How many of my 2,474 LinkedIn connections do I really need?

It’s common for me to search the site locating people at certain companies — or people to connect me with those targets — and I find I’m connected to Toms, Dicks, and Harrys and I’m clueless why we’re connected.

I then scrounge the person’s profile seeing if we share more than 30 mutual connections (a likely reason we connected) or if we’re in the same state (a likelier reason we connected) or if I made a note once upon a time tagging the person in a curated category (possible).

Should my network be tight enough that they can recommend me without asking who I am and what I do? If we’re only connected because of a shared interest or geography, is that enough of a reason to sever the weak link?

When I last blogged about the professional networking site, sharing 10 productivity tips to use it, I was connected to 2,436 people. That was on April 9. I added 38 people in a month? Blimey!

How do you know if you’re connected to too many people or too few?

Lend me your thoughts….

Please write a comment at How Many LinkedIn Connections Are Too Many? How Few Are Too Few? if inspired.

When he's not blogging, Ari teaches digital marketing and is available to speak to you or your organization. He's looking for a full-time position in communications. Connect on sign up to get his blog by email!

Today is the sixth birthday of my blog.

It’s seen two URLs, multiple names, and many design changes. If you’ve never visited the archive, you can trace my beginning blog posts about apartment life and the environment and discover my first posts about social media. For instance, here’s a piece from May 2007 critiquing a website.

I’ve created a lot of content and people continue to visit.

This chart shows daily visitors to my blog from April 2012 to May 2013.

What you can expect between now and May 2014.

• You can expect to learn strategic and social business applications of digital media from Facebook to Fuzz.
• You can expect to appreciate new voices as part of the ongoing Feature Friday series. Want to contribute?
• You can expect to discover case studies and best practices on social media marketing, and read interviews with leading practitioners.
• You can expect to meet new bloggers who I read and like.
• You can expect to follow news about a Twitter e-book I plan to publish this year (despite saying this for several years), and you will have an opportunity to become an affiliate.

You can expect pre-pubescent discoveries and initiatives that are common for 6 year olds. I hope you stick around. A lot of people read my blog by email and click over when inspired to add a comment. You can join them by signing up here.

Please write a comment at Happy 6th Birthday to My Blog if inspired.

When he's not blogging, Ari teaches digital marketing and is available to speak to you or your organization. He's looking for a full-time position in communications. Connect on sign up to get his blog by email!

My last tweet was April 30, 2013.

I voted. #212 at 1:22pm. #masen #nbpt (@ Brown School) 4sq.com/11V818K

— Ari Herzog (@ariherzog) April 30, 2013

I tweeted 624 times last month.

Today is May 13 and I haven’t tweeted since.

I don’t know when I’ll tweet again.

It’s not for lack of trying. Month to month, my tweeting frequency has always changed. Some months, I tweet a couple hundred times. Other months, less.

I tweeted an average 17.9 times a day in 12 months.

That’s not a lot per se, considering each tweet is less than 140 characters, but it adds up.

If the choice is to tweet multiple times a day about this and that vs tweeting once or twice a week about something more important to me, I’d rather share importance. Signal over noise.

If you tweet and no one reads it, did it ever happen?

— Kneale Mann (@knealemann) March 1, 2011

Good point, Kneale.

I haven’t abandoned Twitter as I continue to lurk and watch what people are saying. But I log in less frequently. I also observe that many of my Facebook friends are sharing the same content on Twitter. Because I’m using Facebook much more this year, I’m unfollowing many of those people on Twitter.

I am trying to use social networking sites differently. I need to re-evaluate the purpose of each site — both to the digital ecosystem as a whole and to me. I need to determine if I have a profile on a site just because or if it’s time to say goodbye.

Narcissism plays a part here.

David Wygant opines that Twitter breeds narcissism.

During the course of one day last week on my Twitter feed and Facebook feeds, this is what I read:

- One friend broke up with his girlfriend who he found cheating with their kid’s pediatrician. He told all 700 of his friends how he doesn’t trust women or organized medicine any longer.

- Another friend of mine made $2 million in a business venture. He did the classic dual Twitter and Facebook posts so that we all knew exactly how much he had in his checking account. You can say that he was really excited.

- Another friend of mine had lunch at Chipotle.

People post their sexual accomplishments.

People tell you if they’ve gone out and done their laundry that day.

People will tell you anything and everything.

It’s true. I see it every day. I’ve been guilty of creating some of that noise.

I’d rather create less.

I need to stay silent so there’s a purpose behind my tweets.

Please follow me on Twitter and interact with me when there is something new there as I continue to explore the social web…

UPDATE: May 16, 2013: I just tweeted a link to here in case anyone stumbles across me there and wonders where I went.

Please write a comment at Reevaluating Why I Tweet if inspired.

When he's not blogging, Ari teaches digital marketing and is available to speak to you or your organization. He's looking for a full-time position in communications. Connect on sign up to get his blog by email!

President Barack Obama is requiring new government data to be freely available and machine readable.

In an executive memorandum released today:

[Agencies must] collect or create information in a way that supports downstream information processing and dissemination activities.

This includes using machine­ readable and open formats, data standards, and common core and extensible metadata for all new information creation and collection efforts. It also includes agencies ensuring information stewardship through the use of open licenses and review of information for privacy, confidentiality, security, or other restrictions to release.

