How often do you visit technology news sites? These are those sites that cover latest iPhone rumor, Google acquisition or even the latest drama around a famous blogger leaving behind the platform he built. Do you visit these sites once a day, twice a day, or wait for it… every hour on the hour?
If you read these sites for a break in your day or to be entertained I think that’s great. But often these sites become time dumps for people. Sure the stories and the drama are interesting but rarely do these stories have any bearing on the success for you or your business.
But we all want to be in the know. We want to be the first to hear the latest news, gadget, or moves by our favorite tech company. Does knowing the latest news make us better at what we do? Does it help you deliver a better service or product? Does it improve your marketing and your awareness?
These Stories and Sites Ultimately Become Time Dumps
I’ve stopped reading those stories of IPO’s, acquisitions, Twitter’s latest hires, or why Facebook is scared of Google+. They became time dumps and ultimately have little bearing on the success of my business. Sure these platforms play a role in what I do and the changes they make do change how I communicate or work but ultimately it’s up to me how to employ these to maximum benefit. Knowing the inside scoop or knowing 2 months in advance about a feature rarely helps us plan accordingly.
Another thing I’ve noticed is half the time the commentary is completely wrong, is PR spin, or the source is from someone who talked to someone who talked to someone else—it’s just rumor upon rumor.
Here’s My Suggestions on Reading
I still occasionally read these tech news sites but I focus on stories and commentary that help me and my business. These are stories that give solid advice or offer a unique perspective on business development, new media and marketing. You can see some examples of these stories on the curation platform Scoop.it at Defining New Media. I also curate 2 other topics History and All Out Massive Action (relatively new topic for me).
So I’d suggest you do the same. Only read the stories that will make help you understand a problem or help you reach your become even more of an expert in your industry or field. But I’d take it a step further…
Create Your Own Knowledge Documents
What are knowledge documents? I like to think of these as living and breathing documents of the knowledge that you find and curate around specific subjects.
We’ve become very adept at creating these documents and they become full of the top advice, tips, and thoughts on particular topics.
We do all this in Google Docs. For instance, we have a LinkedIn document where we copy information and links when we find good advice, tips, and secrets about unlocking the power of LinkedIn.
But it’s not just social media… we have documents on video marketing, copywriting, marketing, branding, sales, and a host of other subjects that we use in our business and to help our clients.
The documents we don’t have… “latest Google acquisitions” document or a “Twitter VS Google+ VS Facebook is dead” document. All our curated knowledge documents are focused on archiving the best of the best and helping us become better at what we do. I believe that’s a good thing.
When I started this post I wasn’t sure if this would come off as I’m against visiting these websites or even reading these stories. I hope it didn’t come across that way– I wanted to share a practice we use internally that keeps our team highly focused and productive.
Am I off base or is there a happy medium I haven’t found?