Social Media Usage—How Much is Too Much?
Posted by Beth Hrusch on Tue, Nov 24, 2009
Logged into Facebook 24 hours a day? Every time you read something, you let people know on Reddit? StumbleUpon more than a few things a day? You may be using social media too much.
Or maybe not. Everyone sets their own reasonable level of social media usage. Some exceed it, obviously, but most people seem to settle into patterns, even if the pattern is sporadic bouts of intense usage.
Other than the very real possibility of creeping people out, it's ok to use social media as much as you want, as long as you aren't contacting other people. Twitter sometimes experiences the wrath of angry message receivers because, let's be honest, most people tweet about inane things. (Studies have put the percentage of essentially worthless tweets around 40.)
But using Facebook to check in, or stumbling upon articles until your shoes are split open is ok. After all, people posted their content with the intention of other people seeing it. And commenting on it. And reposting it. Just remember: you're being judged on your social media usage.
Judiciousness is still the key when sending things out. If you send out nothing, well, you're not really doing anything. But if you send out too many links, videos, random thoughts, articles, photos, etc., then people will tune you out. Social media is kind of like real life in that way.
A good rule of thumb: If you'd share something with your third-best friend, it may be ok to share with everyone. If you wouldn't, you should probably keep it to yourself.
In the course of your social media usage, however, there is certainly a time and place for the occasional bold post. There are, after all, events that are worthy of such attention that they go viral. Alas; these are rare. Moderation should be your guide.