Are we spreading ourselves too thin?

February 16 2010, 8:35am

With the launch of yet another social networking platform last week many professionals who spend the better part of their work week online may be feeling stretched a little thin due to the volume of content, updates and messages they receive each day. The increasing need to have a well-rounded and far-reaching personal brand has motivated many people to sign up for as many social networking accounts as they can find. The benefits to joining the conversation, networking and sharing information is undeniable, however the consequences of not maintaining those profiles can really hurt your brand. Experts in the field will tell you that you should stick to the big five; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Bebo and YouTube. With a larger community your message can obviously reach more people. Of course, if you are after a specific target it won’t matter how many community members exist on that network if none of them fit your audience. Sticking with what is going to move your brand, your company or your business forward is the best advice that you can possibly follow. If your use of a certain social network isn’t working for you and you really are putting in the full effort, chances are you’re wasting your time. Applications such as HootSuite or Ping.fm are both free services that make updating all of your social networks simple and easy. Status updates can be scheduled and automatically spread to other networks without manually publishing content. Even though you don’t need to be on every platform right now, it doesn’t mean in the future you won’t want to change venues. It’s a good idea to reserve your full name on as many social networks as possible with services such as namechk.com, before someone else claims it.