Why I texttwitterfacebookbloggoogleustream...

It's true. I use them all. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Jott, Spinvox, Xobni, YouVersion, Ustream and more.

At first glance, it seems completely contradictory to my mantra: Less Clutter. Less Noise. But, in reality, these technologies effectively help me to COMPRESS time, INCREASE my knowledge base, ORGANIZE my thoughts and calendar, ENHANCE my relationships and hold me ACCOUNTABLE. I link them all together, and set preferences to auto-deliver the stuff I need NOW and organize the stuff I'll reference LATER in categories. Depending on the circumstance and objective...I have both close and extended people groups, regular and intermittent interactions, public and private content.

There's no one size fits all approach for the "how to" of this concept. So don't ask for it. You can't make a well-informed decision from an explanation; it has to be experienced. The best advice I can give is to try one at a time and see how it fits.

There was an article in last month's Wired about using today's Web apps to separate out the good stuff. Some excerpts:

• We've hit this critical point where our ability to create information has outstripped our ability to manage it. Knowledge workers spend more time sorting stuff than actually using it.
• What I needed was some help-an assistant to do some sifting for me. Ding! Robot psychology. Awesome. Amplify human intelligence with machine intelligence.
• My Facebook page attracts my friends with whom I share social bonds. Meanwhile, my science blog attracts complete strangers with whom I share a common interest in a topic. Sometimes these strangers tend to tell me things and point me to links that are more useful than the social stuff on my Facebook. [Kem here: In my world...Twitter accomplishes both. It's the hybrid app for me; social and semantic.]
• Our information overload isn't going away. To find our way, we need a Web that organizes itself.

Comments

[Jim Henry]

I've got 6 outta 8 going. I'm still not sold on Twitter, but I can't seem to get myself to stop using it. Jott has been a huge help when I have the occasional random thought while driving down the road. :)

[dup]

Loving Jott, thanks. How has it been for you long term? Do you continue to use it as a communication tool for your team?

[Rick Suttles]

I love this post...it reinforces my lifestyle and how my generation thinks about technology. The title made me smirk! Can't wait to come out to Granger and see everything going on this summer.