Alexandra Samuel (@awsamuel) on Coping with Social Media #nv10 liveblog

Alexandra Samuel at Northern Voice 2010 (Credit: Gus Fosarolli)

Alexandra Samuel at Northern Voice 2010 (Credit: Gus Fosarolli)


  Alex Samuel on coping with Social Media (05/08/2010) 
12:56
My liveblog of Alexandra Samuel, PhD on “Coping with Social Media” will not include Twitter to avoid problems with Cover It Live.
Saturday May 8, 2010 12:56 
1:04
Alex had the experience of being frustrated with having to cope with social media. Suddenly, every day she turned on Facebook, Twitter, confronted with so much information, and the sense that she can’t keep up, she had an experience of being overwhelmed.

Strategies not so much for coping WITH social media, but a way of turning social media into a coping mechanism, a way to cope with the web and the information overload, and making life easier.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:04 
1:05
First confession – Alex is a fairly anxious person. She had to confess that she spent a lot of time worrying about what she doesn’t do OFFLINE. Twitter makes you aware of the things you’re not doing offline.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:05 
1:05
Before Twitter, people went to parties that Alex didn’t get invited to, and she wasn’t aware of that!
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:05 
1:06
Columns are your best friend. You organize your friends. According to how they relate to you.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:06 
1:07
She has created a list of people who are interesting and NOT in the field of social media.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:07 
1:09
These strategies are helping Alex ground herself because it ties into the relationships she cares about. On a similar vein, Alex has structured how to work with Facebook.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:09 
1:10
Alex has a list on Facebook for WTF – I have no clue who this person is but I probably need to know who they are. I also triage my news feed. So she hides the people who she doesn’t need to pay so much attention on a day to day basis. What she is moving towards use it to have conversations with people she loves.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:10 
1:12
For Alex, part of the reason why she got into social media and social networking sites, she loves to write. She stopped going to look at her Google Reader.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:12 
1:14
Alex had stopped consuming news. So now she uses iGoogle, a personalized thing. Not everything that she finds mildly interesting, but in a very targeted way. So Alex has a middle column on iGoogle of news, and a left hand side with her mentions online and her right hand side, social media.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:14 
1:14
When you start engaging with online content rather than everything you remotely want to know, you have now more interesting conversations, now Alex pretty much knows the major items, because that’s what she sees, so not losing the forest for the trees. Taking the problem of information overload and tri-aging.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:14 
1:15
Alex says that she has the world’s handwriting. 

She has made the switch to just putting all her notes on her computer, the tool she uses is EverNote. Everything is on the web. You take the notes wherever you are.  

Saturday May 8, 2010 1:15 
1:17
Alexandra is unable to resist forms.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:17 
1:17
She signs up for so many freaking betas.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:17 
1:18
Alex is now talking about GMail and consolidating her emails, using Filters and Folders. Her strategy is to create a bunch of different labels, and to use those labels.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:18 
1:19
She has an “external CC” inbox.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:19 
1:21

Alex uses IMAP to map and mirror her email structure on her external mail application, etc. 
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:21 
1:23
Alex can deal with her Inbox within 24 hours because she needs to get to the bottom of that pile on a regular basis, it’s been very transformative.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:23 
1:24
Alex has become so much more decisive. It has spilled over to other parts of her life, and frankly she’s become much more decisive in allowing herself to say NO to things. More disciplined.
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:24 
1:27
The truth is pretty much everyone Alex knows, the web exacerbates our insanity? We’re totally hooped. Alex is challenging us to take the “gut level” test – if having an email in your INBOX means that you feel a knot in the gut, then it’s time to take control over again. You can use these tools, if you decide to put your experience first and whatever everyone else does
Saturday May 8, 2010 1:27 
1:28
 

 
 
 

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Related posts:

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May 8th, 2010 in Northern Voice, Northern Voice 2010, northernvoice, northernvoice10

Comments (1)

Vancouver CopywriterMay 10th, 2010 at 1:51 am

I think I like this part the best:

“Alex has a list on Facebook for WTF – I have no clue who this person is but I probably need to know who they are.”

Funny. But also a good thing just for noting that Facebook messaging lists exist. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who didn’t realize their usefulness at first. I only started using them about six months ago to start messaging a bit more systematically through Facebook in addition to my usual email blasts.

BTW, I really enjoyed the Teaching Social Media session. It was a bit different from what I expected, but that was a good thing. And getting the student’s perspective was also important.

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