A Book Thing

Information Overwhelm

The Web is an effective tool for learning. In fact, recent studies show that 96% of internet users surf the Web, at least part of the time, with the intention of learning. 89% spend net time on research and 79% want to be kept informed. (According to the Ruder Finn Intent Index) Information is the primary resource this Super Highway provides but how effective is it really?

What information did you search for online today? What did you learn from blogs or articles? Where did you find these websites and what drew you to the websites you found today?

I have spent hours, today, trying to make my twitter use more effective. I’ve held a twitter account for several months but tend to tweet in bursts of sporadic activity. I tweet new blog posts and, when I remember, I’ll browse my timeline and respond or retweet. Effectively labeled links (those that have descriptive text – usually the post heading – included in the tweet) leap out at me and I click to read.

Today, I discovered Tweetdeck and it’s “mark as seen” feature. The “mark as seen” feature meant I could effectively save linking tweets that leap out at me, so I could read them later. And more links, and more links, and more links!!!

INFORMATION OVERWHELM!

There is an abundance of information online. Every moment the available content grows exponentially. In just a few hours of monitored twitter stream I discovered it is impossible to keep up with every piece of ‘interesting’ information. In my 290+ current followers alone there were days worth of reading time being passed back and forth, tweeted and retweeted.

As an eager sponge for information I had to face reality. It is impossible to read everything. The difficulty now is in trying to decide what I should let go and what I absolutely must read. Do I let the timeline return to wheeling past me and snag only those snippets I happen to capture in rare moments of twitter frenzy? Do I harvest all the great looking links and bookmark them to return to, someday? Do I subscribe to yet more blogs to fill my already overflowing RSS reader?

How do you deal with information overwhelm online? Have you discovered any effective ways to filter the interesting from the must know? How do you ensure you don’t while away all of your web hours reading fantastic content instead of writing your own?