As some of you know, I’m on a short leave from Radian6 to spend some time at home with my new little boy Elias who was born on May 4. He’s my firstborn and I’m slowly adjusting to the changes that come with being a new mom.
As someone who was very active on social media and part of the great Radian6 community, I wanted to stay in the loop and maintain my social relationships.
Being active in social media when you have little to no time for sleeping, let alone to flip open your laptop, is incredibly challenging. It’s not only new parents that face challenges when it comes to staying connected. Any big transition in life can force you to step away from your social channels.
Through my two months of new parenthood I’ve come across 3 social media pitfalls and ways I’m working to overcome them. I wanted to share these with you and ask if you have any to add!
Over-“Sharenting”
As a proud new mama it is so hard not to over-share pictures and tidbits about my new baby. Instantly after Eli was born all my social streams turned into cute little pictures of every moment and smile. Since social media is forever, I do my best to ask myself what Eli might think of each post later in life if it were to resurface. This isn’t a challenge our parents faced and it will be interesting to see when this generation is going through high school what might show up from a mother’s blog from many years ago!
Losing Touch
Losing touch is the easiest pitfall to tumble into. It’s so hard to find time to get online at all. I’ve learned to take advantage of those sleeping or feeding moments so that I can stay in the loop. I’ve also cut down the number of blogs I am reading to just a few favorites so I’m not overwhelmed (including this blog of course!) This pitfall can be easy to tumble into with any major change in life including moving and vacations.
Getting Sloppy
Pre-moma I was very diligent about proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. While those things are still important to me I find that the limited time I have means often little to no time for editing. Instead of allowing myself to get sloppy I’ve tried to limit my output and accept that while I don’t want to lose touch, I do need to cut back at this time if I want to maintain a professional social profile that I won’t be embarrassed to look back on.
Overall with being a new mom I think that focusing on the new little baby is the number one priority. Are you a new parent or have you moved recently, adopted a new puppy and had to deal with any of the above? How do you cope? Are there any pitfalls you might add?
Finding yourself pressed for social media time? Check out Social Media Time Management.
