WAYS TO USE SOCIAL
MEDIA EFFECTIVELY
One thing that can take up a lot of time is social media. If you really want to simplify your life, you can use social media in a way that doesn’t cause more chaos. Let’s look at the different ways to use social media more effectively, whether for work or play. Simplifying your online life can really make a huge difference in your overall happiness and success level.
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- Pick Just One – If you must use social media, choose the platform that you like best and stick to that one. Maintain profiles on the others without updating them just in case something ever happens, but most of the time you’ll be able to use just one for what you need to stay connected.
- Use Automation Tools – If you do need to use more than one account (for work or business, for example), find the right tools that enable automation and consolidation of accounts into one dashboard to make it faster to check up on the accounts.
- Create Your Own Dashboard – If you need to use more than one social account and you don’t want to pay a monthly fee for automation, you can create a dashboard on your computer that enables you to click into your social media faster and more easily than one at a time.
- Organize Connections – Differentiate your connections by organizing them into groups or lists depending on what the platform allows. When you organize your connections, it’s easier to send messages to update them or check their updates when you have it on your schedule.
- Train Your Friends – It’s not very productive to be chatting with your friends or family all day. If you’re working, turn off notifications other than emergencies. If you stop answering your friends and family during the day when it’s not an emergency, they’ll stop bothering you.
- Turn It Off When Not in Use – When you are not actively on your social media platforms, turn them off so that you aren’t checking constantly. For some people who like using PCs still, one way to do this is to get social media off your phone and keep it only on your home PC.
- Choose Your Time Window – Don’t check social media continuously. Even if you use it for work, don’t check it all the time. Pick times during the day to check it, set a timer, and stick to that. This way it won’t get out of hand, especially when you are trying to be productive.
When you train yourself to turn off distractions so that you can focus on what you’re doing at that time, you’ll realize that you don’t need social media to be on all the time. A few minutes of focused connection is a lot better than random interruptions to your workflow or your time with your family and friends.
