They say timing is everything.
Just last week, I created a post about social bookmarking.
I admitted I was extremely late to the game.
Turns out, that might be a good thing.
Cutting Edge
I never said I was on the cutting edge of technology.
I have this tendency to ride out technology.
- I only got a microwave when it came with my apartment
- I purchased a VCR (remember those?) for statistics training tapes – I needed all the help I could get
- I stubbornly held out against cell phones
It’s not that I don’t like technology – I love technology.
I just hate following the crowd.
Late to the Party
So now that I finally decide to check out social bookmarking, I see this headline —
“Are Social Bookmarking Sites Dying?”
Doesn’t it figure? My lack of interest killed social bookmarking.
Okay, it’s more likely that this is another example of me missing the boat. Oh well.
The Dying Truth
The Dying title came from another well-written post from Daniel Scocco at Daily Blog Tips.
- The post cites the recent State of the Blogosphere 2010 report released by Technorati
- It shows Facebook and Twitter outpacing other platforms for social media traffic
- By a lot – just look at that chart
There are some interesting comments from the post.
- Don’t be rude – finish reading mine first
- Okay, if you must, I’ll wait for your return
Strategic Timing
In the meantime, I decided I really am ahead of my time.
- I saw the future of social bookmarking and did not waste my time
- I figured This, too, shall pass
- If you wait long enough, you save a lot of time and money
The truth lies in the content of one of the comments from the post.
Social media is overwhelming.
There are not enough hours in the day to stay current with all the changes and social media tools.
So, keep it simple, and just choose a few and do your best at those.
Now if I can just figure out what the heck I want to do about Facebook.
What do you think? Are social bookmarking sites dying?
Social bookmarking time bomb created at Tagxedo.com
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I’m with you – I don’t like following crowds. 🙂
Like everything else, social bookmarking has a limited shelf life. I remember back about 15-20 years ago, Sony came out with this really neat new media disk – about half the size of a postcard – that was supposed to be the next great way to listen to music. It was cool, but it never caught on. No one could understand why anyone would replace the CD. :))
MySpace was the latest greatest, but then kids, who apparently think they get to decide what’s cool, flocked to Facebook.
I’m whining. In actual fact, I have memberships at several bookmarking sites. Why? I don’t know – I never go to any of them. Why when you can simply subscribe to a site and have it show up on your RSS feed?
I also have a membership to SiteJot, which allows me to morph my Favorites folder to a virtual folder. Again, why? It’s great, but I’m pretty much rooted to this chair. Rarely do I use it. It replaced one called Baboo that I actually did use about 8 years ago (sadly now it’s gone).
Hi Lori:
I have often said the one good thing that could be said about my procrastination is I save a lot of money. 🙂
I didn’t really have a feeling one way or the other about social bookmarking because with everything on my plate as a new business owner, I simply did not have the time to really check it out. Now that I decided to at least “check it out,” apparently that ship has sailed – or – maybe I should say sunk. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Lori.
P.S. I never heard of SiteJot or Baboo-LOL!!
I understand how you feel, Cathy. The social media world seemed to be a ship sailing by with lots of people having fun without me. But then I saw the business potential of it and how this kind of networking, i.e. making personal connections, went along with my desire to market my coaching business through a more personal and softer approach.
Now, I find the social networking sites that I use fill the gap between hyped up marketing and labor-intensive low-key marketing.
When I saw how others were struggling with starting to use these sites, my business partner and I designed an entire e-course on how to use 6 social networking sites. For anyone who wants to get a better understanding the nuances and potential profitable results of social networking (and how to get started with it), we have a free report available at SocialNetworkingForEntrepreneurs.com
Hope that helps!
Thanks, Jeannette. It is definitely overwhelming. Since my whole theme is about keeping things simple, I always recommend “choosing your battles” and don’t saturate yourself in too much information.
I started with LinkedIn, eased into Twitter (which I admit, I could use more effectively) and have not done much (from a business perspective) on Facebook. I am quite conflicted about how I feel about that platform.
The New Year always brings reflections and planning. Thank you for stopping by, Jeanette, and sharing your information.