I have been away from some of the things I pay reasonably close attention to most notably my blog and 
Twitter. I have had other things I am working on. I have also decided that the 24 hours I get each day by grace can be used in many ways and some of those actually don’t need to involve a computer. Kinda liberating, actually.
During my self-imposed sabbatical I have realized that I was heading toward being out of balance. My need to be seen and liked and recognized and understood and brilliant and useful and wanted and on and on and on was twisting me up a bit. Funny thing is, I don’t even get involved in this whole social media / networking frenzy to a real intense degree even when I am ‘involved’. So moving forward I am setting up social media boundaries. I know this is far from original or novel but you are reading my blog so I am writing about something I have just experienced so to me it is very novel.
- Twitter is not mission critical to me– When I realize that Twitter is one part of a greater communicating ecology I belong to it takes the pressure off.
- Follow me and I may not follow you back – Don’t be offended. It actually has NOTHING to do with you. It’s about time. Since I don’t blindly and automatically follow everyone who follows me it would stand to reason that I would need to research who I would actually follow which takes time.I don’t even HAVE a lot of followers but any time spent in review can be wasted time these days. If I have time great. If not then it can wait.
- Observations outweigh opinions – While I almost desperately want to give an opinion about 95% of the stuff I see on Twitter I can say that little if anything comes of it other than some back and forth that vanishes like a mist into the Twitterverse only to be forgotten except on the Twitter servers. I will try to give an observation or a pertinent thought only and keep the back and forth to a minimum.
- Twitter search is the Twitter Handbook – By using the search function to truly weed through the silliness I can be more directed and efficient. That sounds like a plan.
- Expect nothing – Most good ‘events’ in Twitter seem to happen almost by accident. When I go in with some expectation I am usually disappointed. Take that option off the table and there is relief.
- Value the rare real connection – I have made few real connections via Twitter. Could be that I am actually an anti-social media type. I don’t know. I will say this though. Go visit Danny Brown and pay attention. Twitter has been worth it just to discover a decent fellow like Danny. He is one of the good guys.
So that’s it. I am ‘back’. I am not going to define what that means. Not sure what it does mean anyway so why bother. Thanks for staying this long. Have a great day.
FT Takeaway – Intentionality is critical to social media sanity and success.
