Some people think Facebook, is a waste of time.
And it can be – IF you’re prone to time wasting. You don’t have to be if you learn how to use it properly.
There are plenty of less vocal people who believe StumbleUpon is for amateur sharers. And of course there is the big camp of people who think all social media, including blogging and social bookmarking, is a huge waste of your resources that you won’t get anything back from.
What’s so often missed here is that, under different circumstances, the view of tools as useful and/or useless are right. A powerful weapon in the hands of a novice is impotent.
And yes, I mean that the dirty way. 
Seriously though, it’s always your choice whether to be a novice or to learn more. It’s much more savvy to say you don’t know how to use Facebook for business, and then find out, than it is to claim it’s a time waster when you’re playing the Zombie game and bothering your co-workers.
The easiest way to overcome the potential lazy factor in any social media tool is to limit the amount of time you spend on it.
If you have 15 minutes to get everything you need during a trip to the grocery store, the way you spend your time differs greatly. You’ll bring a list, think ahead to how to most efficiently cruise the aisles, etc.
On the other hand, if you are taking a leisurely trip that’s not needed, you tend to browse and look at things you normally wouldn’t buy, not to mention spend too much.
Plan your trips to social media sites the same way. You can always come back to play Scrabulous or chat with friends, after you’ve finished your work .
I liken the use of Social Media to the use of the telephone. (Yes, the internet too, but that’s so obvious that the point is still missed. But heck, if you were smart enough to catch that, I guess you can skip to the end.)
You can use the telephone for dating (phone chat rooms), to waste time (gossiping with a friend), to solidify a relationship (calling a friend just to say hello), to touch base (let your mother know you’re alive), and yes, for business too (call instead of driving over and having a meeting, connect with a client, check up on a vendor, ask a colleague a question, network, etc.).
It’s up to you how you want to use Facebook, or del.icio.us, or MySpace or Furl or any Social Media tool.
If other people think it’s a waste of your time, let them.
They aren’t the ones who have to live with your profits and losses at the end of the quarter. There’s plenty of information about how to use Social Media for business, Facebook in particular. A lot of it is free.
If that’s what you’re interested in doing, don’t let the “time waster” scare throw you off – go out there and find out for your self what the best tips are and test them.
Believe your own results.
"bob",
Quite the contrary. I'm sorry if my coyness is hard to decipher, but when I have something to say that's that plain, I usually just say it.
It takes me a lot more words than most people, LOL, but it's still unmistakeable. :)
What I'm saying is... well, what I wrote - social media is only a waste of time if YOU are a time waster. I think people who think otherwise haven't taken the time to both use and understand the tools.
If social media was crap, it wouldn't matter what their mindset was, it wouldn't work for anyone. It works for people who've learned how to work it.
Period.
So no, I don't think it's in the mindset of the people using it, not at all. If someone submits one of your better articles, at the right time, during a good part of the day, you'll get traffic, even if your mindset is that Stumble Upon sucks. This is one of those situations where what we think is independent of the truth of the matter.
Angela,
Exactly. That or they think that the fewer people who understand social media, the more traffic there is for them. Which is an error in logic, but that's another article.
Heather,
I'm still playing catch up. If it's not too late, I'll play along sometime this week.
Leo,
Thanks and welcome. There's a limit, I think, to how much you should share and build, in every relationship though. It varies for each person, but as soon as it starts to interfere with the rest of your work or becomes a situation where you do all the giving and get nothing back *perpetually*, it's time to rethink strategy.
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