It’s a comment I hear a lot lately, people are getting ‘grouped out’ on Facebook.  Personally, I don’t see the issue and there is a simple solution.

Let’s look at the problem first.  What happens when you join a group or page?

Well.. for starters, you are now connected to many more people through the group.  hmmm… that was kind of the point in ‘working’ Facebook for your business wasn’t it?

Then you start to receive updates or invites to events.  Let’s see… if you respond, your update goes out to all the members… again, your name in front of many.

Now, when someone posts a note, wall post or link, on any of the groups or pages; their post will show on your wall.  Which also means, if you make a comment on another group’s wall or page, your comment will be seen by all the group members or fans. Wow, so many people you are talking to.

The issue everyone seems to have is when they start to RECEIVE all these notes, invites, links and more on your Facebook homepage…that’s when most people become overwhelmed and stop joining anything.

Well… if you are like me, and have more than 100 friends on Facebook, you probably have lots of stuff already being posted on your wall from actual friends – not to mention the flower gardens, butterflies, IQ challenge tests, TV quizzes etc, etc, etc.  Do you read all those?  Probably not… that’s why everyone skim-reads now.  Way too much to take in. You skim and only look further into items that catch your eye.

So… long before you joined any groups you had trouble brewing already.  How do you deal with it and still remain connected to all the groups and pages?

1. Ignore all those gardens, challenges, hot date messages, flowers and fishbowls. Period. Funny, I no longer receive any invites for these.

2. In keeping with your purpose for being on Facebook;  join groups and pages that support your strategic plan.

3. Check out the wall posts and discussion to determine if you should participate actively in that group/page or just be kept informed.

4. For those you want to participate in, do so by posting on the wall and responding to other posts.

5. For those you simply want to keep in touch with, quickly scan the invites/posts. Respond to those you want to and then mass ignore those you will not be joining (saves lots of time and clicks). This is not a mean thing to do and don’t feel bad if you ignore an event invite, or a friend invite for that matter. The people sending out invites would really prefer only to get responses from those truly interested.

It’s not a big deal to belong to all these groups as long as you listen and join in when you want.  If you are always ignoring them and never want to participate then go ahead and  un-friend, un-fan or un-member yourself.

It’s not that big a deal…and if many people follow your route, the owner of the group or page may realize they were not giving value to their connections – especially if people keep jumping ship.

It all comes down to why you are on Facebook and how much time you want to put into it.  There are always ways to save time and still participate.  It’s an ongoing cycle – Find, Join, Listen, Participate.  If you stop all participation, then leave the group.  Simple choice – no value, no join.

Technorati Tags: facebook, Social Media, social networking, Time Management

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