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Social networking has become one of the most important ways to complement business communication, but its also one of the biggest sources of distraction and time suck for otherwise productive entrepreneurs.

Learning to manage your own social networking time will help you leverage all the great benefits while avoiding the unwanted side effects of lost time and productivity.

Here are just a few tips to get you going

Before committing to participation on another social network, make sure you have a very clear idea of what you want to accomplish. How does your time spent on that network contribute back to your business, marketing, and sales goals?

Think about it if you were going on a trip by car, youd need to have some idea of a destination, where to start, and what roads youre going to take to get there. This kind of planning is even more important on social media because its just too easy to get distracted.

Its important to know what you want to get out of your networking efforts.Whether its the ever-changing political climate that gets you all fired up or a funny meme of a cat saying something hilarious, weve all been distracted online.

Take time to identify your goals over the long term (expand your reach, get more loyalty from your audience, etc.) and what you intend to do on a short term, daily basis (respond to comments, post a new video).Whether you use paper and pen, mind mapping software, or voice memos to yourself to plan this out, record your ideas somewhere so you have a rock solid plan for what you hope to do.

I like using Trello to help organize themes and expected outcomes for each network where I spend time.

Limit the Networks Youre Involved In

Too many business owners try to be everywhere at once. This is a recipe for burnout and it isnt likely to grow your businessbecause you wont have time to work on your actual business.Its important to select only a handful of key social networks and if youre just getting started, simply begin with one network and expand from there.

Of course, finding out what works best for your business will take some experimentation. Just dont rush to do everything at once because you need to dedicate the appropriate time and effort to seeing what produces the most benefit.Your time is money, and its important to focus more on those activities that directly generate income wherever you can, which brings me to the next tip.

Prioritize Other Tasks First Before Social Networking

On a daily basis, work on your core business tasks first and then try saving social networking for the latter part of the day. That way, you can ensure everything that needs to get done gets taken care of.Carving out time at the end of your day will allow you a chance to do more exploration, and you can use that time to find new people to follow, interesting articles to share and more.

Speaking of prioritizing, decide how much time you are going to spend and what youre going to do once you log into your social networking accounts.And always remember, when you log in serve your fans first reply to comments, likes and shares.

Define Your Notification Strategy

Theres nothing more detrimental to productivity than being interrupted all day long with emails telling you about new retweets, likes and comments. You can limit these interruptions in a few ways:

Get Help with Your Social Networking

Theres no reason you have to do all your social networking by yourself. Even if youre a solo entrepreneur, you can hire a team or have an assistant alongside to help you.If you do bring in help, there are several common tasks they might assist with.

Building a team that represents your brand pulls a lot of pressure away from you and allows you to focus more on strategy and business building.

Dont let social networking overwhelm or consume you, or become a time suck. As long as you define your goals, create space in your calendar, and incorporate systems that work for you, social networking can be a huge advantage for your business!

How do you manage the time you spend on social networking? Share with us in the comments below!

Tanya Smith is among the top rising professionals in social media marketing. A creative content strategist, Tanya coaches service providers to leverage snack-size content for maximum visibility.

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Original post:
Tips for Managing Your Time on Social Networking - Rocks Digital (blog)

Sure, it might seemsocial networking giants like Snapchat and Instagram continuously mimic each other in aphenomenon were calling samification,but now it looks as if a seemingly unrelated app is dipping its toes in the social pool, too: Google is adding a more social, sharable function to its Maps app.

Google announced in a blog post Monday that it would expand its starring or save option that allowed users to save locations for later use, to include a function that would letusers create lists of their favorite places and then share them with friends.

The feature, which was previously available to Google Local Guides, allows users to create lists of places, share their lists with others, and follow the lists of friends and family.

To use the feature, Map users tap on a location, click the save icon, and select a pre-made list.

In order to view a list later, users simply go to the Your Places section of the menu and then tap the saved tab. Icons of saved locations will then appear on your Google Map.

Users can also share their saved lists with friends and family via email, text, or other apps by clicking on the share button associated with the specific list. The lists can also be made public for anyone using Google Maps to see.

