Comments on: A Social Network/Social Media Snapshot

By: walt

walt — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:35:34 +0000

Laura: Indeed. I’m semi-retired. The roughly-half-time I spend on Library Leadership Network is fairly well focused: finding possible material, reviewing existing articles, writing and editing new articles and revising existing ones.

Also, I’m not much of a multitasker–when I used to have the LSW Meebo room open for an hour while I was “doing other stuff,” none of the other stuff got done, or got done very badly. If I was in a position where I needed to be at the computer but didn’t have compelling stuff to do that deserved my full attention, I’d spend more time on FriendFeed…but when I’m not actually focused on FriendFeed or writing or something else, the computer’s not on.

By: laura

laura — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:19:25 +0000

Ah — you have actual activities you want to be doing. I mostly don’t, or don’t on most days, or I am doing things that work well in tandem with FriendFeed. If I were actually doing serious work any more, I’d probably feel similarly.

By: walt

walt — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:07:35 +0000

Bob: Very good points. There’s a whole cluster of “attention” things going on. In my case, paying close attention to one thing at a time seems critical to getting good work done…and there are more than a few studies suggesting I’m not alone.

Laura: Partly just a way of saying it–but also, yes, I am wary of it, because time spent on FF is time not spent analyzing, synthesizing, reading, writing, thinking, meditating, going out for walks… And, for me, the rewards start to taper off past a certain point, after which it really does feel like a poor use of my time. It’s a constant balancing act. Meebo eventually failed; Ning failed almost immediately; so far, FF usually passes. And it’s only my own perception and balance; I don’t expect it to be anybody else’s. Or, to address the relative value: Up to a point, it’s a great use of time; past that point, it’s a great waste of time. That point is constantly fluctuating.

By: laura

laura — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:53:22 +0000

I’m curious about why you say you spend “too much time” on FriendFeed or wherever. You say that the experience is valuable to you, but you seem wary of it. Is it that it’s not as valuable (or doesn’t seem as serious) as other ways you might be spending time? I don’t mean this to be challenging — I’m genuinely interested in people’s perceptions of their time and how they pass it.

By: Bob Watson

Bob Watson — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:32:56 +0000

I think the critical issue is “attention” … getting it and having enough left over to understand what’s being communicated.

For some, “attention” is pretty much brain-stem stuff: “Here I am!” responses to “Here _I_ am!” That can be spread around pretty wide w/o much fall-off in quality.

It’s when your “attention needs” actually require some thought that things get dicey.