Escape from Shareadise: Yam, Jam, Link, and Like—Without Losing Your Mind.

Projectliners are swimming in social media at work; it’s an increasingly important part of what we do and how we connect, and it of course began with the all-powerful trifecta of LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. A couple months ago, Brian Johnson introduced us to Yammer, a microblogging service with special features that make it a fantastic tool for private, real-time office chat in a virtual environment.

And then, Brian brought us a beta version of Turntable (invitation only—aren’t we VIP!) and the online party really got cooking; we now have our own private virtual dance club that lets us DJ for each other throughout the day. David—who would have pegged you as a Duran Duran fan? Awesome! And Brian—did you really just play my favorite Springsteen song?

It wasn’t too long before I found myself drowning in all the Yamming, Jamming, Tweeting, Liking, and Linking. At one point, I had no fewer than seven social apps running on my laptop, lurking underneath all the emails, spreadsheets, and SharePoint sites I was using for my—you know—actual work. It goes without saying that I absolutely have to stay productive while at work, and I was beginning to fear the onset of a serious personal Sharepocalypse.

Something had to be done. Here’s how I’m trying to tone it down:

• Aggregate and automate. Some say Hootsuite, Google, or Tumblr, I say Tweetdeck. I may not be able to cram Yammer and Turntable in there, but it has Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook under control at least—yay for small victories. In Tweetdeck, Yammer, and Turntable, I futzed with my settings and options to prioritize, filter, and minimize the distracting pop-ups and pings.

• Give it the ol’ Scan-Focus-Act. You just can’t be everything to everybody. I try to pick one to three things to read, share, and comment on, and then I move on. Quickly.

• Create a routine and (ahem) try to stick to it. Tweetdeck and Yammer in the morning and at lunch, and then Turntable in the afternoon is the goal. It feels like a comfortable cadence and I think I’m getting the hang of it.

• Take time-outs. Entire days will go by and I won’t touch the stuff, especially when I feel myself starting to get too needy.

• Use it, or lose it. Turntable is on the chopping block for me already, I must confess. The wow-factor was huge at first, but so was the distraction, so I had to leave it alone for a while. Now, it’s 3 pm on a Wednesday and I’m in the dance club all by myself—no one else is there, so no DJ party today. Sigh—moving over to Spotify….

Of course, I didn’t come up with this all by myself. I know a great guy named Christopher Allen who teaches this stuff, and he generously posts his instructional decks to Slideshare for all to see. Credit where credit is due: thank you for being my guide, Chris.

OK, now it’s your turn—how are you keeping your grip while using social media for work?