Is Facebook a distraction?

Facebook (and other social media sites) can be a very powerful tool to gain new clients and talk to new people. However, it can also be a very big distraction to what you SHOULD be doing…working!

One of the reasons why Facebook is a distraction when you should be working is because there's so much to do in one log-in session. The average people spend 15 minutes on facebook. Users click through news feeds, comment on status updates and photos, play games, instant-message chat and send private messages through the site.

A survey by an online education site has found that 48 percent of people ages 18–34 check Facebook as soon as they wake, 28 percent before they even get out of bed. Other data collection sites estimate that 55 percent of people over 25 years old check in on Facebook at least once a day, and 11 percent can't go more than a couple hours between visits. Added up, that's pretty distracting.

Keep in mind my “work” is voice overs and writing so talking to people on-line is a necessity. I recently had a new client find me on facebook. He hired me for a voice over job. A lot of fans of my Tercona books ask me questions about writing, comic cons, cartoons and comics too. So I need to use facebook to…well, work!

My distractions are the videos about nerdy stuff. I should be doing research on how to turn my next book into a comic book but instead I’m watching a video on fan theories behind superhero movies. Or I should be sending out emails out to new clients about voice work but instead I’m watching the latest Shazam trailer! So I can get distracted…sometimes.

My advice is to make a schedule, a set time to be on facebook (and other social media sites) and stick to that schedule. If you block off 9am – 10am to be on facebook then at 10am.,..your done! You have other work to do!

How do you handle distractions?