Two Reasons Why Social Networks Like Twitter and Plurk Suck

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I can hear the flaming already. And can see the hate mail coming in too.

I know, I know, sites like Twitter and Plurk are your lifeline. Even I like interacting with people over social networks(Follow me: Plurk, Twitter). I know these social networks have many benefits, which I really do acknowledge, but what I’m talking about now are some of the disadvantages of these sites.

After all, everything has its advantages and disadvantages, right?

1: They get you hooked/addicted

Every one knows this. It’s like drugs, or in fact, anything you enjoy doing. Once you’ve developed a habit, it’s difficult to get away from it.

An easy way to check if you’re addicted to a social network is to monitor the number of hours you spend daily on these sites, for a number of days. If this number increases day by day, you’re in trouble.

Even I’m a Facebook, Twitter and Plurk addict. I can’t take my eyes of Twhirl or the Firefox Facebook add-on, and I feel the need to check Plurk and my e-mail for updates of new followers.

What’s so bad about it?

The time you spend researching for content is reduced. After all, you’re spending more and more time on social networks, instead of utilizing it to research for content.

So, what results is sub-standard posts which are decreasing in quality day by day. You begin to post lesser posts than average, over a period of time.

An easy way to check if you’re addicted to a social network is to monitor the number of hours you spend daily on these sites, for a number of days. If this number increases day by day, you’re in trouble.

Just for the sake of posting, you also may start going off topic, posting excuse posts, and un-original content.

Note: All of the above links point to parts of a great series by Darren on how bloggers let their blogs go. Must reads.

What should you do about it?

Now I don’t mean you should get off completely from social networks. Using these social networks is good, actually great for a blog. But just keep it within limits.

You could also set a limit to the time you spend on social networking. This way, other responsibilities like research will not suffer. No doubt twittering and plurking can gain you valuable information and drastically reduce the time needed for research, but you have to make sure you give research the time it deserves.

Also, try to write and schedule posts before hand for the rest of the week. That gives you time you can waste on use for social networking.

In other words, you shouldn’t become too dependent on social networks, which brings us to point number two…

2:You Become Dependent on Them For Your Research

In other words, you become lazy. Once you see you can easily get information about a particular topic from your multitudes of followers, why should you research on other sites?

But, sometimes, those followers don’t know about what you’re asking, and so you get sub standard replies, and you use them as content, not caring about the quality. You didn’t care to research properly, and your blog suffers as a consequence. This is one of the signs of what I call ‘blog decay’.

What should you do about it?

No doubt use social networks for your research, but make the effort to look in other places also, to give your content some punch and authoritativeness.

What Do I Do About It?

I cannot deny the fact that I’ve become a social bug too(exactly what made me realize my mistake and write this post ). But I’m trying to tune down to normal before it is too late. In order to make this happen, I’ve set a limit on my social networking. It’s either only 20% of my online time; or the week’s post before hand and a reasonable amount of social networking. By reasonable I don’t mean being glued to Plurk the whole day…

Now, before you start sending in the hate comments(I hope not!), next I’ll be write about the benefits of using social networks. This post also gives me the idea of writing about a new term I’ve suddenly coined out of the blue: blog decay. Sounds interesting? Tell me about it!

You have the floor now: Tell us all whether you consider yourself to be a social networking addict and if you’re doing something about it

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