Productivity @ Home

Pinterest: A Productivity Tool or a Massive Time Dump?

For the past few weeks, I have been having an awesome time experimenting with the popular new social networking tool Pinterest. Some call Pinterest nothing more than a passing phase or a place for chicks to post photos of new purses. I think they are missing the boat...

As a webmaster and blogger, I have already seen the huge capability of Pinterest to drive traffic to my sites. As with any social networking site, there is a learning curve to figuring out how much is too much, and how to use the tool effectively without becoming "that guy" -- you know him. He's the one you end up blocking or hiding because his stuff is constantly in your face. You wonder how he can even get any work done because he's always on that site, "sharing".

So here are a few rules of thumb I have set for myself when it comes to using Pinterest:

• Limit my time on the site to a few regular check ins per day. Close the Pinterest tab in my browser when it's not one of those times.
• Establish a separate Twitter presence for my Pinterest tweets. Allow friends who are interested in Pinterest to follow me there without forcing the rest of my Twitter buddies to be overwhelmed by tweets about pins.
• Be a good neighbor by liking, commenting or tweeting about other people's items as much as I do my own.
• Establish a limited number of boards that are directly related to my work and interests, but don't branch into to many additional, extraneous boards.
• Don't "follow all" when connecting with other Pinterest users, but rather study their boards when invited to connect and make careful selections to avoid being overwhelmed with information.
• Educate myself about Pinterest's terms of service and the current copyright information that is buzzing around the web. Only pin items that do not infringe on others' rights.

I'd love to hear from you if you are enjoying using Pinterest for work or pleasure. Do you have any tips or techniques that seem to be working well? What have you learned from your use of Pinterest.

Connect with me on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/lisahendey/

Making Your Messages Work for (Not Against) You

 

This morning, I had an interesting consulting conversation with a non-profit organization which is looking to better optimize its social media initiatives. During the course of our chat, the topic of direct mail arose. I shared my somewhat "dim" view of what I termed "holy junk mail" -- that is, direct mail pieces from wonderful organizations that contain heart-felt pleas for support, but also "free" items that are often religious or spiritual in nature.

Readers here probably know that my faith means a great deal to me. So perhaps you won't be surprised when I share that I have a hard time "tossing" holy junk mail. It sits in a stack on my desk, often unsorted -- and always unresponded to -- until the situation gets out of hand. 

Then it gets recycled.

The conversation has me thinking about the other types of "junk mail" messages I hoard and later trash these days:

• Social media notifications
• Email group messages
• "To do someday" items
• Press releases

Entire books have been written on the topic of dealing with the influx of information that now prevails in our society. I've read a few, and still struggle with my "message hoarding" tendancies, especially in my inbox. Filters help, but what I really need is a different mindset that helps me attend immediately to what matters most, deal with it and move on.

I've also been pondering the message I send -- am I contributing to the clutter with my posts, tweets and pins? Or am I adding value for those I serve?

The jury is still out...