Twitter Information Overload
I have been thinking a lot lately about how many times I am engaged in something and I have a blog moment: “This is the post I want to write” and I think it through perfectly in my head – text, visuals and context. Most times that is the last I remember of it unless I write it down, Jott myself or until something jogs my memory at another inopportune time. And then there are the myriad thoughts that are generated throughout the day or as I take time to check my Twitter or RSS feeds. Where do they come from?
- Recommendations from friends
- Links from Twitter which is fast becoming my #1 source of info
- email newsletters
- RSS
RSS is dropping in my list because the list is becoming unwieldy large again. It is close to the time for me to clean house and manage the list down again.
Today, I decided to track a number of my Twitter friends and document whatever links came from the traffic. Four of my most prolific sources – Amber Naslund, Chris Brogan, Scott Monty and David Armano – were busy today as they offered up less than they normally do.
So here are the stats for the 12 hours 8.30am-8.30pm where I tracked the following 13 people in Twitter: Amber Nasland, Mack Collier, Ann Handley, Jay Ehret, Jeremiah Owyang, Geoff Livingston, Gavin Heaton, Bert Decker, David Armano, Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, Joanna Lord and Scott Monty. Thanks to all of you for the hat-tips and the information you share.
These 13 Tweeted about multiple things and referred sites from which I included 32 links that I chose to open and after reading them I clicked on a further 11 links for a total of 43 sites that I read. And I can’t even begin to document the number of fantastic blog posts that I will not have time to write that came from these referrals. This is what the Twitter day looked like in a FreeMind MindMap:
If you have FreeMind, download the Twitter Freemind File which includes the URL’s and the Twitter posts. Each and every one of the 13 shared great information. I know more now than I did yesterday. I am also more inundated than I was before and everyday it starts again.
In total, the composite is hard to manage as these are a subset of the inputs I have – and most people have way more inputs than I do. Filtering the inputs is something that has to be done as without a filter and discipline, one can easily be consumed for hours on end as one peels the onion layer by layer, link by link.
How do you manage your inputs? I welcome your thoughts.
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Comments
Great post. Insightful. YOU manage!
What I do is use TweetDeck and have an A, B and C grouping, with most important, interesting, and ‘if I have time’ respectively. I’ll always check back at the A, and usually the B, now and then the C. When a free moment go back to the Twitter stream, which feeds A, B and C. And of course, those who begin blathering go back to the stream.
You are in the A!
Thanks,
Bert
Pretty incredible, Gary… and very interesting. This gets tougher with larger numbers, though, I’m sure. I’ve used Tweetdeck to manage my experience, but in the end more often than not simply manage it through search.twitter.com, as well as random drive-by… (although I’m not sure that actually qualifies as “managing.”)
As for the bubble comment here, I’m both freaked AND awed!! And entertained! Great stuff. ; ) Pretty incredible technology….isn’t it?
You touched a Twitter nerve, Gary. I use Twitter in combination with my Google Reader Feeds to overload my brain. The key is to be disciplined. @scottweisbrod shared a tip with me that has changed the way I click and read. I try to limit my reading time to two times per day. I will collect links for those times. Then I choose the best of those, usually 5-10, to read and close all the rest.
Thanks for mapping out the possibilities.
tooooo much information. Must shut down……ok just one more tweet but then must shut down. I think Ann said it all.
Great idea, Gary. I have been using Twitter more and more as my news feed since I simply don’t have time to read all of the blogs that I enjoy reading. Those that I follow/trust recommend stuff, and I tend to follow. Now, I still have a manageable number of people that I follow, but I can see that will become cumbersome over time.
With that said, I might do a Freemind some day just to see where Twitter takes me.
@ Bert – Thanks for the post at http://www.bertdecker.com/experience/2008/12/why-and-how-to-use-twitter.html. The grouping is helpful. This is my 2nd go around on Twitter. I like many did not get it first time around. I do know. It is very hard to control the volume and your grouping made a huge difference.
@Ann I think the next post about this is about the tiering of Twitter engagement. It is addictive but it can be all consuming. The challenge is about taking the phenomenal value and being able to give back. I understand we have two ears and one mouth and that we should listen twice as much as we speak, but a conversation is two way, and the bandwidth IMHO is limited. This was 13 people – and honestly, it took a a few hours to follow the trail. I have tried to manage who I follow but do not want to be a Twitter “snob” – but I am not sure how to handle hundreds of followers other than to respond to a few or to go the one way broadcast route or the passive one way TV route and all 3 are unappealing. As for the bubblecomment, It is so new I am not sure if it is “freaky or freakin great” as David Armano said today on Twitter. I just sent Bubble comments to the 11 of the 13 that follow me. You can’t send a bubble to a non-follower. Delicate balance – used right I think it is a good personal way to connect, but it could soon be a ridiculous amount of spam and very intrusive.
@Jay Thanks for the tip. I try to setup time for email and v-mail. While working in banking a number of years ago, I used to get 200+ emails a day. The notification beeping on my pc interrupted all day. Once I turned the notification off and setup times for email in the morning and the afternoon and then cleared out the balance at night, I was okay. So I will start to do that with Twitter. Thanks!
Of course the skeptics will say just unfollow everyone except those you really want to follow. That way you can manage the volume and what you see. Sounds like an ostrich with a head in the ground! Perhaps I will do a followup at some point on aggregating tips for dealing with Twitter volume.
@ Curtis – It is addictive and the more you get the harder it is to stay away. I find incredible value in the links and in some of the discussions.
@Josh – What I did not add to the chart was all of the comments and the links in the comments on the blogs that the tweets referred to. If i did, I am certain I visited over 100 sites in the 12 hours. MANY of which i would not have found without the links.
Gary: thanks for sharing the various thoughts, tips and resources.
I use a brute force method to deal with information feeds. Ideally I would spend a few minutes (e.g., 60) reading the various RSS feeds I get. Doesn’t work that way and I get behind. So I do weekly marathon readings where I spend a couple of hours browsing the titles and reading the ones I want. Not very efficient, but it does tend to make me appreciate the value of time, and the meaning of “information” (e.g., something useful that drives action).
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