Additionally, it involves agencies building or modernizing information systems in a way that maximizes interoperability and information accessibility, maintains internal and external data asset inventories, enhances information safeguards, and clarifies information management responsibilities.

In other words, data must be downloadable to your computer or mobile device. It needs to be searchable. It needs to be timely and complete.

Your favorite PDF document is not considered machine readable under the federal Open Data Project. You can visit that link to learn more about the tools and best practices of what is and is not allowed. PDF is out, CSV and JSON are in.

What does this really mean?

In this May 2012 interview with federal CIO Steven VanRoekel, Alex Howard asked why citizens should care about free and open data; and he responded by talking about real estate.

When you’re buying a home, why doesn’t it manifest to you the myriad of data that the government has locked up about school quality, healthcare quality, infrastructure investments, broadband, everything else that people really care about when they’re picking a place to live? We don’t do that — we do roof composition and the number of bathrooms, and that’s typically the extent of it.

That’s why open data is so damned important.

Please write a comment at Open Data: Why It’s So Damned Important if inspired.

When he's not blogging, Ari teaches digital marketing and is available to speak to you or your organization. He's looking for a full-time position in communications. Connect on sign up to get his blog by email!

Jeff Cutler once said, “Twitter might be gone tomorrow so don’t use it as the end-all to your communications. Make it a support vehicle and one channel in which you converse with consumers.”

He wrote that in May 2009.

While the microblogging site is still here after four years, and it continues to grow at a staggering rate, nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. Google frequently kills their products, for instance.

If you’re using Twitter and seeking inspiration to determine if you’re saying the right things or wondering how to adapt and change, keep reading…

10 tips to be productive on Twitter

1. Share timely news.

Press Release: #Siemens signs 15-year #wind service extensions in North #America : ow.ly/kKmyx

— Siemens_Energy (@Siemens_Energy) May 6, 2013

2. Share useful information.

Learn emergency preparedness from #CEMA staff, @calgarypolice and others this weekend at Disaster Alley ow.ly/kH2Jr

— City of Calgary (@cityofcalgary) May 3, 2013

3. Tell followers what to do.

Retweet if you think science is the nucleus of invention!

— General Electric (@generalelectric) February 20, 2013

4. Remember that pictures speak 1,000 words.

On the scene of a two home fire in Waterbury. Both homes are pretty well destroyed. twitter.com/CameraMonkey25…

— Andy Mihail (@CameraMonkey25) April 27, 2013

5. Share your passion.

How to make a facebook business page on @slideshare slideshare.net/SueBZimmermanB…

— {Sue B. Zimmerman}(@SueBdoGal) April 21, 2013

6. Be strategic with your hashtags.

Follow @xeroxproduction to learn how NYC #design agencies can win new printer during #NYCxD:#PhaserHunt twitter.com/XeroxCorp/stat…

— XeroxCorp (@XeroxCorp) May 6, 2013

7. Retweet others who tweet about you.

RT @rcr31jeffburton The No. 31 @caterpillarinc Chevrolet rolls off 29th this afternoon @talladegasupers. -PR twitter.com/RCR31JeffBurto…

— Caterpillar Inc. (@CaterpillarInc) May 5, 2013

8. Thank your customers and fans.

Hey @msbyrnes and @ryancgrayson hope you enjoyed your time at the winery.Don’t forget – Mad Martha’s! Enjoy your trip. Come back soon.

— Mill River Winery (@MillRiverWinery) April 14, 2013

9. Go behind the scenes.

Taking #minimalist #design to an extreme twitter.com/lenovo/status/…

— Lenovo(@lenovo) May 6, 2013

10. Be yourself.

I watched the Kentucky Derby and said to my wife, “All that build up for 2 minutes.” Why did she give me that look?

— Conan O’Brien (@ConanOBrien) May 6, 2013

Questions? Thoughts?

Please add a comment below if you have any insight or feedback.

If you enjoyed these tips, please read my related suggestions for productivity on Facebook and on LinkedIn.

Please write a comment at 10 Tips to Be Productive on Twitter if inspired.

When he's not blogging, Ari teaches digital marketing and is available to speak to you or your organization. He's looking for a full-time position in communications. Connect on sign up to get his blog by email!

1. I saw Lilith Fair and the Newport Folk Festival.

2. I bought dinner for my parents.

3. I traveled to Europe.

4. I went white water rafting.

5. I spent the whole weekend partying.

6. I conversed with people of different faiths.

7. I voted.

8. I dyed my hair blonde.

9. I went to gay and lesbian bars.

10. I stopped being friends with people.

11. I liked myself.

12. I donated to charities.

13. I let go of grudges.

14. I went on blind dates.

15. I exercised.

16. I worked as a cook in a restaurant.

17. I was.

18. I saved money.

19. I camped outside under the stars.

20. I learned about financing.

21. I awoke in a strange place.

22. I ate exotic foods in other countries.

23. I bought expensive clothing.

24. I said no.

25. I discovered being alone.

For elaboration, visit Lifehack’s list of 25 things to do; and let me know in the comments if you have any questions or thoughts.

Please write a comment at 25 Things I Did Before I Turned 25 if inspired.

When he's not blogging, Ari teaches digital marketing and is available to speak to you or your organization. He's looking for a full-time position in communications. Connect on sign up to get his blog by email!