The Social Media De-Clutter Project (Update)

In April'15, I initiated the Social Media De-Clutter Project and found a lot of peace and suddenly, "extra time" to do things I could use to do things I want to do.

I have recently taken the next big lead and I have deleted by "Twitter" account also. I realized, after cleansing out Facebook from my life, the people who still wanted to keep in touch or I wanted to keep in touch with, found me on WhatsApp. So from Facebook to whatsapp, not really a de-clutter one would think but in my view, it still cuts out the noise. I can choose to leave groups if I want, etc. However, this meant I can stop "following" friends on Twitter.

Twitter then became my news reader and inspirational quotes system, I didn't mind that until I got back to using FlipBoard on my mobile (I just bought a Nexus 6). This has changed everything. I had quite using Flipboard for Zite and then Newsstand but since Flipboard has bought Zite and with that the key feature of "show me more of this and less of this", I think FlipBoard is the perfect aggregator in this day and age. I had no use for Twitter, this is out of my life.

I have deleted my accounts on technorati, stumbleupon, blip.fm.

I have a much cleaner system now. Here is where I am and I think I am going to stay here. What I have convinced myself though is that I don't need to be everywhere and I can get rid of whatever I want from my life with no strings attached. I feel empowered again.

1. LinkedIn for Professional Networking and Professional Social Media. The new mobile interface is amazing, I am very comfortable in this space and this one I am going to keep.
2. Flipboard for all the news, updates, quotes (even twitter feeds, if I want) etc. Love the interface and the flip to the next update seems very intuitive. Having said that, the "show me more of this and less of this" works wonders as well. This is also a good place to create your "collections" as Magazines. I got three now, "UTP Learns Leadership" which contains all important articles I want to remind myself of as I am on that journey to learn leadership. "UTP Recommends Books" is a magazine of links to book recommendations, I am going to do more and more of book reading with all the extra time I have at my hand. "UTP's Pakistan" is a magazine which collects good things about Pakistan and inspiration for Pakistanis. I just wanted to have something like this. All 3 magazines are public.
3. The UTP Blog for my random vomit of so called intellectual thought outburst. I need that outlet and instead of that being in a less than 150 word twitter message, I would rather blog to do justice to my thoughts. I am not here often but this blog is here to stay
4. Facebook Pages - I got "UTP Mentors" which was something I wanted to move to LinkedIn but unable to as its not an official company. This is my corporate social responsibility initiative which attends to my Maslow's "Self-Actualization" part on the Hierarchy of Needs. Helping others with something I am good at. I am not good at a lot of things but I am good at mentoring people and learning more about human behavior and thought in the process. I got the "The UTP Page" which is an aggregator of all things UTP, I think this will go soon as I don't see a lot of value in this aggregator page. I also got "UTP's Journey of Faith" which is a religious page on things I learn from the Quran and just put it there. Not very active, but it is there for any updates that follow.
5. Whatsapp for those close connections who want to keep in touch, truly speaking, I use it for family only. In groups of friends, I am a silent reader.
6. Skype for family connection back home, basically mom and dad and siblings.
7. I still have Google+, which will likely go. I think its only there so I don't have to create separate accounts for other websites. You need one openID to use everywhere, losing Facebook and Twitter, this one I will keep just for this purpose. The interface is much nicer in my view than a twitter or facebook also.
8. My YouTube account still exists. I have been vaguely consdering Vlogging, lets see if I see a reason I need to get into that. I am a bit shy for the camera but I guess that should remain for any public appearances I do which are recorded and I want to share (public or family).

So I ask myself, have I really de-cluttered? All I have really done is get rid of 2 key components, Facebook and Twitter and replaced them with whatsapp and FlipBoard. I guess more relevant stuff and less intrusive. I am still connected to the world, but now its more like I feel in more control of what comes in my face and can decide when I want to interact or not.

The Social Media De-Clutter Project

After getting into the rut like everybody else into creating social media profiles all over the place, recently I have got into cutting this back at bit. What I realized was that over a period of time, what has resulted in all that was me glaring in front of a screen (mobile, tablet or laptop) and let content be thrown on to me by all the various social media sites. Without actively searching for content I wanted to read at a particular time, this was just such a waste of my energy and time.

