Don Marti
Thu 23 May 2013 11:20:05 PM PDT
How can I break the Facebook habit?
I understand all those I'm quitting social
site
posts, really. The open web is much more
fun, useful, and promising in the long run than
hanging out on whatever current site has taken the
place of AOL, CompuServe, and MySpace.
But, really, just quitting a site? Might be harder than it sounds. Habits are hard to break, so here's a list of things to help add some motivation to social network quitteration.
Awkward friending. Every week or so, connect with a person who isn't really your friend, but would find it difficult to turn you down. Be a creepy ex-coworker. Don't spam, though.
Social marketing FAIL Find the most awful "engaged brands" in the ads on social sites and follow or friend them. Keep yourself from being tempted to return to a social site by knowing that your feed there will be full of FREE WEBINARs.
Social marketing double FAIL Befriend the most heinous companies and astroturf organizations you can find. The "American Sugar Alliance" and other groups looking for corporate welfare usually do it for me.
Klouchebaggery. Do a search for "social media marketing" and do the first tip you find. These change all the time, so be creative.
Open the RSS spigot. Set up an account on a site such as dlvr.it to automate posting your blog's feed to the social site. Good for breaking a social networking habit. (If you're all like,
I just need to get on and post my one blog link,
and before you know it you've been on for an hour, this is better. And yes, dlvr.it works for me.)It's always Hug a Spammer Week. Someone named Melissa wrote to tell me,
I like your picture and you look cute n awesome.
Well, Melissa, I think you're cute n awesome too. Friend request accepted, and welcome to my social graph.
Bonus link: Silicon Valley’s Problem by Catherine Bracy.