Is blogging, social networks and my tutorials a waste of time?

Posted on April 23, 2008 at 11:30 pm by Jerad Hill 11 Comments

Life has been so busy lately with business picking up and getting married. Life has definitely changed a lot this year. This blog has seen a lot of it. With all of this I have been putting a lot of areas of my life through some priority testing if you will… I have broken my life up into categories and put many of the things I have given time to in the last year into these categories.

Items that fall under work:

Web Design, Photography, reading, blogging, reading other blogs, networking, BNI, working on my own websites, brainstorming, communicating with others in my field online, etc.

Then there is the life category:

Spending time with my wife, working out, reading, blogging, my friends, church, etc.

Then there are the things that I do that use up time but I’m not sure if they are a good use of time:

Blogging, Photoshop Tutorials, brainstorming new ideas, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and all other social networks

I know that there are people out there that appreciate my blogs, my tutorials and some of the other things I do but in all reality there are others out there doing it also, some even better then my efforts. Looking into the future I see myself growing my family (aka kids) and trying to make my job just as profitable but less time consuming. The more I look at my life the more I feel that I don’t need to be blogging or wasting any of my time on social networks. Though some people swear that by being involved in them is what creates “street cred” for you online. I am not sure if online street cred really matters to me. None of my clients have found me because of a blog I posted, a photoshop tutorial I did or from my Facebook profile.

Hmm, new thought:

Maybe investing some of my time and efforts being online in the social networks presenting myself as a professional will pay off when the people in the social networks grow in their own lives to become business owners or important decision makers in other businesses. Of course there are plenty of people using social networks right now that are doing things with their lives but I am talking about Facebook and Myspace generally. The time I spend on Facebook and Myspace could better be used on Linked in or Plaxo for that matter. Am I talking to the wrong demographic or is it wise to plant seeds in younger soil? Or should I go straight to the produce isle where I will most likely find people who have been bruised by other companies and are not interested? (enough fruit comparisons)

My last Myspace account had over 25,000 friends then Myspace messed up the profile when I tried to reset my password after a hack attempt so I created a new one. I am much more selective as to whom I add as a friend now. I have been hovering under 1000 friends for the last few months.

Lately I have loathed using Twitter because I feel all I do is post my junk there for nobody to give a rip about and I have 165 people following me. After reading an article about how as a business person and blogger I should have tons of Twitter followers so when I blog I can Tweet it and then let them take off with it virally I decided to follow a ton of people. I don’t know why, all that did was get annoying really fast, so I deleted almost all of them, I think I follow around 150 people now and even that is to much. In fact, I think I will go finish deleting everybody I don’t really know in person. Though many people have followed me out of me following them first I would rather have little to no followers until Twitter takes off in my area thus making it fun to use.

Though I am currently trying to figure out if this blog is worth my time it consistently contributes 70-100 clicks a week to my web design website and 30-50 a week to my photography website.

Well after all of that, I am still unsure as to what I am going to do. I really do enjoy blogging and I love doing the tutorials (aka podcasting), but I also feel that the internet is a bit over-saturated with similar content to my own. Maybe I should get a new hobby, then I could blog about that

Buffer

brian

Its not that its a waste of time there are alot of stuff your into that’s ahead of its time in the valley. Like twitter. When you set a new trend in a small place it takes years for it to catch on. But by being ahead of the curve you set yourself apart from the rest of the feild. You may not be drumming up more business doing tutorials but you are showing people that you can use photoshop and not just saying you can. I think what you are doing is building a solid platform of presence that a customer sees and can grasp your involvement in your trade. Which in turn will make them more likely to pass your name around because your proving that what you run is not some fly by night operation. Don’t look at it as awaste of time more of a foundation or “street cred” of what you really do.
http://www.ijerad.com Jerad

Dang, you wrote that whole post from your iPhone? Love you bro!
brian

And on my overtime break at that!!!! Keep doing what your doing youll reap the rewards soon enough. Love you too brotha! Tell the wife i said hi.
http://www.ijerad.com Jerad

You should join Twitter and start using it so we can communicate during the day.
daniel versola

I think that all social networks have their place. likewiswe I doubt ill ever land a client from myspace however some socialnetworks do payoff. at first twitter seemed like a waste of time until I have surrounded my self with all of the dell bloggers. I would not have came in contact with them if it hadn’t been for twitter. now I have some gfeat resources reguarding the dell partner channel that I can use for work to help bring value to my customers. so reguarding social networking online and in real life its who you surround your self with that you grow from.
http://www.violentpillow.com Gabe

Jerad, I think that this is just a phase that all bloggers go through. I sometimes ask myself what the point of blogging is, but in reality its a great outlet and hobby. I believe that most bloggers who do end up quitting will come back to it soon.

You may not be seeing rewards, but it doesn’t really matter as long as you like doing it……right?

Keep up the good work though!
http://www.ijerad.com Jerad

Daniel & Gabe, thanks for the words. I guess I have just hit a brick wall as far as what to put here. Who needs another blog posting nonsense that is found online? Gabe, although I’m a photographer I wish I had a camera at even 10% of the happenings in my life that you do. I appreciate looking at your blog because it’s always photo rich.

Daniel, why don’t you have a blog?
daniel versola

i was sittig at home yesterday thinking about the same thing. i was looking into setting one up. any ideas to help get me started? you use wordpress right? i think lloydgomez uses bogger.com i have helped him fix his blog every now and then.
http://www.ijerad.com Jerad

Yes I use wordpress because I like to have total control over my content and host it myself. Blogger is ok.
maria

Jared, I always enjoy looking at your work. I wouldn’t have found out about you if it weren’t for Myspace. When I hear the word photographer, your name is the first name that pops in my head. I watch and learn from your tutorials and blogs just make you more of a person.

Your work is just great! Keep it up.
maria

Oh and in my previous comment where I wrote that blogs make you more of a person, I meant that with blogs people reveal more of themselves which makes it seem like we’re getting to know the person in you.