I got to so many profiles that it was impossible to make use of this in the 24-hour day. See the "About me" section and "Follow Me" link for all profiles.

I have personally initiated a declutter project since last year. Here is how it went and where I am.

I have deleted by Facebook Profile. Yes, its true. facebook.com/umarpirzada is no longer. It was pretty easy. I took a backup, I don't know why but probably that's linked to withdrawal symptoms. Then I converted it to a Facebook page and then I set up the page for deletion. This is called burning the boats. In a 14 days time (now only 7 left) the page gets deleted and end of story.

It is a long way to go as I still have accounts on Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. I got facebook pages, blogs also.

So, I sat down and mindmapped my thoughts on how I use the various Social Media platforms today. Here is what I got.

Next I started reviewing, if I wanted to continue doing with what I did i.e. if the objectives remain the same. They did. So next I started re-arranging and connecting my objectives to the tools with the objective being to reduce the tools.

Facebook Profile went off as I am going to use Google+ for it. People who want to connect with me can connect via Google+ and I will do the same. Moreover, the closer friends, I am connected via whatsapp for more instant messaging. For connecting with Family, again, I got whatsapp.

I have rationalized my Twitter account usage also meaning, unfollowing accounts whose feeds I am not interested in. Considering, I am going to stay connected with friends through Google+ and with family via Hangouts or Skype, I don't need to follow them on Twitter. Moreover, I am going to get back to using Flipboard a lot more, I don't know why I stopped. This means realistically, I can set up topics to cover all my news updates, what do I need Twitter for then. Yeah, I have narrowed it down to use Twitter only for getting my opinion across.

For professional networking, I am going to keep it separate from everything else and use LinkedIn.

For getting my opinion across, I will use Twitter, Blogger and my UTP Facebook Page. The latter is also a consolidation of everything I publish. While not perfect yet, but I think I should be able to get some time out and bring more structure to using the various social media platforms. Using less of Twitter & Facebook for mindless feed updates, I have made the first move to Flipboard.

Here is how my desired mindmap looks now. Lets see how I progress.

Facebook killed my blog, NOT!

I started blogging in 2006. Facebook / Twitter hadn't become the fad yet. Having a natural craving for the spotlight, this was a good way to get my thoughts out and see what others felt about it. I made new friends in the blogosphere as I read their blogs and they returned the favour by tracking back, visiting. It was all good.

If I were a regular blogger as much as I would have liked since then, I wouldn't have needed my day job. At least that's how I see it now. Unfortunately, I am not. It is a graph of ups and downs, long hibernation periods with life taking over at times and now recently as I look at it, its the advent of social media and so called micro-blogging via Twitter and Facebook that has killed my blog.

I went to reflect on this a little bit and realized the true reason I blogged was an idea that crept into my mind and then I wanted to think it through. I think better when I write about it and that's that. Yes, there was a social spotlight craving in there somewhere, but the generation of content was very much exactly that. When you get into blogging, there is a set limit of words that builds up in your mind to make a decent blog post. This is not the case with micro-blogging. You fit the idea in 140 words or in any case, it would be small update to either of Social Media tycoon websites. So the idea of sitting down and jotting thoughts and producing a blog post is simply said, too time-consuming.

That's why I say, Facebook killed my blog. Having said that, I am not giving up here. I enjoy writing. I am not as good as the greatest bloggers or journalists around. I have not been trained to do this. English is not my mother tongue. But I like writing. Hence, I will continue. In short bursts at times, more regular at other times. The size of my posts will shorten at times, it will be longer at times. I don't care. I am just going to write until I feel satisfied.

Its my blog page after all. I can ramble all I want. Facebook, you can go and have a billion users, you can let me have my FB pages but, you will not kill my blog. I will survive.

The Boiling Frog

Consider the story of the boiling frog. It may or may not be true, but the point it makes certainly is. Toss a frog into a pot of boiling water and it instinctively jumps out, self-protectively. Next, place the frog into a pot of cool water. Not surprisingly, it swims around, happily. Now heat the water up very gradually and what does the frog do? It acclimates to untenable circumstances — and slowly cooks. The frog doesn't notice what's happening to him, until it's too late.

I read the above from here and loved the metaphor.

