Lately I’ve been struggling a bit with my footing online, in particular on social media.
No. 1)
It’s so simple to just add to the noise. Write an article or a post, throw in some pics and put in on the social platform of your choice. No big deal.
But does it really matter? Does anyone care? Is the writing good, clear and concise enough to, even if nobody cares, at least help the person posting (here: me) to get clear on a thought, theme or whatever?
I’m working on the first edition of a brief, regular newsletter on topics dear to me which quite shortly will go to a very narrow distribution list. Everybody on that list have raised their hand to receive it…and I still struggle quite a bit with that signal vs. noise thing.
Maybe that’s just the way it is. And maybe I’m overcomplicating things. Which brings me to…
No. 2)
It’s almost as simple to self-censor to a degree that keeps one from raising one’s voice at all. Before running the risk of being classified as „noise“, why not just shut up?
But that seems to be almost worse. My job is all about being out there, getting relevant stuff across to other people. Rolling into a ball doesn’t seem to work. Digging deep à la Cal Newport is great and has never been more important, but at least in my line of business this doesn’t work 100% of the time. And in addition, right now doesn’t feel like the time for shutting up.
No. 3)
Likely there is stuff that in a business(ish) environment always qualifies as noise (cat videos anyone?) – and probably a safe bet to stay away from.
But otherwise, what’s signal and what’s noise seems to be at least to a substantial degree individual. One person’s signal can easily be another one’s noise. Motivational quotes on social (in particular in LinkedIn) often annoy me – but then a person comments that this is exactly what they needed to hear that day. Who am I to say that doesn’t matter? Don’t worry, no motivational quotes from me today.
No. 4)
If all of the above holds water, this is what remains for me: No cat videos. Only put stuff out that is at least relevant to me and holds up against my standards. Get over that hump of feeling like sticking the neck out. Press publish and hope someone else picks up the signal. And cares enough to tell me, what the signal was, what was good and what sucked, all so I can put out more and hopefully better versions of whatever it was. To all the others – sorry for adding to the noise.