Questions around organizing my life online vs information overload
March 3, 2008
More and more tools are being released which help you communicate with the wider world and my question always seems to be organizing which of the organizers I should be using and the best way of using them together (if there is such a thing!). What follows is a jumble of thoughts of these issues.
Some personal examples are:
My blog(s)
Flickr
Facebook
Twitter
Tumblr
Google Reader
del.icio.us
YouTube
Feedfriend
Amazon wishlist
Last.fm
Questions I ponder which span all these examples above:
Is there such a line as the personal/work divide anymore?
Is pooling everything all together into one place the solution?
Is using all these examples separately the solution?
Who is the solution for? Me, my friends, my readers? Actually, does it matter who the solution is for anymore?
Do other people really need (or want) to know my Amazon wishlist (etc) or do I just want quick access to it?
Can x do something that y can’t do already? Or does it just make it faster and quicker but with a bit of work, I could just use x and keep two things together in one place?
Wavering between one tool to rule them all and then back to individuality reigns
I’ve set up accounts on so many sites and then come back to tools which promise the best of everything all in one place - such as Netvibes or Google Reader - but I find myself using them for a while and then moving back to the individual sites.
A good example of this is our local news sites. It’s too much information overload to subscribe via Google Reader so I just load up their homepages and take a quick glance to see what’s their big and latest headlines every so often. Is there a quick tool which shows “what’s on the homepage” of a site right now?
Another example is twitter and Facebook status. Having twhirl or some other twitter client open all the time, there’s a constant flood of messages. My eyes glaze over and when I log out and turn it on again, there’s a ridiculous number of status updates that have flown by. Information overload. Is there a quick way to see one most latest status update for each of my contacts, in one place - a little like the most recent Facebook status list that you can see? Something I can take a quick glance at? I prefer Twitter because it’s exportable, it’s RSS and I can use it how I like but does it help me or just distract me?
Every so often, I give Netvibes or Google Desktop Sidebar a go. I find myself being given a limited number of tools and the gimicks/widgets wear off quickly. I don’t really need today’s weather, today’s quote, a photo slideshow, or how many unread emails I have. I end up scrapping these and going back to having multiple tabs open, and a bookmarks toolbar for quick access to everything.
I’ve tried Remember the Milk and other to-do lists but end up back with my paper diary that I can enjoy the feeling of crossing things off from and some important reminders on my phone.
Do you have any suggestions, similar ponderings or behaviours as me?
I feel that sometimes logging into all the different types of online applications takes away from my productivity. Flickr was great in the beginning, but now Facebook offers a lot of the same features and they are automatically available to the people I want to view them. Also, if facebook could make their status more ‘exportable’ instead of using their ugly banner….that would make me extremely fanatical. Twitter just really serves no purpose for me and seems like a waste of time. Have you tried flock out? It has a pretty good Facebook sidebar built directly into the browser.
— Landon Miller, March 5, 2008
I’ve tried Flock for a while but it kept crashing for some reason.
Facebook offers heaps of features, but it is quite a walled community which is frustrating when you know people who won’t join up
— rachelcunliffe, March 10, 2008
People like me who won’t join up.:^)
I played with Facebook for a day on someone else’s account.
Rachel, I hated it, the applications were easy, it was all the stuff. Something was coming at this person’s page constantly and they aren’t at all active on it. I almost felt trapped.
Information overload can happen with just about anything I think, be it an RSS reader, TV, radio, print. Each one of us has to make a decision about what we can and can’t manage.
I tried Facebook, I didn’t see any up side to it, and I’m not going to try it again.
As for being organized, I gave up years ago, like you I have a tendency to use a paper and pen when I have a to do list, more habit than anything, but it works.
— Bene D, March 11, 2008
I find that too many different applications tend to annoy me more than help me and like you I tend to go back to using individual applications or websites than tools that try to organize it all into one place.
But, there are some tools that really do help and make it easier to stay organized. I think it just depends on what your needs are and if they would actually save you time or not. I find google’s home and it’s ability to add tabs and rss feeds very useful to find new and interesting topics, like this post.
Bene: I was forced into facebook as I found it is hard to connect to certain people without it, because well that is their main and often only program they use to stay connected to others.
— Vinh Le, March 13, 2008
ha, I’ve come across this post and discussion quite randomly while trying to update my blog roll! I have got SO frustrated recently with this issue of tabs or central organisable website. Downloaded Flock yesterday and will see how that works out, and have used NetVibes before but generally I do think that having everything in one place removes the element of choice as to what you keep abreast of. When you initially download something like Flock you have to tell it where you have accounts etc. But, overall I feel that if you REALLY want to know the news…you log onto bbc.co.uk or similar. If you suddenly realise you haven’t heard from someone for a while, you go onto facebook, find them and message them (well, I do) Do I need a faceless website thingy to gather it all together - no, I think I make the choice to do certain things at certain times when I feel the need, urge or have some free space. Facebook alone limits my productivity - I don’t need all the other applications multiplying that! Anyway, rant over, thanks for making me realise I am not the only one!!
— Alice, April 7, 2008
I hate that websites such as facebook are so slow and often have lots of errors
— Go Media, April 10, 2008
yes, there is too much info today coming too fast. I almost despise twitter and facebook b/c of the statuses. I mean, who cares what so and so is doing every 10 mins?
This takes away from a valuable mantra of my life. “Whatever you’re doing, where-ever you are, be ALL there.”
Can you imagine a person you’re having dinner with always looking at another table? and how can you get any work done in front of your computer when all these statuses fly by that make you wonder other things?
simplicity is key.
— simplicity, April 17, 2008