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Actions will ALWAYS speak louder than words.
The time has come for me to turn away from the majority of social media activity that has diluted productivity over the last few years. Twitter being the biggest culprit.
Three days ago I decided to take a break from ANY Twitter activity, this includes reading tweets. I haven’t been anywhere near my ‘dannylaceyfilm’ Twitter account for those three days. If I’m honest, it feels amazing and especially for someone like me who has had a constant presence on there too. The initial idea was to have a week away from any Twittering, I’ve now decided to extend this period significantly.
I had a good, long hard look at my Twittering activity. Why do I Tweet? What do I want to get from Twitter? Who really cares about what I Tweet? Is Twitter having a significant effect on my progress as a filmmaker? And so on.
Q: Why do I Tweet?
A: I could butter the answer up by saying, ‘I’m just sharing the journey’. Okay, for the most part I am, but then when I look back over my Tweets, I just see someone looking for attention. The ‘look at what I’m doing, I need your seal of approval’ type thing. Let’s be honest, how many times have you sent a Tweet and then checked back for the next few hours in the hope that a group of people have replied with something positive? I reckon I could safely say the majority of us have.
Q: What do I want to get from Twitter?
A: Honest answer, a truck load of followers who are interested in what I’m doing as a filmmaker. I want to prove to those followers that I can carve out a successful career making movies – make them proud.
Q: Who really cares about what I Tweet?
A: About 10% of those following me will have a passing interest, and maybe 2-5% will engage with any call to action.
Q: Is Twitter (or Social Media in general) having a significant effect on my progress as a filmmaker?
A: Minimal. There’s support out there for what you are doing if you are willing to Tweet 20,000 times a day and are patient.
Twitter is great; it’s fun, it entertaining, it’s informative, it’s a great place to meet people and share interests. Perfect if you want a great virtual social life. The way I see it, it’s like throwing my personal diary into a room full of people in the hope that they read it. I then just stand and observe from a far.
I need to get back to grass roots. I want to make movies. I do not want to be a social media expert, a mass useful link provider or a teacher.
So what are my plans for Social Media, and other online activity?
- I’ll be paying more attention to my film blog with regular blog posts and other updates – for those that genuinely want to know more.
- There will be more activity on my YouTube channel and Vimeo account.
- My Twitter activity will be reduced dramatically – maximum of one Tweet per day and I’ll be uninstalling Tweetdeck from my computer and iPhone.
- I’ll still continue to use Google+ and Facebook – checking the sites a maximum of once a day. Login in, then log out!
There’s a large room of people, all chatting away, making lots of noise, so loud it’s almost impossible to understand what individuals are saying. I spend far too long trying to work out what everyone in the room is trying to say or share and not enough time concentrating on what I’m supposed to be doing.
I’m still sharing the journey via this blog and YouTube.
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Danny
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Yes… I was wondering the same. Debating how much time I was doing. And how much time telling people that I'm "doing"
Good luck with everything.
Rachel
I've pretty much stopped using Twitter and other social media platforms. While they are quite easy to manage, especially if you use the right tools, they have become so noisy, and 'fake' (see Tom Anderson's post on G+ https://plus.google.com/112063946124358686266/posts/eFu2wMoh1SH ), that they are not worth using any more.
G+ is refreshing, it's about being social. Hopefully it wont suffer the problems of Twitter and Facebook where it is all about self promotion.
Sadly, I think G+ will become about self-promotion as that's what a lot of filmmakers use any kind of social network for. And I have to say, once you start following more than a few streams, I've found G+ to be just as busy and noisy as Twitter – more so, in fact, because the posts are longer.
Great piece, though, Danny – I think it's well worth us all weighing up our SM options right now and especially the value of continuing on them all. I think a select one or two well looked after is far better than many profiles, many sites and an inability to either keep up, get noticed or post anything really useful.
Great news Danny. I have been saying for some time that I have a worry that all social media really offers the majority of us is a distraction. There is no doubt that around physical production time and product launch time, SM is a powerful ally, but for the rest of the time, its a distraction.
Worse, I feel SM can often make you feel like there is a party going on someplace, and you are not there. That there is a destination where the successful people Tweet or FB with great speed.
I use both Twitter and FB as a way to push out and rarely engage. This breaks many laws of so called SM experts, but its the only way I can manage the workload.
So I commend you for your choice. We both know its the right one, and aleard you will have been a ton more productive. Success lies in laser vision and if you have twittering and FB updates breaking that laser vision, you never get anything done.
CJ
Good post Danny!
I totally agree with you. I am struggling with the same problem and I think the trick is to use it effectively without getting caught up in it. I have met a lot of great people via SM and found some great ressources. I also want to contribute to the collective knowledge while promoting my projects. I think it's all about balance in the end.
I believe that we are just at the beginning of social media. The first great hype is over, people are overwhelmed and now it's time to figure out how to use it properly and effectively and not getting lured in to by unprobable expectations.