is there too much noise?
The reason I ask this question is that I just enjoyed a nice three day weekend, pretty much away from the computer. This AM, opening up my Google reader, I see over 900 blog posts and over fifty of them are in the voiceover category.
What is it we think we all have to say? And I include me in there too.
It’s a vicious circle, mind you. You should have a blog to be an active participant in social media (and SEO/SEM) and everybody has the right to share whatever they like. Equally true, we can all subscribe and unsubscribe to any blog at any time (except this blog, you can check in anytime you like, but you can never leave).
With all this content, what are we all contributing to? And how many people are not just reading (Feedburner +) but understanding? Are we communicating or are we just spewing? Because more important to social media than the tool (a blog) is the content…saying something of relevance.
A blog writer has to assume that their posts resonate with someone if they have even one subscriber (and by the way, not for nothing, I mean it when I say thank you for subscribing). But when I think about 900 posts over three days multiplied times content on radio, television, newspaper, Facebook et al multiplied times international content….my head literally spins a bit.
Today I will hit “mark all as read” on my Google Reader very often and likely erase some quality content that I cannot make room for. I must move on.
Am I simply oversubscribed or overwhelmed? Have these thoughts ever occurred to you? How do you deal with all this communication, all this noise? Do you tune in more or totally tune out? Any tricks you care to share?
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Peter O'Connell and Terry Daniel, VoiceOverClub.com. VoiceOverClub.com said: RT @audioconnell: is there too much noise? #voiceover #blog #socialmedia http://ping.fm/pw6Bk […]
Excellent topic! I think about this A LOT. I definately think there’s WAY too much “noise” and while most everyone has a valid opinion on any given topic – very few are enlightening or thought provoking (the way this topic is). Most blogs that I’ve come across are more about people “spouting off” and looking for validation for their opinions, than about trying to share experience which might be helpful to another person.
Obviously, it’s incredibly easy to have a blog, and just because a person has one doesn’t mean it’s worth reading. I get annoyed when a newscast talks to someone who has a blog – because unless they’re a specialist in a specific field – the fact that they have a blog is meaningless, it’s not an instant certification of expertise.
Regarding social media – more and more it seems people are so busy “putting stuff out there” that they’re not “receiving” anything. It’s like shouting in an empty room.
Regarding those 900 messages of yours – sounds like you’re overwhelmed because you’re oversubscribed, ha. I can’t imagine the occasional nugget of wisdom you find is worth the daily panning for gold you must go through. How I handle the overload of communication is by – see if this makes sense – when I’m at my most busy and unable to spare a moment for nonsense – I look at my emails, etc and make a snap decision on whether or not something is useful. It helps eliminate any sentimentality I may have for any store, blog, Tweet that I may be subscribed to.
Great topic! And thanks for letting me spout off!
Best wishes….
Hi Tess,
First thank you overall for the very thoughtful comments. I’m glad this sparked something within you.
Your observations on people spouting off to be heard and just transmitting and not receiving within social media channels is spot on.
Social media in general has sort of a “let me stop talking about me for a moment; what do you think about me?” side-effect that many folks wrongly use as a launch pad for their social media objectives. Its insincere and unreadable and it’s a good reminder for everyone (me too) to stay on message (not on ego).
And would you believe I HAVE cut down on my blog subscriptions?! I think that’s part of my amazement: the people I subscribe to seem to be pushing out a ton of content. Oh, well, “mark all as read”!
Thanks very much for visiting here and opining.
Best always,
– Peter
You know, Peter, I seem to struggle with this same thing every day. I too use Google reader to try to organize what I’m subscribed to. A lot of it is voiceover related, but I’ve also got some others that interest me and some that are just mind candy.
I try to take a couple of minutes each day to skim through things, but there are days I’m just too busy to do that, then when I check in the next day, I’ve got double what I would normally have.
I wind up using the “read all” feature a lot and have to tell myself that I’m not missing anything truly important.
I see other people posting to their blogs, checking in on Facebook, LinkedIn, posting endlessly on the VO message boards, and I wonder how they also have time to record projects, submit auditions, and do all the other marketing we need to do to be successful in this business. I wonder if I’m just not managing my time well enough since I don’t seem to be able to do it all.
It does seem like we’re deluged with so much information and so many choices on how we spend our time.
Each time I find myself getting sidetracked, I have to ask, “Is this really helping me move my business forward?” If not, I have to push myself to let go and move onto something that will be more productive.
Excellent topic and thought provoker. I’m curious to hear other responses.
Hi Tim:
I’m glad to see you and I share a love of the “mark all as read” button on Google reader.
And I think you ask the most logical question of all: “Is this really helping me move my business forward?” Because that’s the overall point. Sometimes we forget to ask that question when cruising through our blogs and sometimes we don’t want to ask that question cause it forces us to go back to work. But blogs don’t pay mortgages…generally speaking.
Thanks for your response!
Best always,
– Peter
Hi Peter,
There is a new book out called “Less Clutter. Less Noise.” Your question was, “Is there too much noise?”
Well, the author of the book, Kem Meyer, says,”If you’d like to contribute something of real value that improves quality of life, it’s as simple as dialing back your own volume.” She lists five ways we should be looking to help reduce the stress for our customers. The link for these is here:
http://tinyurl.com/yedkcjy
Enjoy your weekend!
Hi Ralph,
Thanks very much for the info!
Best always,
– Peter