The article was an eye-opener on how we make our lives stressful gradually without realizing what we are doing to ourselves. Without taking any of the credits away from the article, take control of the stove and decide on how much you want the water to boil and keep it cool. If you don't like the pot, jump into another pot but live life at the temperature that you want to live. Otherwise, you will end up being cooked before you die and in that process you would have not completed the task or fulfilled the reason that you were sent in this world for.

The stove knob should be in your hands and not in someone else's. This is your life after all. Take control.

Attention Wanting

Why does it feel when I am in the process of writing a blog or tweet or update my status on the gazillion social networking sites that I have accounts... that i want attention. I guess that's exactly why... I do want attention...

But I am not the only one right? That applies for all humans regardless of whether they are as addicted to the Internet like me or not. We all have this natural in-born craving to get noticed. We like to stand out in a crowd. Not all the time but once in a while we do.

It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. Its not about how much money you make. Its not about on what level of the food-chain you are. The high ups get noticed anyway. But even the ones at the bottom of the pile get noticed for being at the bottom of the pile.

Whether it is at a professional level at work. One wants to do well. Speak up in a meeting. Get a job well done just to get noticed. On the other side, it could be a casual get-together with friends or family. It could be a simple walk in the park but you could get the craving to wear something that would make you stand out or do something different.

This is all regardless of how good or worthless one feels at any particular moment in time. This is really bothering me by the way.

The strange part is that you could be at either extreme to get noticed. Extreme behavior is easily noticed. Best or worst, you are breaking news.

I think its only moderation where one can get away without getting noticed...or wait... on second thought, even those people would get noticed. This time people would say, this person is a good moderate guy. He doesn't do anything extreme. You can have the craving to be moderate as well to get noticed.

If you are at the top, you get noticed. If you are the bottom, you get noticed. If you are somewhere in the middle, you'll get noticed.

Should I be feeling insecure? Regardless of what we do or don't do, we'll get noticed? If we don't get noticed, we'll follow our natural instinct to do something to get noticed. We are made strange beings, that's for sure.

Bulley, Rock On!!!

I dedicate this post to one of the most frequent visitors here. Mr. Sidhu Saaheb. I found this guy in the blogosphere only and have never met him. I don't know how old he is. I don't know who he really is. I only know him from the way he writes and what he writes. I found his posts always insightful and of the highest quality.

We do share a love for Sufism, I feel. I have had some thoughtful comments on whatever few Bulley Shah posts I have had. There is much more to learn from him.

I am tracking back a nice post from him where he has compiled 4 songs which have taken Bulley's words and made a modernized version of it so it appeals to the masses and yet conveys the simple messages that Bulley left with.

Love the song Bandeya.

You Only Have What you Give

I feel much honored to be tracking back another post from Darvish

Every post that I read from this guy, it makes me go closer to God. The way he thinks and writes and quotes, it just shows what a beautiful mind he has.

Today's trackback is another of those great ones. You only have what you give. He quotes Isabel Allende, who is a Chilean novelist. She shares with us her loss of her daughter and how it taught her the lesson of how giving is the best way of living.

That led me to a thought of how selfish we are in our lives. We always want things for ourselves and never give enough. This doesn't only apply to material things or money. It also applies to things like knowledge, love, etc. Why are we so selfish? What are those things worth anyway? They only increase in value, the more we share.

Think about it.

Traits of a Great Leader

I think I have said this before also. I just love simple to-the-point posts. Found a post with a great message under similar lines. Want to know the "Traits of a Great leader" in one simple post. Well here you go.

I have been following the Rozee blog as I find most of their posts very useful to keep learning new things which apply to the human element of us. Without taking away the spotlight from the blogpost, I will just list out the traits. You can read details on the post itself.

1. Integrity


2. Risk Takers


3. Natural Problem Solvers


4. Good Listeners


5. Consensus Builders


6. People Development


7. Enthusiastic


8. Eyes on the Prize


9. Good Teachers

Wise Quotes Compilation

I just have to track-back this post from Inner Reflections Transcribed where a great combination of quotations have been compiled in one place. I usually am on the look out for such stuff to derive my Motivational Mondays posts as each quote does drive a beautiful thought from it.

Anyway, do visit the link. Here are a few I really liked,

• Be like a postage stamp; stick to one thing until you get there 


• The best way to predict your future is to create it


• What costs is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight... its the size of the fight in the dog

Any many more....ENJOY!!!

