Well… I got a glimpse of inbox chaos this week.
Something happened and my facebook notifications were changed. A glitch I suppose, but the glitch meant I started getting email notifications when anyone friended me, wrote on my wall, made a comment, sent me a message…. You get the picture. My inbox was jammed full of emails that I did not need to see.
Now, if you are asking “Why don’t I need to see them?” I will tell you this and it is the number one trick to managing your social media profiles more effectively.
Look around when you are on Facebook and Twitter and Linkedin. Answer people and make comments back to them directly in your social network. It’s a much more efficient use of your time, plus you learn to understand where you ‘are’ in your profile.
How?
On Twitter, when you sign in click on @connect on the upper left of your home page. See who has been ‘talking’ to you. Answer them on the spot by clicking reply. You only have 140 characters to type; it’s not a book and can be done quickly. Do the same thing with the Direct Messages.
On Facebook, follow the same principles. Check your personal wall, answer people talking to you – or better yet talk to them – make a comment about their update. Look at your inbox and send replies right there. Check your business page and do the same. Look and see if anyone has posted on your business page wall. You are using facebook to connect with more people so it is vital you check in here and make the connections.
If you follow these practices you will soon find that the email notifications you have coming are redundant; and in fact take more time to clean out.
Change your account settings and the way you ‘check’ your networks and you will find an inbox that requires less maintenance.