Are You Living Consciously Online

yes, I am definitely making a difference. Giving encouragement to artists, many of which have very little blog traffic or Flickr comments etc makes a difference.

I spend a lot of time online because I can right now but when things change and I have a whole lot less free time I won't stop being me, in fact civilization can collapse and I'll still be able to draw and paint and grow in what is really the core of Me!

I'm recently trying to work out how to live consciously online. I tend to follow links, as I'm sure many do, at get caught in the "web". I need to work out a plan...

As evidenced by my blogging slow down, I have started to realign some of my time, and some of that realignment is to reduce my web time. From a learning and practice perspective, that means being more conscious of both the bridges and the gaps between the two.

Now, I'm interested in the dynamic between planned, conscious and making a difference. Sometimes they are aligned. Sometimes it is just KISMET! I seek both.

I spend way too much time online. But I have lofty goals and I need the web to accomplish them. Here's my to do list:

1. Save Michigan's economy by bringing professionals together for the common good at http://www.motorcityconnect.com
2. Shine a light on Michigan brands and cool companies at http://www.curvedetroit.com
3. Make sure we don't import another drop of oil by 2015 by promoting solar, wind, tidal and geothermal energies (site coming soon).

I use twitter to connect with the early adoptors, linkedin to reach the masses and Motor City Connect to mobilize folks.

My big problem: I'm an infojunkie. The internet can be one big hyperlinked rabbit hole. I start off with a search for best practices and three hours later I wake up naked and alone reading a wiki entry on Stalin's photoshopping skills, John Denver's sources of inspiration or how to treat waste water.

The internet is my friend. The internet is my enemy.

Are any of you addicted to shiny objects? How do you stay focused online?

It's a great mission, Charlie, and I feel strongly about your contributions to it. You've built quite a band of Merry Men (and women) to the cause, and I feel it's possible (heck, NYC was on the verge in the 1970s, and look at it now).

As for shiny objects, I've given up being a hyper-adopter and have settled for early. Early is ahead of the mainstream, but behind the hypers, like Scoble and Corvida and the like.

One way I do it is that I ask the question: "can I help someone improve their business with this tool?" If no, I shelve it for further labwork later.

I feel that I need to take some time a the moment and reflect upon all that I have learned on the web in the past few months. I've been involved in what I'd call a social media web crash course, but haven't devoted enough time to reflection. As an educator I know that's the key to conscious forward movement and learning.

Most of my business activity takes place online. Over the past year I have used http://kiva.org to "make a difference, one life at a time". Our talkathon.org podcasts were earning funds that were loaned to entrepreneurs in the third world at the time Talkshoe was sharing revenue. The payments abruptly stopped in May without notice, but we continue to find funds to loan. It's one of the best ways I have found to make a difference online.

On this Father's Day I would like to say Happy Father's Day to Chris Brogan and all the other dads.

I feel like I definatly need a plan to help myself prioritize my time online. There is only so much time I can spend online.

I don't overly use social media, but the time I spend on it is very important to me and I feel is a good use of my online time. I think it is important to choose well your friends and those you communicate with, not in a business sense, but what do they add to you and your overall mission.

Some are very inspiriational, others have great information, others just help me relax & have fun. I have met fabulous people, but I use 3 or 4 forms of social media and I'm not in or on everything, which I think makes a difference because I can devote more time to those 3 or 4 and both give and get more out of it.

My baby is http://RemarkableParents.com which is a newer online community of parents who help, support, and give each other tips on the most important thing in "my world" which is raising our children and giving them the tools to be 'their best'.

Vicky H

The Internet and social networking is definitely a relief valve. I spend a lot of time online when I can't sleep or when I can't write. It doesn't help either condition, it just fills the time.

If you include discussion groups, email groups, and bulletin boards as "social media", I've been participating since 1996. Lately, I've begun to expand to new forms like Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn but I'm losing connections with my older circle of web friends.

I'm finding that there is a limit to how much time I can spend "keeping up" with social networking and might just return to individual email messages. Or, less drastically, I might focus in on one network and not try to be on every system because I know a few people on that particular network.

It's not a popular thought but I definitely think there are limits to how many "friends" you can have and still BE a friend. Facebook and MySpace have made the work "friend" become almost meaningless in that it is applied to complete strangers one might never even have contact with. That defeats the purpose of distinguishing ones friends from the general public, I think.

Of course, I'm constantly amazed at how much people share about themselves online. I was following while someone was Twittering a wedding yesterday more out of curiosity than anything else. That seems like such a private occasion, one to be shared with friends and family and not strangers like me who hit the "Follow" button on Twitter.

But this might just be a generational difference (gets out walker...)

liz - i completely understand the levels of response idea. You and I have talked by email rather than comments at times, for example. And there are networks I don't use.

But.

The bigger your pool of people you know/have met/have interacted with at some level beyond just following, the more helpful it is to use multiple platforms for interacting, looking at them not as platforms but as additional ways to communicate.

How far is it possible to use a platform for interaction without going all in with the community of the platform? To take your community onto facebook for example rather than joining the facebook community?

Not sure if that makes sense.

(And last summer I ustreamed a wedding (and tweeted) so that the grandmother and uncle could attend. And connie reece and others stopped by. I brought my community from online to the community I was running tech for.)