Earth Hour 2009 Pictures

Somebody forwarded me this link from The Boston globe which contained pictures of some significant & famous locations which contributed to Earth Hour 2009. Where it is deemed as one of the most amazing joint movements by people, it was still taken with the same pointless criticism about such acts don't mean anything etc.

I  still think it did hit home to a few more people this year and such acts do make a difference. A difference is all that matters no matter how significant it is and I think everybody who got involved deserves credit.

Lets continue to the good work started and save energy everyday if possible. We spend electricity in many places where we can really avoid it. The summers are coming and its a good time to make a resolution to make that difference on an individual basis and when you spread the word, it becomes a group actvity leading to more significant gains.

God on Facebook?

Have you seen this? Done by probably a facebook freak...but really creative...

Seven Ways To Stay Motivated at Work

I found a really relevant post in today's time where everybody is feeling demotivated at work. Layoffs, unpaid forced leaves, restructuring, etc. These are some tough times and pretty much the toughest most of us will ever see again, hopefully.

In these times, motivation is something that needs to be searched for. However, I got to this post which was written as professionally as possible. The seven ways to stay motivated at work.

Without taking away any credit from them, I will just list the 7 points down. Go to the above mentioned link to read in detail.

1. Clarify your Goals


2. Establish a clear Game-Plan for achieving your Goals


3. Ride the Wave of your Successes


4. Reward Yourself


5. Keep things in Perspective


6. Maintain a Healthy Work/Life Balance


7. Think Positive

I think it couldnt get more concise and precise than that. Just love the experts.

Six Truths in Your Life

SIX Truths of Life

1. You cannot touch all your top teeth with your tongue.

2. All idiots, after reading the first truth, will try it.

3. And discover that The first truth is a lie.

4. You're smiling now because you're an idiot.

5. You soon will share this with another idiot.

6. There's still a stupid smile on your face.

I apologize about this, I'm an idiot and I needed company .......!!!! I am allowed a mindless post once in a while, right?

Y or Why?

I have always been a big fan of photoblogs. Especially abstract and thought provoking ones. You may have already heard about Lisa's Chaos and if you haven't, you are missing out. I have never been disappointed in how intricate and thoughtful the picture blogging is.

Here is a recent post that left me speechless. The creativity. She has collected various versions of using the letter Y and expressed through pictures.

I am embarrassed at not writing more about this as I usually do write a bit of my own also when tracking back. But today, I just am lost for words. Keep up the good work, Lisa.

Banks, Credit Cards ~ Generous? Smart?

I read this particular article in NYTimes early March which was quite interesting to see. These are some exceptional and extreme times in the global financial system and such times ask for some similar exceptional & extreme measures.

So when I read about banks and credit card companies making deals over the amount to be paid by the consumers I was amazed. I mean shouldn't it be trying to get every penny from the people to keep things running? Are they being generous or are they being smart?

The truth is that people cant pay the money they have taken on credit and these companies and banks know that as well. Hence, they would contact people and tell them, we will let go of 50% of your credit if you pay the other 50%. Its big win situation for the consumer who can't pay the amount. The bank gains by realizing that it may be easier to get "something" out of the consumers than "nothing" when they are broke. I would say that's not a bad strategy.

I especially liked this quote from the article.

“Consumers have never been in a better position to negotiate a partial payment,” said Robert D. Manning, the author of “Credit Card Nation” and a longtime critic of the credit card industry. “It’s like that old movie ‘Rosalie Goes Shopping.’ When it’s $100,000 of debt, it’s your problem. When it’s a million dollars of debt, it’s the bank’s problem.”

With most governments coming in with bailout plans, I think this strategy will work as the governments might just indirectly be attending to the part of the debt that the consumer doesn't pay.

One thing is for sure, I want this crisis to move on quickly. Cant somebody just push the clocks a bit faster?

Making Extra Money Through Freelance

With the current financial crisis there has been a whole run of trying to make money through a second medium. Lots of people have lost their day jobs. Those who have them have been told no promotions or bonuses this year. The people who were living on credit face higher  revised interest rates. There is enough doom and gloom to be concerned and probably know this is once a lifetime kind of a crisis.

There have been people who have been unable to handle the pressure and have gone into negative mode. This post is not addressed for those people. This is for the ones who have taken the mission to come out of the crisis stronger, smarter & achievers. This post is for those people who believe in themselves and are willing to work hard to survive.

