in all of them would drive a person crazy. I’m going to try to be a little more discerning about where I spend my time online. I read blogs by people I have come to respect. On LinkedIn, I participate in discussions where I feel I have value to add, and almost always learn something. I haven’t given in yet to Twitter – but believe I get most of the value it has to offer me through its integration with LinkedIn. And I enjoy and appreciate my personal interactions on Facebook, since most of my friends are scattered across the country. I heartily agree with David’s final suggestion to, “Read a lot of books.” The sort of intellectual engagement gained when reading an entire book is invaluable to inspiration, learning, and development. Finally, I will continue to focus on increasing my face-to-face personal encounters. When you conduct business from a home office, much can be accomplished online – but nothing replaces truly personal interaction.