Social Media Meltdown

In case you missed it over on The Busy Woman’s Guide to Surviving Motherhood on Saturday… Thanks again to Pam for having me!

Social Media Meltdown

What’s your blog url? Do you tweet? Where is your Facebook Fan Page? How many Google Followers/Networked Blogs/RSS subscribers are on your list? Put your best pics on Flickr, Buzz over to Google, get LinkedIn premium accounts… Stumble, Technorati, Digg! And what the heck is Reddit?

Ummmm, hello? I’ve only been alive 208 days – this is a lot of pressure! It seems like as soon as I get used to one social media outlet, another one has sprung up and is the next big thing.

As my intro above will tell you, I started blogging to keep Grandma in the loop, but, as any blogger will tell you, this stuff is addictive! My videos also got YouTube views from UK. I inherited Mommy’s competitive nature and propensity to jump in with both feet, and by the time I hit preschool, I may not have time for playdates…

It began innocently. Blogger is so sneaky – they have the “Google Friends” widget just waiting and premade to plug into your sidebar. How nice, you think, who doesn’t want new friends? And just for extra measure, you add a Networked Blogs widget, too… I already have friends on Facebook, they shouldn’t have to sign up with Google to be counted. But then you notice that lots of your new bloggy friends are on Twitter. Neat! A way to publish quick thoughts without a whole long blog entry! And THEN you see all the kids on Facebook advertising their Formsprings.

Before long, you’ve been sucked in – you can barely find time to post on your own blog anymore, since you’re busy

• Commenting on your friends’ entries
• Replying to comments on previous posts
• Updating your Facebook Fan page
• Tweeting every diaper change
• Learning HTML and CSS to keep your blog looking its best
• Answering questions on Formspring
• Stumbling on interesting pages

So, I quit… I’m not signing up for anything new! I don’t care if I’m supposed to be Tagged or FriendFeed-ing or creating link lists on Del.icio.ous – I’ve had enough! I need some more time to do the important things

• bounce in my jumperoo
• snuggle with Mommy
• sing with Daddy
• exercise with Henry

The outlets I already use, I will continue to do so -I’ll keep up with my Google Reader, and check in now and then with my Tweeps, and network with my Facebook Fans, and answer questions from admirers on Formspring… oh, and BLOG! But don’t come tell me about Tumblr and Mixx and whatever that one with the elephant icon is – I’m unplugging.

This post originally appeared yesterday on Pam’s blog at The Busy Woman’s Guide to Surviving Motherhood – check her out!