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	<title>WordCount &#187; social network overload</title>
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		<title>The funny side of Twitter</title>
		<link>http://michellerafter.com/2008/07/24/the-funny-side-of-twitter/#utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=feed</link>
		<comments>http://michellerafter.com/2008/07/24/the-funny-side-of-twitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michelle V. Rafter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gapingvoid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hugh Macleod]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet cartoons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet comics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Krishna M. Sadasivam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PC Weenies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social network overload]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/?p=307</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My post about Twitter, or rather why I&#8217;m not using it due to social network overload, generated a lot of comments and even more page views. People who use it love it, and swear that it&#8217;s helping the promote their books, blogs, etc. Other people &#8211; myself included &#8211; find themselves distracted enough with everyday [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>My post about Twitter, or rather <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/social-network-overload-and-why-i-dont-do-twitter/">why I&#8217;m not using it due to social network overload</a>, generated a lot of comments and even more page views. People who use it love it, and swear that it&#8217;s helping the promote their books, blogs, etc.</p>
<p>Other people &#8211; myself included &#8211; find themselves distracted enough with everyday work interruptions to consider interrupting themselves on purpose to write posts about what they&#8217;re doing at that minute.</p>
<p>But there&#8217;s another side to the debate. The funny side. Thanks to the following cartoonists for helping us remember to laugh at ourselves, whether we Twitter or not.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://michellerafter.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/hugh-mecleod-twitter-twitter-twitter.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-308 aligncenter" src="http://michellerafter.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/hugh-mecleod-twitter-twitter-twitter.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="292" /></a></p>
<p>This cartoon is from Hugh Macleod, one of those artists who makes what he does look really easy, even though it&#8217;s not. You can see Macleod&#8217;s stuff online or visit his Website, <a href="http://www.gapingvoid.com/">Gapingvoid: cartoons drawn on the back of business cards</a>. And yes, you can follow him on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/gapingvoid">here</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://michellerafter.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/twitter-funny.jpeg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-312 aligncenter" src="http://michellerafter.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/twitter-funny.jpeg?w=262" alt="" width="262" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>This cartoon first appeared in March 2007 and comes from Krishna M. Sadasivam, an engineer turned freelance artist/illustrator who&#8217;s drawn a tech strip called <a href="http://pcweenies.net/">PC Weenies</a> since October 1998. Follow him on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/kms007">here</a>.</p>
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		<title>Social network overload and why I don&#039;t do Twitter</title>
		<link>http://michellerafter.com/2008/07/23/social-network-overload-and-why-i-dont-do-twitter/#utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=feed</link>
		<comments>http://michellerafter.com/2008/07/23/social-network-overload-and-why-i-dont-do-twitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:33:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michelle V. Rafter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freelancing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flickr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FriendFeed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GoodReads]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jen Miller]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LinkedIn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mediabistro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mediabistro Circus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online social networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Penelope Trunk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RedRoom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social network overload]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[too many social networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/?p=292</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m on LinkedIn. I joined Facebook a while back, and Del.icio.us and Technorati. I&#8217;m on my favorite message board for freelancers at least a dozen times a day. But I can&#8217;t do Twitter. At least not yet. There&#8217;s only so many hours one person can devote to online social networks, and only so many social [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m on <a href="http://www.linkedin.com">LinkedIn</a>. I joined <a href="http://www.facebook.com">Facebook</a> a while back, and <a href="http://www.del.icio.us">Del.icio.us</a> and <a href="http://www.technorati.com">Technorati</a>. I&#8217;m on my favorite message board for freelancers at least a dozen times a day.</p>
<p>But I can&#8217;t do <a href="http://www.twitter.com">Twitter</a>. At least not yet.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s only so many hours one person can devote to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service">online social networks</a>, and only so many social networks to keep track of, and right now, I&#8217;m drawing the line at Twitter.</p>
<p>Call it social network overload. Using social networks is a great way to stay connected with friends and colleagues. And as I&#8217;ve written before, it&#8217;s helped me <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/how-to-keep-track-of-story-sources/">find sources</a> and <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2007/12/07/how-writers-can-use-linkedin/">led to writing assignments</a>. But it&#8217;s easy to cross the line from awesome productivity tool to awful time suck.</p>
<p>A lot of writers I know have joined Twitter, the micro-blogging site where you write &#8220;tweets&#8221; about work or life in 140-letter increments and sign up to read other people&#8217;s posts. <a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/">Penelope Trunk</a>, the Brazen Careerist blogger, is a fan. So are a couple dozen of the freelancer writers I hang out with at <a href="http://www.freelancesuccess.com">Freelance Success</a>, the subscription-based message board for professional writers. Some writers use it to help promote their books or blog. Jen Miller, a New Jersey freelance writer and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1581570899?tag=dowtheshowitj-20&amp;camp=14573&amp;creative=327641&amp;linkCode=as1&amp;creativeASIN=1581570899&amp;adid=02AWQDZTT4SH8SEW9SMB&amp;">The Jersey Shore: Atlantic City to Cape May: Great Destinations: A Complete Guide: Including the Wildwoods</a> explains how she&#8217;s using Twitter to promote the book in <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a10238.asp">this article</a> on <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com">Mediabistro.com</a>, the Website for freelancers <em>(NOTE: You need to be a Mediabistro member to read the story)</em>.</p>
<p>I already spend at least an hour a day on my social networks and this blog. I can&#8217;t see how I could add Twitter, <a href="http://www.workforce.com/section/10/feature/25/59/94/255996.html">FriendFeed</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a>, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">GoodReads</a>, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/">RedRoom</a>, or any of the half-dozen social networks people have invited me to join without cutting into the time I spend doing other work, like researching and writing <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/clips/">articles</a>.</p>
<p>Researching this, I found posts <a href="http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/01/too_many_social.html">dating back to 2004</a> from blogger complaining about social network overload. The names of the social networks may have changed since then, but it&#8217;s the same problem. It&#8217;s also an issue some of the best-known minds in the business are grappling with. If you have 55 minutes and $15 to spare, you can hear what <em>Wired</em> Editor in Chief Chris Anderson thinks about the future of social networks and the media <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/social-media-chris-anderson-50-ondemandvideo.html?c=mbhsh">in this video clip</a> from the recent Mediabistro Circus conference.</p>
<p>No doubt there are tools out there that could help me streamline my social networking activities &#8211; if anyone knows of good ones, let me know. Eventually, I could change my mind and join Twitter or GoodReads. For now, call me a Luddite, Twitter challenged or just plain behind the times. I&#8217;m happy with the social networks I have, but no more.</p>
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