We all know that these days we live in the so called ‘information age’ and never before in history has information about any subject been so easy to access. Now this might seem like great news at first but how much time do you actually have to read all of the information you receive?

As well as the established sources of information like radio, TV, newspapers, magazines etc we are now also exposed to the ‘new media’ available on the worldwide web. Social Media, Google, Wikipedia, Bing and other browsers today provide us with endless avenues of information, a continuous live encyclopaedia constantly being updated second by second across the globe.

However, with all this information now available at our fingertips how do we streamline it?  It’s impossible to read every piece of information, try every application or follow every “guru” on their website or blog. We may seek to absorb more and more important information and ideas but the sad truth is there simply aren’t enough hours in the day!  And, ironically enough, applications that are available to help us save time actually cause us to waste more of our time (albeit our choice!)

Having become a Social Media addict myself, and providing a service to my clients’ that helps them to have their own on-line presence, I too find myself drowning in a constant stream of information.  So how can we make all these sources of information more efficient?

Well one way that I like to approach information overload is to liken the situation to shopping in a Supermarket.  Let’s call it the Social Media Store (SMS) which, like the Telecoms “short message service SMS” indicates ‘brief and to the point!’  The ‘Social Media Store’ consists of 3 main aisles with relevant sections.  Here’s an example of how it looks:

When we go to the supermarket, local store or shop on-line, we have our standard items, our favourite products and our occasional indulgences.  In other words we are faced with a bewildering array of choice – but we have made our decision as to what cereal, bread, cleaning products, frozen items etc. we purchase on a regular basis, diversifying only if our chosen brand is out of stock.  So my suggestion is to do exactly the same with the constant influx of online information we receive through Social Media.

Firstly, choose the key businesses that provide you with the information you are looking for, the people you like to chat to and the types of platform that work best for you.  (No doubt there will be some who continually drip feed you pieces of information or guidance that benefits your business, others that interest you through their online personality and certain platforms that promote you and your business to the sectors that you want to be seen active on).

Secondly, when you have some spare time, dip into feeds that have previously sent you articles of interest. Also, don’t forget to browse other platforms to see if they touch your target market – and look at online profiles on those platforms to see if there is a common link either by business, location or friends.  Don’t be afraid to look at your competitors to see what they are doing, achieving or providing. You might spot something you could emulate in a different style or approach.  Competition is good because it keeps us on our toes and makes us aware of what information we might want to share openly.  If you do give some things away freely don’t be surprised if you see it pop up somewhere else!  That’s the nature of the game!

If you have a Google account then iGoogle will produce a very useful customised dashboard.  By setting up your key RSS feeds on your home page, as well as the business sectors you follow, you can have a live screenshot of information customised for your needs.

So take my advice and take some time to de-clutter your Social Media.  By doing so you will receive information from sources you trust, newsletters you want to read and followers that make your online experience useful to your business – and fun! The bottom line is this: access to the information we need, at the time we need it, is a valuable resource – but information overload is stressful. So every small action that we can take to sort out our information inflow is definitely time well spent!