Lifehacks: Three Tips for Managing the Stream Before it Manages You

19 Aug 2009

Lifehacks: Three Tips for Managing the Stream Before it Manages You

The following is also my column in next week's AdAge...

Three Tips for Managing the Stream Before it Manages You

Tweets, texts and feeds - oh my. It's enough to make any one go batty if it lets you. But like it or not, as I mentioned in my last column, we need a new set of skills to "keep up" and manage our streams (vs. letting it managing you). Here are my three favorites...

1) Find a Digital Curator You Trust and Stick With It

Years ago I met with one of the more influential thinkers in the social media space. I asked her how she keeps up. Her answer surprised me. She only reads the Social Media Smart Brief, a daily digest newsletter. I too find myself turning to curators like the SmartBrief as well as TechMeme, Tweetmeme and Regator. Find one that tracks the verticals and people you need to follow.

2) Don't Subscribe and Read, Archive, Search and Skim

In the personal productivity world, some eschew sorting documents and emails in folders in favor of just throwing them into an archive where they can be easily searched later. The same approach works well for managing your stream.

Use a tool like Google Reader to subscribe to lots of content, including say all your friends on Twitter. However, view it as a personal, searchable database rather than another collection bucket you have to read and clear.

3) Make Unusable Time Usable Again

Since I got my iPhone two years ago, I can't remember the last time I was bored. Time that was once wasted - waiting on line at the DMV, riding the subway, even waiting out a rain delay at a ball game - is now once again usable.

One site that I rely on more than any other is Instapaper.com. You add a special bookmark to your browser that can be used clip any article on Instapaper for later review. Then, pull up Instapaper on any mobile phone and it will present you with a lightweight versions of those articles . There's also an iPhone app that makes all articles available offline.

(Additional tips can be found here from Amber Naslund.)

Comments 12 Comments

Aug 19, 2009

drjjoyner said...

In theory, I love the idea of just using Google Reader as a search archive. But skimming and marking -- yes, a huge time waster -- is also where I get most of my ideas for new posts. Where do you get yours instead?

Steve Rubel said...

@Dr Joyner, I divide my feeds up. Some I read for that same purpose, others I archive and search.

I've tried to do that without much success. I have a "must read" folder but tend to just read the newest until I get tired of reading and archive the rest.

Len Kendall said...

I like number 2. My biggest problem with using something like instapaper is that the influx of information is faster than the time I have to read it. I often feel guilty about skimming blog posts, but I usually can find the main points pretty quickly. Perhaps things like Posterous and Twitter force content creators to JUST share the main points?

neal wiser said...

Part of the problem (for me) is that there are so many choices of services and tools that aggregate/manage all the various streams, but not one of them does everything that I want/need. So, while I'm constantly using multiple services and trying out new ones, it's actually adding to the complexity. I can handle it, but most people can't and I think that's one of the greatest obstacles to broader adoption.

NealSchaffer said...

Steve, excellent post on time management. I use Ineedtoreadthis.com and had not heard of Instapaper. Thanks!

Scott Lockhart said...

Hi Steve - thanks for the Regator mention... we were actually planning on adding instapaper support to the app at some point. It will probably be sooner rather than later. So we'll be somewhat of a combination of #2 and #3. Cheers

Matt Martin said...

@neal wiser - I ran into the same problems. Called it technology induced attention deficit disorder. I finally had to pick three or four "platforms" and say that is that. Any more than that and it can get overwhelming.

I really like Evernote to clip websites, add notes for future posts, etc.

Paul said...

I am just like evertbody- too much stuff to keep up with- Twitter,Facebook,RSS feeds. Takes me like 2 hours to go through all that, post comments and tweets. I'll find the way to make it faster.

Aug 20, 2009

rikin said...

#3 was really important for me to start ingesting more content. I actually bought an iPhone because long commute on a train was the perfect time to catch up on the articles and posts that I couldn't follow up on during the day.

Now I just need to find the cure to the inevitable burnout that we all feel after consuming so much content.

Aug 24, 2009

Todd Philips said...

These three way definitly gonna helps me a lot..
To "manage these Stream Before it Manages You" these tips helps people arround..

Sep 01, 2009

Farley Millano said...

i find myself using twitter "favorite" feature on mobile as a later reader on desktop for more complex pages, which sometimes contains flash or javascript, etc.

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Lifehacks: Three Tips for Managing the Stream Before it Manages You

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