As more and more client works begins to come through the door, a funny thing is starting to happen. I’m having less conversations with my peers. What’s more, I’m seeing less conversations. What’s worse, with Google Buzz launching, another network has been created to have more conversations…with ultimately the same people. Which begs the question:
How many networks is too many networks?
I’ve been maintaining for awhile now that as more social networks appear that have cool bells and whistles, that we feel we must join because of that cool “it” factor, the more our conversations will become diluted. And what ultimately happens is we make guest appearances on these social sites. We blow in for a drink and we’re back out the door.
What does this all mean? It means we can’t scale too well. It means as more and more networks are created and developed to be Facebook killers and Twitter killers, the more time that we’re going to need to at the least, kick the tires, create a profile, contribute to some conversations and give it a test drive which further diminishes the value of our time that we may devote to ourselves.
To me, to properly scale means that everything within your control grows at a controllable and manageable rate. Manageable being the operative word there.
Clients will always have our attention first but as we continue to grow that side of the equation, the other side will suffer. The side that helps us learn, grow, contribute and be a part of the ongoing conversation that is social media.
How do we scale? How are you doing it? How can you do it better?