Go here to see the original:
Is Google Trying To Make Maps A Social Network? - Consumerist

Montgomery County, Md. - The Montgomery County Police Department has partnered with a new social networking site to improve communication between them and the residents they protect.

It is called Nextdoor.com and will be used by police to quickly post important information such as crime alerts, safety updates, and community events for neighborhood residents to see.

Police officials say the site gives each neighborhood its own webpage.

So far, more than 400 Montgomery County communities have already signed up for the free service.

"We have been discussing this for months with the people at Nextdoor, said Sergeant Rebecca Innocenti. They've helped us create neighborhoods that coincide with our police districts. So we know what neighborhoods receive what information and if there is an incident occurring in a certain area, we know which area to push that information out to."

In addition to police communication, Nextdoor is also set up for the residents to use amongst themselves, allowing them to privately send messages to each other.

See the original post:
Police department partners with social network - WHAG

Social networking is changing politics, that fact should be clear by now. A simple proof: Trump wouldn't be in the White House without it.

But where is political networking taking us? That's the BIG question. I've been doing lots of thinking about this (it's going into my book). Here's my shorthand for where our political system is headed. We have three political networks to choose from:

Insurgency

Trump used an open source insurgency (I first wrote about this back in 2004) to become president. This insurgency didn't just with the election, it:

Trump's insurgency worked like open source insurgencies in the past (from the Iraq war to Egypt/Tunisia).

Trump's currently trying to adapt this insurgency to govern. Where will it take us? Early results suggest that Trump's insurgency is better suited for dismantling a large, bureaucratic government and international order than running it. It's also the type of network that will erode the rule of law over time.

Orthodoxy

The second form of political social networking I'm seeing is found in the opposition to Trump's presidency. Right now, it's known as the #resistance The orthodoxy wasn't planned, it:

The orthodoxy is an open source insurgency in reverse. It uses social networking to crack down on deviation and dissent.

How will an orthodox network govern? It will eventually formalize compliance with the orthodoxy. Compliance, evidenced by a long social networking history, will qualify people for positions of authority and power. Any deviation will result in bans, loss of income, etc. until the target repents. This orthodoxy will work in parallel to the rule of law and likely exceed its coercive power over time.

Participatory

This form of social networking doesn't have an example in the US yet.

The participatory party is still young, but it combines the fluidity of the "insurgency" with the solidarity of "orthodoxy."

How would a participatory network govern? Unlike the other systems, it has the best chance of working within the confines of the current US Constitution. It also has the strength to tame political distortions caused by globalization without resorting to the extremes of either the orthodoxy or the insurgency.

My bet is on a participatory political system made possible by social networking. It's the best chance for a better future. A system where we put social networking to work for us instead of against us.

Of course, the reality is probably something different: we're prepping for a civil war.

Sincerely,

John Robb

More here:
Political Networking (how social networking is changing politics forever) - Global Guerrillas

Your online social network doesnt just keep you connected, it can also help you stay fit, a new study shows.

A team of researchers led byJure Leskovec, PhD, (who recently was named a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator) an Stanford associate professor of computer science, have shown that participating in a social network on a health app can boost physical activity.

The team tapped data from the Argus app which tracks heart rate, steps and daily exercise from 6 million app users over five years. The app gives users a choice whether to join a social network, allowing them to share data, or to simply track their progress.

The researchers showed that users who joined the social network saw a 7 percent (around 400 steps) increase in physical activity, an effect that lasted for around 20 weeks.

We were able to show that network connections influence us to be more active and that social network users are not simply more intrinsically motivated to exercise, said team memberTim Althoff, a graduate student, in a recent Stanford Engineering news article.

Demographics do play a role, however: The researchers found that women were most influenced by other women and that 30 to 45 year olds had the biggest boost in physical activity. The social networking component also proved beneficial for users characterized as obese.

The impact of this research extends beyond exercise, the study authors said. These findings can also be used to design effective support systems to promote healthy lifestyles. Online social networks are a powerful tool to provide social support and influence healthy behaviors, Leskovec said in the release.

See the original post here:
Social networks may boost fitness, Stanford researchers say - ScienceBlog.com (blog)