Social Networking and Me

I know a lot about social networking. I've even ghost-written a few books on the topic. I know the ins and outs, I know what you're supposed to do to achieve maximum results, and I know all the do's and don'ts. Yep, I'm pretty much an intellectual expert on social networking.

But in reality and in actual practice--I'm a newbie with a capital "N." See, it doesn't seem to matter that I *know* what I'm supposed to do, that I've done countless hours of research on the topic and the different forms (for the aforementioned ghost-written books), or that I can preach the benefits of social networking with the best of them...because when you get right down to it, I am NOT a social networking success story.

I get it. I really do. Take Twitter, for instance. I understand the appeal. I know WHY Twitter works (when it works). I even enjoy using Twitter...to a certain extent. But I'm lucky if I even remember to tweet ONCE a day, let alone find the time to use Twitter the way it should be used (which is, at the base, all about entering into conversations with other folks).

The same goes with Facebook...though, I will admit I enjoy Facebook a bit more than Twitter. I think that's because conversations happen SO FAST on Twitter, that I'm always behind the flow of information. But Facebook seems to operate at a slower pace (at least for me), and that pace seems to match my ideal social networking pace.

Blogging is another animal all together. Here at TNG, I'm good about keeping my Monday slot filled with some type of a post, probably because the other TNGs are counting on me so I don't want to let anyone down, but every time I try to get organized at my personal blog, I last a couple of weeks and then...well, a few weeks will pass before I even realize I've fallen behind--again.

So every week I'm on a new mission to update my blog at least three times in a seven day time frame (come on, it shouldn't be THAT difficult!), to update Twitter and Facebook at least once a day (Monday through Friday), and try to become more active in the social networking world.

But I continue to fail at this. It's not that I don't want to reach out and talk to folks. Heck, I LOVE talking to people! It's more that I have so much to do every day that the hours rush by and suddenly, I'm exhausted and it's bed time.

I'm going to try something new at my blog beginning in January. Somehow (ha!) I'm going to try to find time to pre-write about a dozen posts sometime this month. And then, on the days I just am too busy to come up with something new, I'll grab one of the pre-written posts. Of course, supposing this works, I'll then have to take time to replace whatever pre-written ones I use.

The weird thing is that I LOVE reading other folks blogs. There are a dozen I check on a fairly regular basis, and the majority of these folks have blogging down to a science. Their posts are interesting, timely, and I always learn something...or they make me laugh...or they make me think. Because they're so good at blogging, I always come back.

And that's where I"m failing on my blog. I think I come up with some good posts, but I'm not consistent enough to keep people coming back. My goal is to become as strong in practice at social networking as I am in knowledge...or heck, even half as strong!

For all of you social networking gurus out there...how do you do it? Where do you find the time? Or what tricks do you use to keep on target? I'd love a few pointers!