Let Me Know

Not only are we now suffering from information overload, we are starting to suffer from "same information" overload.

Most of us are accustomed to being reminded of certain things, usually dates and tasks. Thus, when we are invited to an event, register on the web, get more email confirming our registration, an additional reminder to register, a reminder the day before and maybe even an SMS, we consider that to be just fine. If we are Israeli, despite our registration and the multitude of reminders, there's still only a 60% chance we'll show up.

However, even invitations are starting to get out of hand. Part of this has to do with our multiple contact locations. If I am part of your Facebook group, for example, and you send the notifications by Facebook-mail, which notifies me at my Gmail account, I'm now getting all those reminders twice. If you are someone whose blog I follow, and you mention the event a couple of times in your blog and in your online broadcast (not naming any names here), then you have managed to reach the level of per-event reminding typically associated with getting my kids to put on their pajamas.

The problem is it's becoming almost unavoidable. If I post this blog just here, well, maybe you are subscribed on your RSS feed. Chances are you aren't, so I have to let you know. I put it on my status message or twitter it, I post a link to Facebook. Maybe I even add this whole blog as a note to Facebook. Maybe I send out e-mail notification. I didn't mean to bombard you, but all of a sudden you know my every move. Twice. At least.

It gets worse. It's not just unavoidable, it's automated. My social networks send you a weekly update telling you I've been blogging again. If you are my Plaxo contact (and if you aren't, please add me), your Pulse not only notifies you, it duplicates most of this blog and allows you to comment in Pulse.

The good news is that I probably have more ways to reach difference audiences than I ever did before. The bad news is that the audiences can't be that different. I probably have 60-80% overlap on the main three social networks I use.

Another unfortunate side effect is that I have this blog or a link to it posted in 3 different places, with comments in 2 of the 3 places. As you can see, the place where I have no comments is at the actual blog itself. This is unfortunate because it means that my comments are happening in a closed network (Facebook or Plaxo) and that there is some level of interaction being missed.

Well, in theory anyway. I don't actually have *that* big a fan club. Just a bunch of little ones.