Just when you started getting a handle on what it takes to have a successful Website along comes social networking.  In your drive to keep up and stay synced do you find yourself texting, tweeting, facebooking yourself to distraction?  Or is that very activity the distraction (from life, business) itself?

It’s so easy to get lost in “doing” when we are not sure of the reasons behind it.  Or worse, because it is what “everyone else is doing”.  And the very worst of all, because it fills the space of the moment, squeezing out any possibility of just “being”.

These were the questions and concerns that came up a couple of days ago during a recent meeting with a speakers mastermind group I belong to.  Just like you, to a person they felt overwhelmed by the process of keeping up with social networking even though they were not quite sure what it could do for them.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge proponent of social networking.  However it is just a tool.  One that you should be driving, rather than it driving you.  And, if you feel the need to be in sync all the time, perhaps it’s time to rethink your sync…

People who are way out of sync with the digital maelstrom of the moment aren’t always bad followers. They might be great leaders.

Seth Godin

If you are feeling overwhelmed trying to stay on top of social networking then a) it’s not working for you, you are working for it; and b) chances are the people you try to stay connected with are feeling the same.  As the powerful tool it certainly can be, you either learn to master it, or let it go. But never, ever let it (or any other tool) lord over you —that’s just plain foolish.