28 July 2009
by 
The Web is an effective tool for learning. In fact, recent studies show that 96% of internet users surf the Web, at least part of the time, with the intention of learning. 89% spend net time on research and 79% want to be kept informed. (According to the Ruder Finn Intent Index) Information is the primary resource this Super Highway provides but how effective is it really?
What information did you search for online today? What did you learn from blogs or articles? Where did you find these websites and what drew you to the websites you found today?
I have spent hours, today, trying to make my twitter use more effective. I’ve held a twitter account for several months but tend to tweet in bursts of sporadic activity. I tweet new blog posts and, when I remember, I’ll browse my timeline and respond or retweet. Effectively labeled links (those that have descriptive text – usually the post heading – included in the tweet) leap out at me and I click to read.
Today, I discovered Tweetdeck and it’s “mark as seen” feature. The “mark as seen” feature meant I could effectively save linking tweets that leap out at me, so I could read them later. And more links, and more links, and more links!!!
INFORMATION OVERWHELM!
There is an abundance of information online. Every moment the available content grows exponentially. In just a few hours of monitored twitter stream I discovered it is impossible to keep up with every piece of ‘interesting’ information. In my 290+ current followers alone there were days worth of reading time being passed back and forth, tweeted and retweeted.
As an eager sponge for information I had to face reality. It is impossible to read everything. The difficulty now is in trying to decide what I should let go and what I absolutely must read. Do I let the timeline return to wheeling past me and snag only those snippets I happen to capture in rare moments of twitter frenzy? Do I harvest all the great looking links and bookmark them to return to, someday? Do I subscribe to yet more blogs to fill my already overflowing RSS reader?
How do you deal with information overwhelm online? Have you discovered any effective ways to filter the interesting from the must know? How do you ensure you don’t while away all of your web hours reading fantastic content instead of writing your own?
Originally posted at A Book Thing. Republished with permission.
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I hear ya on that feeling of being overwhelmed by information but not wanting to miss anything juicy. I’ve developed a system that works for me, and you might feel drawn to parts of it.
I’m a writer with tons of incoming ideas (from my own imagination/subconscious mind) and lots of projects, either already on the biol or planned for the future. Basically, I switch between Whizfolders (http://www.whizfolders.com) and my Writer’s Digest Weekly Planner to keep it all recorded, organized and moving along.
In Whizfolders I have folders and sub-folders set up for all my current and future projects. Whenever a new idea strikes me–or I see a related resource online–I immediately record it in the proper Whizfolders sub-folder. This avoids having stuff scribbled on scraps of paper, cluttering my desk and In tray.
On a daily basis, I use my WD Weekly Planner to oversee my work day, using checkmarks to get through my To-Do lists. Since the page is divided into M-T-W-Th-F-S/S, I can jot down items ahead of time that need to be done on other days.
Using Whizfolders cuts down on the amount of reading I do when I visit my Twitter page or when I’m out reading blog posts and following threads to new blogs. I feel secure in the knowledge that I have all those juicy links filed in their correct project folder for whenever I need them. And the pages are big enough to copy over an entire blog comment or article excerpt with the link if that proves useful.
(I try to set myself up with clues in case I have absolutely no recall of why I wanted it when I revisit that information.)
I had exactly the same feelings and experiences that you describe when first using Twitter. One way I’ve overcome that feeling of being buried by the reading required to get through the Tweet stream: I trust my intuition.
I now know that, if I go with the flow, I’ll be in exactly the right place at the right time for Tweets to jump out that either (a) most interest me on a personal basis or (b) are perfect for forging a new alliance with another writer or like-minded soul.
Using these methods, I went from disliking Twitter (I found it boring and tedious) to enjoying it and seeing the value in spending time there.
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I’m an info junkie, which works well when I’m writing Demand Studios. I sift through a lot of information for each story. Actually, I do that for my regular articles too. I don’t organize them other than keeping computer files filled with relevant links or clips as reference. I don’t spend much time on blogs unless it’s a friend’s work (hi friend!)and I quit clicking on Twitter links altogether. Just streamlining, I guess. After I load up on info for a story, I’ll remember it for about a month, and then the mental hard drive clears its cache, LOL.
Wow, what a leading question. *chuckles* I’m intimate with Information Overload. I’ve got various ways of capturing streams of information. Google Reader is the most organized of them and still has over 1000 unread posts. I also frequently drag tabs up to my browsers bookmark bar or bookmark as (to-read) on Delicious. When it comes to links from tweets I’ve started to ‘favorite’ tweets that link to content I want to come back to later.
Still, there really isn’t enough time to read everything and while I can save links I also weed out links from time to time as my interests shift. This week I’m very much on the hunt for information about compelling or persuasive content but once I’ve had my fill of the topic (a month or two down the line) I’ll be able to cull those out of my list.
I’ve learned that when it comes to applications like Twitter and Plurk there is a degree of ‘letting life pass by’. Because they store every moment it is easy to spend real time hours sifting through content. With twitter especially, since you can’t mark as read, I’ve found I have to limit my time and read only what flashes past my screen in those rare moments I ‘tune in’ to my twitter feed.
Still, I ache when I think about all the fantastic content that went past when I wasn’t watching. All we can really do after that is trust that the Universe is making sure we get what we are meant to get and if we missed it, we weren’t meant to get it this time around.
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Well I’ve learned a little from the comments here. I’ve wondered those same questions – how do people keep up with everything? I kept thinking to myself that it is impossible, especially if I only check once a day. With Facebook, I can look over all the posts from the past 24 hours, but with Twitter, it’s like Rebecca said – you could spend real-time hours just scanning the stream and never get caught up. I always hear people saying how great Twitter is for promotion and I understand it’s because you can reach a lot of people. But even if all the people I follow posted one thing a day (hardly the case), it’d still take me forever to get through it all. Well, at least I’m not alone.
As Rebecca said, Google Reader is a good way to scan through information. I didn’t find twitter very useful, there is a lot of junk there and it eats up more time. It is good for promotion though.
I have the luxury to work according to my mood. 90% of the time, I search the net to do research for my writing; 10% for my promoting my website. I hate anything on the net that eats up my time and doesn’t give me excellent, precise results. I would rather read a good book. That is my way of tackling information overload, if it can be called a way.
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Hmm… I read blogs on a similar topic, but i never visited your blog. I added it to favorites and i’ll be your constant reader.
I liked it. So much useful material. I read with great interest.
I really like your blog and i respect your work. I’ll be a frequent visitor.
Thank you! You often write very interesting articles. You improved my mood.