I'm a social media manager, Facebook, Twitter, Xing and Co. are part of my daily bread. And yet more and more often there is a diffuse feeling that many of these messages that I get every day are simply superfluous. And I use Facebook no more. Why? Just read on!

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PLING's in the social media forest

It's morning. Yes, it's after eight o'clock and I'm working from home. Yes, I'm still tired and I'm thinking about taking a shower. Then this noise hits my ear that I dream about at night: A dull mixture of DING and PLING signals to me: You have mail!

At the same moment that I think about what day is today (iCal, without you I would also lose the feeling for time and space), a small pop-up window shows the sender, subject and the first words.

Our first date: cold and blue

Dear Facebook, we have been divorced for half a year now and this is my first letter to you. We haven't heard or read from each other for so long. As I read in the press, you are fine. Some of my friends have broken up with you too, but that's how it goes when a relationship fails.

Can you still remember our first date? At that time, I sat in the car and called you up via app on my Blackberry. I tapped the letters trembling, thinking that I needed you. It was winter and we were on the Spree while I looked into your blue letter eyes.

In the beginning, our relationship was a little overcooled, but after a few months, I understood how you work. Privacy settings were not an issue for you then and everyone was able to read quite publicly what the others were writing. I liked that.

The dark power in the background

The longer and more intensively I used you, the more exhausted I felt: you told my friends what they were allowed to read and what not. Constantly I had to see if I left my private things private.

Sometimes you secretly showed my friends things they weren't supposed to know. The longer we were together the more the media got involved as well: Top tips for keeping private private was just one thing I googled at least once a week for you check.

Healthy relationships look different

At some point, the click on your lifted thumb brought so much unrest into my life that I left. You were no longer the Roman Emperor who decided on things that I found important.

Our separation was fast and briefly, because I had been dissatisfied with you for a long time. I found a replacement right away (because I liked your blue letter eyes so much). The blue bird appealed to me - and with that I was probably one step ahead of the trend.

Your friends do not like you anymore

Many of your friends have meanwhile complained to you about me. They were all disappointed with you. We loved you so much and so much did you deceive us by just changing yourself more and more.

Your added value and benefits have been getting smaller and you just have not managed to develop clever mechanisms: you were just for sale!

Just for sale?

Too bad dear Facebook, but hey: let's just stay friends - even without my account. We don't have to hate each other, just please let's avoid each other. I like your green business friend a lot and I also find your rival with the pretty plus sign very exciting.

Let's go: See you.

Fear of the next DONG

I then know if it's more like a church or PLING like an ultrasound smartphone when it makes good news. As soon as I read XING, it makes DONG.

the naked one Anxiety crawls up on me and gives my Headthat I will get upset – or is it rather the other way around? I'm still tired and not quite ready for the outside world when it ruthlessly assaults me.

Wutanfällle about uncreative dreistigkeiten

I click wildly through the area in Safari until I am in the XING rider from Hootsuite (yes, I have a quick look at what else is going on) and see the disaster opening its way: I have a contact request.

I know exactly what will be in there - and the selection is low. The lack of creativity is so high that I regularly throw tantrums for the audacity sent to me.

Assertive business offers

Just like NOW: My tea is still warm, I just got my first errands of the day and I'm one of the first Tasks stumbled back into the house. Black shadow on a gray background: That's right!

I either don't read any test at all, an explanation of which group I'm a member of, or pretentious business offers or justify why I'm an interesting one Contact know.

You do not have to be there everywhere!

At the beginning I thought I was schizophrenic that I wouldn’t be able to see it myself. Today I am seized with cold anger, which goes away with a short click on the cross.

On some days, when it often does DONG, I consider logging out there. You don't have to be there everywhere. This is exactly why I have Facebook switched off: Because it annoyed me.

Ego booster thanks to event invitations

But somehow I also like it: These felt 100 event invitations/day increases mean Self worth to the immeasurable. How important I suddenly become when I'm invited to special events.

I do not want to miss that either - and reach for the tea mug, sip it slowly and start the day freshly showered again in the Social Web: Mostly there are then very beautiful PLINGs.

The catch up of the “professionals”

Unfortunately, quitting social media has radically changed my life in other ways as well. because a large amount of People felt this as a provocation on my part. Was that it? What has changed and why would I do it again?

The Filterbubble system was the main reason I found out that someone was anonymizing my exit in connection with my Job had blogged. This someone was an influential blogger and neither linked to the original post nor was willing to participate in one clear to share the arguments set out above about the usefulness of the network.

That's what happened to me with other posts that I only found by linking to my homepage - i.e. targeted monitoring. I encountered the cold silence of the Industry. What is astonishing for me about this circumstance is something else: there were and are people who support me for the Courage congratulate.

Why is it brave and right to swim against the tide?

Today there are quite a number of blog posts about why Facebook no longer worth it. In essence, it is about the reciprocity of effort and benefit. One topic that repeats itself over and over again is that Criticism at it range only by switching from Advertising to be able to reach.

I noticed this last year: Facebook regulates who can see my content. As a site operator, one can only hope that the followers will drop by of their own accord. How do you know? Right: From your own homepage, which you own because you own it.

Customer loyalty often plays only a subordinate role

There are social media managers who say they only want to talk to these users. In fact, these are mostly existing ones customers.

Company goals are often designed for new customers, so customer retention only plays a subordinate role. This shows the strategic scope of this statement, which a social media manager is not entitled to, since the Set to his work Implementation be broken down.

I am happy to have recognized the trend

It is one of the key tasks of the social media manager to be able to estimate trends and movements at an early stage. In that sense, I have done a good job when I am the change, which since the end of the year even at large Companys arrives, absah.

Today there are a number of people who ask me how I knew it: Actually, the answer is as simple as it is stupid - it was the feeling of my own dissatisfaction that drove me to distance myself from Facebook to take. Perhaps this is one of the most important indicators that we as professionals can use for sentiment analysis: The gut feeling about what we do.