Social Media Overload? Try the Trifecta Approach

How many invites to different social networks do you receive each week?  You’re probably invited to Facebook, Google +, Twitter, LinkedIn, Branch Out, not to mention local community groups that use Meetup.com or Yahoo Groups to communicate with one another.  Oh, and don’t forget all those email distribution lists you belong to for your children’s schools and sports teams.

Overwhelming?  Heck yeah!  My head is spinning just writing about the avalanche of information we receive every day.  And I’m not alone.

I decided a long time ago to put a filter on the social networks that I use.  I also like to use what I call the trifecta approach.   This means that I choose my three main social networking platforms that I will use regularly, almost daily and invest my time in building a strong network on them.  The filters I use are the following:

• Will this help me connect more with my family?
• Will this enhance and add value to my professional goals?  Will it help me grow my business or career in some way?
• Do I genuinely enjoy it?  Or am I just joining because everyone else is…this is the peer pressure litmus test.
• Does it help me connect with others that share the same interests as me?

While I’m a first adopter for a lot of these things, I like to test them first.  In fact, I enjoy technology and social networking and consider it a huge part of my life.  But if  it starts to overtake other facets of my life that are important, like family, friends, and quality time offline…it’s a problem.

Right now my social media trifecta is Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  I’m testing Google + and I’ve checked out popular social sites like Pinterest.  However, to really start using one on a consistent basis and to want to share it en masse with my family and friends?  I need to be comfortable with it taking over a spot in my existing trifecta.

Considering my trifecta hasn’t changed much in the past few years, it’s going to take a lot for me invest that kind of time.  I’ll test my heart out with other social networking platforms, but I won’t make it a regular spot unless it makes it through my filters outlined above and it does so in a way that trumps one of my trifecta.

What about you?  How do you cull through the noise of all the social media invites and new social networking platforms that seem to launch every day?