So I googled myself recently and found that someone had reblogged one of my posts onto his site and I had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN I HAD WRITTEN THIS POST.

It’s a gem of a personal post written in 2019 when I was going through the same angst about the lack of value that social media was providing. Obviously, it’s been brewing for a few years until 2022 when I bit the bullet and deleted them all.

Here’s the post if you’re interested in reading.

Finally, I could breathe. I got rid of them once and for all.

(Who would have thought I’d ever say this? Me, who ran courses and workshops in Building Your Personal Learning Networks Through Twitter and Social Networks for a variety of clients: organisations, universities and associations. I even SPOKE at international conferences about these platforms. I’ve basically obliterated my entire professional reputation and basis for which this blog and my work was founded on. Gone! Time for not rebranding but a buckle down into the core elements of this. Not about the platforms but about the behaviours of communication, relationships, creativity, sensemaking, who knows maybe even some personal growth for a more human centred approach).

Well anyway, amusingly though in my 2019 post, I share a video from Casey Niestat where he talks about FOMO and Twitter. Watch it because watching this video now, many years later, exactly explained why I was going mad.

However, I also wrote the following which I had forgotten about and thought about how I have moved on with my own advice. So here goes.

Black writing is 2019.

Blue writing is 2022.

If Social Media Is Not Giving You Value Then Consider:

1. What can you change (tweaks to behaviour, mindset or habits) to hone your filtering skills?
   • I completely rewired my brain. Social media can get out of my life. I don’t need it, I don’t want it. I’m actually quite sick of it. I have enough (sort of) digital, learning and networking skills to find ways to bring new networks, new conversations, new insights into my life without platform capitalists. I have the personal knowledge mastery skills such as curation, creation, community building, sensemaking and creativity – I don’t need an audience nor have platforms push or use my ideas for their gains.
2. What are the conversations and communities that you enjoy and give you personal satisfaction in participating? Do more of those and delete the rest.
   • I’ve moved my discussions internally to our enterprise community network called Yammer although I think I’m busting the gut of every one of my colleagues. Today I wanted to get some back-end reporting of how our company uses it and specifically asked to “remove myself from the data” knowing full well that I skew it. Alas. It’s what happens when you’re constantly sharing, engaging and connecting people to people and ideas. I’m a Community Manager, what can I say? Other than that, I’m active in my knitting communities and enjoy the banter and sharing of projects and ideas. Other than that, I’m exploring Micro.blog (more about that later because it’s still very new to me).
3. Do you have FOMO? Don’t. Trust me, you’re not missing out on anything. Use that time you scrolled your feed to feed your mind with something else.
   • Yeah sometimes but I have a greater fear of getting back into Twitter. I simply don’t want to go back there because I know I’ll be like a drug addict who got their fix and then were miserable afterwards. I have people who pop into my head and I think, “wonder what they’re up to?” then that disappears soon after as I doubt they’re thinking of me. If it’s important I’ll get into touch with them when I need them. I’ve written in recent times the Changes I’ve Experienced without Social Media in My Life.
4. Do you feel the pressure to show and share everything in the spirit of “working out loud”? Don’t. You really don’t need to.  If it’s going to make you feel resentment or unacknowledged, think of what is important to YOU and share that to communities who value your work and who will support, credit and acknowledge it.  Much of “working out loud” actually happens in closed ‘safe’ online communities as many people are not comfortable with doing this on the open networks.  Seek out those spaces instead.
   • I’m doing more working out loud inside our company than on the socials – and here on my blog of course. I wouldn’t advise working out loud on public spaces anymore, not when Google bots trawl your stuff and churn it out as theirs. Even worse, people in your own industry claiming your ideas.

Okay so there you have it. I should look through my old blog posts because I swear I could write a book with all these ramblings here but it would be the most boring book in the world.