Most people come up with some resolutions for the new year that most will never follow up on. They range from losing weight to saving more to doing better at something to who knows what else. We all tend to fall back on our set ways in a few weeks or so. I thought long and hard about what mine might be and decided on not spending as much time on the internet as I used to.

Now, THAT got your attention didn’t it? Actually, my intention is to eliminate the social networks that I gain no real benefit from in all reality. I won’t go on to mention them all here as most of the readers of this humble blog don’t even know where to find me on them. My reasoning however, is this: Why take precious time out of the day to scroll endlessly over postings that really have no interest for me in the first place? One such social network that has blossomed has become such a hodge-podge of add-on applications that it’s more like a carnival than a social networking app. But, hey! To each their own.

My idea is simple. To cull the networks that I’ve not really gained much benefit from in the past year. To keep the ones that have kept my interests peaked and inspired me to try new things as well as learn more about what interests me. This is not to say I’ve become snide or elitist but, more to the point, I’m becoming more focused on my interests and trying to fine tune them.

I like Twitter for it’s ‘real time’ updates. You can’t beat it IMHO. As things happen, it hits this social network almost immediately. I like my Google Reader for more in depth information that I can catch up on when I have the time. Tweetmeme has it’s place in my bookmarks as well for the technology tag. Alltop is a source for stories that cater to my interests too.

Music and Video interests are focused on Youtube, Hulu and Last.fm Pandora for the time being.

There are some blogs that I subscribe to that interest me in this mix that have to do with SEO, web hosting, GNU/Linux and friends whom I’ve made it a point to keep up with as their families grow and experience things in life. These I won’t let go of as they mean something to me.

It’s the time-wasters that I have nothing for anymore. The ones whose creators have been quoted as not caring for your privacy anyway, the ones that don’t do much more than leave another place on the ‘net for your private information to get scraped are on the chopping block.

I may come across something that might prove interesting but it’ll be on a trial basis for a while to see if it actually allows me to benefit from it. Guess that may sound odd to some but hey! Like I said previously, I’m in this to gain knowledge and to share it when I can. I’d expect the same from anyone else.

So, if you had seen me on some other social network and now you don’t, my account closed…guess that means it was one of those that got the axe today and that I won’t be back. I kind of doubt that I’ll be missed.

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Tags: life, social networking, thoughts