photo by kwerfeldein on flickr

I like social media. I do.

In fact, in the last 6 months, I’ve become addicted to blogs, forums, online network groups, and anything related to the words “web 2.0.”

I’ve kept up on my facebook, updated my blog, managed comments from blog posts, ravaged social media sites, and soon, I’ll be tweeting. Or maybe not. Tweeting seems awfully tiring. And it may just be cause for Dr.’s to prescribe more Ritalin-which I’m no fan of.

Today I came across this statement from Danielle LaPorte on improving your business:

“Stop thinking of your site and your blog as separate things. There needs to be a paradigm shift whereby entrepreneurs create ONE on-line space for themselves that includes the “brochure ware” that is the critical function of sites, and regularly updated and informative content, aka, a blog. Having a site with a “BLOG” button that pushes users out to a totally different space (usually not even reflecting the aesthetic brand of your primary website,) is like having one clothing store that just sells pants, and sending your customer down the street to your “other” store to buy a shirt. Keep your customers under one umbrella so that they can explore and utilize your universe.”

“Create a seamless one-stop portal of all that you do so you are capturing the various interests of your visitors in one fell swoop: to read inspiring stuff, to buy a product, to hire you as a speaker or for a service you provide. The more they know, the better. If you architect it with logic and simplicity, you can accomplish a lot in one space. Having a separate blog usually screams “after thought.”

“Repeat: If you have more than one on-line space that is essentially talking about what you do or sell – collapse it all into one. This also helps with search engine optimization and ranking. And erase the word “blog” from your consciousness. Think in terms of regular, engaging content that you can deliver.”

I have to admit, this advice felt intuitively right to me, though I understand the need for separate online spaces for a specific purpose. I felt a mix of relief and happiness that maintaining five online presences is not a necessary element for new “social media.” I like that meaningful content, housed in one place, with other useful items nearby, doesn’t inundate the internet world with different forms of the same thing. Instead of plastering myself all over the net with my facebook, linked in profile, blog, website, myspace, flickr, twitter, etc. (I forgot some, I’m sure), to please ten different audiences with ten different parts of myself, I want all of me (and my various forms) to be visible to the world just as they should be: as me, as one person, as Ishita. Contradictions and all.

Check out Danielle at http://www.Whitehottruth.com