I was recently messaged and asked to recommend a coach. So, I waxed lyrical about a particular person and mentioned a FB group that they run. I commented that I have found the group incredibly helpful. When I went to invite this person to the group, they were already a member. As a result I sent another message of apology realising that I wasn’t telling them anything new. The response I got back was what this post is about.

Yes, they were a member of that group but were struggling to keep up. They acknowledged that they were in too many groups. That there is sometimes too much information. We are all struggling with that, aren’t we?!

awareness is key

I did an inventory of the groups I belong to on FB. Some are social, some are practical within my community and many are ‘work’ related. However, the ones that I interact with and get use from are few and far between. I belong to all the groups for fear of missing a vital piece of information. I fear there might be an opportunity that would otherwise not come my way. And yet, many of these groups have failed to produce such riches.

I spend a lot of my social media time, scanning groups for information. Only now am I aware that the time invested in FB doesn’t fulfil the promise offered.

my solution

When I realised this, I found myself a social media partner. Between us we have halved our group membership. We shorten the time we spend on FB and don’t worry about missing anything. We shared the groups between us. I now get a weekly catch up with a friend where we share notes on anything we have seen. Both of us realised that we had invested far too much time on what is at best curiosity, at worst gossip.

My invitation to you is to take an inventory of the groups you belong to. Check to see which ones bring you value, and more importantly joy.

Social media … remember why you started.