Are Social Media Sites Like Facebook Just Wasting Your Time?
Simple methods to Manage Your Time while on Facebook
There are plenty of folks that feel that social media sites like Facebook are a complete waste of your time and energy. Well, It's true.
The majority of people spend way too much time on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn surfing around, and not producing much of anything.
But can these sites be utilized efficiently, rather than solely as time wasters?
I personally think that the answer is yes.
However for that to happen, an individual must be highly organized and efficient, and able to cut down on distractions. Certainly it can be fun to spend time playing the hottest Online Facebook Games, or maybe browse thru your friends' pictures, but in the end of the day, if you don't balance your "fun time", with other tasks that will help either yourself or your business, you will end up feeling that you failed to get anything taken care of.
Here are 5 simple and easy ways to increase your productivity on Facebook, and other sites.
1. Control the amount of time that you spend on each social media site. Buy a timer, set the timer for a predetermined time like 45-50 minutes, and make a decision before hand that you're going to limit your Facebook activities to that amount of time.
This method will not only improve your productiveness when you're on Facebook, but it also will enable you to not arbitrarily get on Facebook when you're bored and not sure of what you should do next.
2. Make a note of what your desired goals are for every social media website. Why are you getting on Facebook in the first place? Would it be to network, build up your fan base, advertise products or services, or simply to check out what your friends are up to?
By understanding why you use each site, you will be able to catch yourself before you end up mindlessly surfing around, and loosing your drive to network or promote your business.
3. Don't beat yourself up if you happen to go astray. Very much like in meditation where when you see that your mind has gone off on a tangent, instead of ridiculing yourself, all you need to do is be aware of it, and be able to gently resume the act of not thinking. The same goes with regard to Social Networking sites.
Whenever you realize that you've been sucked into a brand new viral Youtube video clip, rather than slamming the top of your head on your laptop, gently end the video (after you finished laughing your butt off of course), and then return to the task at hand.
4. De-activate Instant Messages. Us humans often believe that we are good multi-taskers, and that we can deal with a number of things at once very efficiently. This could not be farther from the truth.
Human's are in reality terrible multi-taskers. Research indicates that it takes an average of fifteen minutes for you to refocus once you have gotten sidetracked.
Other research indicates that the effects on being focused on lots of things simultaneously decreases the I.Q. of a person far more then smoking cannabis.
We all know that distractions will always happen. But when you limit these disturbances, and in this case I am talking about those annoying instant messages, you will then be able to get a whole lot more accomplished.
5. Outsource. Let's be honest, knowing what you need to do in order to get more business through social networking sites is truly a daunting process. Often, it feels like you must do so much, that it gets overwhelming, and it's just plain easier to distract your mind to see what your friends are up to.
Many if not all of the tasks necessary to enhance your business or social network on sites like Facebook can be outsourced to others.
If you do not have an idea of what exactly needs to be done, you might want to employ the services of a Social Media Consultant to assist you or perhaps take over the social media tasks, which in turn can free up your time, so you can concentrate on what is most crucial in your life and/or business.
These are just some strategies that can help you make the most from sites like Facebook, and ensure that you make the most effective use of your time and energy.
There are plenty of folks that feel that social media sites like Facebook are a complete waste of your time and energy. Well, It's true.
The majority of people spend way too much time on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn surfing around, and not producing much of anything.
But can these sites be utilized efficiently, rather than solely as time wasters?
I personally think that the answer is yes.
However for that to happen, an individual must be highly organized and efficient, and able to cut down on distractions. Certainly it can be fun to spend time playing the hottest Online Facebook Games, or maybe browse thru your friends' pictures, but in the end of the day, if you don't balance your "fun time", with other tasks that will help either yourself or your business, you will end up feeling that you failed to get anything taken care of.
Here are 5 simple and easy ways to increase your productivity on Facebook, and other sites.
1. Control the amount of time that you spend on each social media site. Buy a timer, set the timer for a predetermined time like 45-50 minutes, and make a decision before hand that you're going to limit your Facebook activities to that amount of time.
This method will not only improve your productiveness when you're on Facebook, but it also will enable you to not arbitrarily get on Facebook when you're bored and not sure of what you should do next.
2. Make a note of what your desired goals are for every social media website. Why are you getting on Facebook in the first place? Would it be to network, build up your fan base, advertise products or services, or simply to check out what your friends are up to?
By understanding why you use each site, you will be able to catch yourself before you end up mindlessly surfing around, and loosing your drive to network or promote your business.
3. Don't beat yourself up if you happen to go astray. Very much like in meditation where when you see that your mind has gone off on a tangent, instead of ridiculing yourself, all you need to do is be aware of it, and be able to gently resume the act of not thinking. The same goes with regard to Social Networking sites.
Whenever you realize that you've been sucked into a brand new viral Youtube video clip, rather than slamming the top of your head on your laptop, gently end the video (after you finished laughing your butt off of course), and then return to the task at hand.
4. De-activate Instant Messages. Us humans often believe that we are good multi-taskers, and that we can deal with a number of things at once very efficiently. This could not be farther from the truth.
Human's are in reality terrible multi-taskers. Research indicates that it takes an average of fifteen minutes for you to refocus once you have gotten sidetracked.
Other research indicates that the effects on being focused on lots of things simultaneously decreases the I.Q. of a person far more then smoking cannabis.
We all know that distractions will always happen. But when you limit these disturbances, and in this case I am talking about those annoying instant messages, you will then be able to get a whole lot more accomplished.
5. Outsource. Let's be honest, knowing what you need to do in order to get more business through social networking sites is truly a daunting process. Often, it feels like you must do so much, that it gets overwhelming, and it's just plain easier to distract your mind to see what your friends are up to.
Many if not all of the tasks necessary to enhance your business or social network on sites like Facebook can be outsourced to others.
If you do not have an idea of what exactly needs to be done, you might want to employ the services of a Social Media Consultant to assist you or perhaps take over the social media tasks, which in turn can free up your time, so you can concentrate on what is most crucial in your life and/or business.
These are just some strategies that can help you make the most from sites like Facebook, and ensure that you make the most effective use of your time and energy.
