find+attract

Since I’ve started using all the new fangled internet tools to manage the information, and content of interest to me, I’ve had this vague tension. This tension has grown over the years into this bizarre compulsion to join/connect/comment/favorite/rate/bookmark/invite/beta test indiscriminately and with complete abandon. Be everywhere. Connect more. Electronic happiness. Computer magic. Digital fulfillment.

Of course this is a lot of hooey.

Allow me to state the obvious reasons why.

You can’t join and consistently use every network

You can’t use every tool, all the time ( I know, I’ve tried)

Real Value doesn’t come from more (necessarily)

The irony is that by trying to do it all, without some discrimination and mindfulness, leads to less quality connections, and less productivity, less of what you were striving for in the first place.

So if you’re job and interests require that you use these tools to be productive and effective, or if you simply want to use these tools to accomplish your goals, you end up feeling a bit stuck.

In short, you suffer from Social Network Fatigue.

If this describes you then I hope you’ll see some value in the series of posts I’m working on to solve this problem. I’ll be tailoring the content to sourcing and recruiting people specifically, but the underlying principles will be applicable regardless of industry or purpose. By the end of the series I’ll have a simple, clear list of principles and specific tactics to follow.

Step One: map out all the places the digital you exists right now. Above is an interactive example of what I mean. It’s a mindmap that I’ve created using Mindomo, a web-based, free tool. There are many other mindmapping tools out there, but I wouldn’t recommend spending a lot of time looking unless you are going to be a heavy mind-mapper. For this particular use, this one is just right.

Simply start entering nodes for all the places you are or want to be on line. Categorize your places if that helps you, and also show the ways these places are connected. This one isn’t the complete picture for me personally, but it illustrates the idea. Visualizing it this way accomplishes a couple things…

1. you can see in one space all the places you are, you might be surprised.

2. you can use the connector tools to visualize how your places interact with each other and how your content flows through your network. This will be key in later steps as you start to be a bit more intentional about how things are connected and how you personally interact with these sites, push your content, and connect with people.

Personally, I’m using this map on my ‘Connect‘ page here on my blog to help people decide where they’d like to connect with me. Since not everyone uses the same sites and networks, it gives them options. More on this later. For now play with the map above a bit, its interactive. You can drag it around, zoom in/out, expand/contract the branches and the links are live beneath the icons. To see the full screen, click the red M in the middle.