I’m ambivalent about the new social media. I love how it helps me connect, when those connections are meaningful, but I’m starting to resent how much time it takes. Katie recently wrote a great summary of LinkedIn and Facebook. As a Millennial, she brings a level of excitement to these venues that I don’t yet share.

In the last month I’ve put up a Facebook page and a LinkedIn profile. (Well, to be honest, I asked Katie to set them up for me.) I got more email from Facebook and made connections with people I’d lost track of over the years, but I can already see the potential to be overwhelmed with requests for new connections. Everyone wants to be my “friend.”

Facebook with its background in college connections and its informal feel is used more for social links, while LinkedIn was designed as a community for professionals. There’s some debate over whether one or the other will emerge as a definitive leader, or whether they’ll start to share information and make it easier on all of us who have profiles on both sites. For now most of us have to manage both.

Tips for managing your Facebook and LinkedIn time:

1. Repurpose Content—if you want to get a page up quickly, look at your resume and past bios for content you can use. Even though you’re looking at blank boxes on the screen, you don’t have to start from scratch. Cut and paste existing info to save time.

2. Limit Your Time—you can sink hours into social media and blogs and gain little more benefit than you would if you checked in for a few minutes. This is wonderfully described by Rob May in his Business Pundit article “My Biggest Regret of 2007: I Wish I Spent More Time on Facebook”. Set weekly or daily limits for yourself.

3. Track Value—check in on a monthly basis and ask yourself if you’re getting value out of your LinkedIn or Facebook time and adjust the attention you give them according to the value you’re getting.

There are times when networking has more impact than others. Social media sites can be a good way to maintain a background level of connection, but they still don’t replace going to events, meeting people in person, or picking up the phone to check in with a friend or contact. Social media is better for maintaining little moments of contact over time, but it fails in the areas of human connection and brainstorming with others in person.

Question: What can you do online more easily than in person? What can you only do in person?