Don't say hello

I don't respond to IMs that begin with a simple "hi" or "hello" or "good morning." Well, I do when those salutations are from the four or five people within my tightest inner circle. This doesn't mean that I don't like or don't want to hear from folks, and there are a number of people I love hearing from... but if you have been in Second Life® a while, and if you interact with a lot of people, you will have accrued a friends list that is so long that you have no idea how many people are there. All the IMs get to be too much, you know?

On the other hand, I appreciate it when people take the time to write me a nice fat IM in which they say hello and they tell me why they are contacting me, giving me all the particulars... all in that same opening IM. That's good stuff.

A notecard is even better!

Nowadays, I like it even more when people send me an email. That way, they aren't interrupting my conversations or my train of thought, but they are still giving me an opportunity to prepare a thoughtful response.

I see this as plain good manners.

If you are new to Second Life, then you probably don't understand this yet, but if you have ever been hit by ten IMs within the span of two minutes, then it is my guess that you will be able to relate to this. For me, managing how I communicate with others has become a matter of utmost importance.

I don't want to "hide" from you. I want my friends to be able to see when I am in world, but I really have gotten to the point where social chatter is not what I do. I know, I know... how antisocial of me! Why would I want a Second Life then?

Ah, that's the subject of another blogpost.

What do you think, and how do you handle this?

Managing information in Second Life - Treating IMs like email

Never have I wished for more time. I could use another 100 hours for every day and still not do, or see, or talk with all the people I long to spend time with. Add to this the immediacy of Second Life where, in five minutes, 10 urgent IMs might come in... and it's a wonder we aren't all lunatics.

Robert Scoble and thousands of other social network darlings thrive on the constant noise and ricocheting off Twitter, Seesmic, and all those other APIs. Robert Scoble... wow. He astounds me. That Scobleizing machine of his follows 20,375 people on Twitter alone! Even me! And I don't have one thing to say on Twitter of any consequence whatsover. By the way, I heartily recommend that you not follow me on Twitter. I am mostly a silent wallflower there, and an infrequent visitor.


Is that time or my brain melting away? Photo of Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York

I've tried every approach I can think of to manage incoming information from within Second Life better, including setting myself to Busy for days on end, begging for notecards and emails only, or just ignoring IMs altogether. There have been several times I've actually been afraid to log in, the information load has been so heavy. This doesn't mean that I don't want to hear from people. I most DEFINITELY do. It's just that I like to have real conversations with you... full sentences, complete thoughts... and giving that one person or group my undivided attention. It's just the way my mind works!

Then on Saturday, it dawned on me. I'm going to treat IMs just as I would email. I will love getting them, I will read them all, and I will respond to them, but in my own good time. I hope people will understand and forgive me my limitations.

Do you have a better way of managing all this? If so, please let me know! How? LOL. How about an email to bettinatizzy@gmail.com, or a comment here?