In the old days, in the absence of Internet, a second job meant something after the day job which took time and effort. Things apply pretty similarly today also other than the fact that due to the Internet being so effective these days, it is relatively less on effort with emphasis on quality. If you can do quality work, you can make a lot of money online.

I need to trackback to this website here. Whoever is behind it is doing the right thing. Writing some nice posts and giving some good guidelines. I am pretty much a newbie when it comes to trying to make online as I have made much in the short while I have been blogging. Long way to go. In any case, I found this website useful and hope you do the same.

The bottom line is that everybody is worried about their bottom line in the bank statement, heheh...

I know some great people are out there who are writing really well. A minor tweak here and little ad placement efficiency and just see how you can make some money. You know you can definitely use some.

You can donate some to me for giving in these wonderful tips. I know I could use some for sure.

Yawn!! International Women's Day...

Last week, I think the 8th of March was the International Women's Day. I was told about it by my wife. I wished her Happy International Women's Day. That's that.

However, I absolutely loved this post from a very worthy readable blogger, Leemz. "Get a life, Woman!!!" is the title of her post and she speaks about all things NOT to do. She is addressing all the women of this world and is giving some pretty good guidelines.

I would be smarter and not speak much further as I have all the possible relations a man could have with a woman. All of them alive and well. This includes my wife, daughter, sister, mother, mother-in-law, grandma from both sides, lots of aunties from both of the family etc. I want to live a little longer.

Peace!! Women of this world. Without you, we men are nothing. Enjoy the post.

Get a life,Woman!

Lying is a Disease

For all those readers who like to bum around and know that UTP is one of the biggest promoters of the bumhood clan, you should know better that I am not talking about "Lying Around" as a disease. That is a blessing.

I am hinting towards telling a lie, a fib or you know the more desi JHOOT. Now that is a serious disease.

Being a Trackback Thursday, I would like to mention Wakas Mir, who is known for his good stuff with regards to positivity and his post "What lying does to your image" speaks about the same.

He has spelled it out in simple bullet points of the repercussions of lying. I love simple posts which leave a message. I think that's the art of writing. Write less which says a lot more.

I have seen people who lie so much that they instinctively start doing that for every thing they talk about. They will lie even at situations where they don't need to lie,  cos that's what instinctively comes. They get struck off from my friend list that's for sure.

Just like lying can become a habit, amazingly so can telling the truth. I have tried both in my life and even though there are situations where I would like to get away by using a lie but I prefer telling the truth cos that kills the matter there and then. You don't have to live with the lie. People who speak the truth are more at ease and less stressed cos they are not carrying any burden with themselves.

People who lie on the other hand always take a while to think and strike off all the lies that could be linked and they need to cover up with what they are about to say. Do you imagine yourself doing the same when trying to cover up a lie? Its a pitiful way of living.

So in order to improve your quality of life, start telling the truth a bit more and you will be fine. Its easier said than done but my words don't mean a thing unless there is realization from deep inside. Try it, it works.

BOEING 797? 1000 Passengers?

I found this excellent post by one of our friends at Pro Pakistani which talked about the expected new plane by Boeing. The 797 is what they expect it to be and aerodynamic designs and the modern structure just looks amazing. I dont know if its true or not but even if somebody has thought about the future and brought up with a place as effective as this, it deserves a mention.

The new Boeing 797 is quicker than the current top of the line Airbus 380 in terms of speed and capacity and with that brings much savings for any airline that owns it.

I still think its in theory but is this what we are going to travel on? Very near in the future? Should be something look forward to.

70 Top Tips to Generate Blog Traffic

Well the post topic is no marketing gimmick. You will get exactly what you came here for. All credit to Dr. Sandy who is on a mission to help all bloggers out there. He writes really well and here is one of his posts that was exactly what I was looking for. Everything in one place.

If you are a blogger, this is what you need to read and try to get moving on your readership numbers. It all makes sense to me at least. Here is the link.

70 top tips to generate blog traffic

This is where I picked up some ideas of joining the Blog Catalog and join the social network for bloggers. The post also mentions Twitter and loads of different things u can do. They all sound simple when read in one place.

All the best bloggers. Rule the world!!!