After the advancement of social networking services, we’ve seen a big difference in how people use internet. In 90s, people used internet for learning stuff. It was an intake of knowledge. Back then internet was about helping people learn. Now, the internet has turned into a new phase of “sharing” the stuff.
The problem is, instead of intake we are flushing things out. We are sharing stuff and using the internet to spend time with people we love to be around. We are spending less time doing the ‘work’ and actually spending more time telling others what work we have done.
Sharing is becoming a habit more than a need. Make sure you share “your” things because in the world of social media, you are the customer and you are the promoter. Social media is viral. It is a double price system. You spend your time sharing the product which you could have definitely used for many other creative works and also pay the businesses by buying their products.
Simply speaking, if you are using today’s internet as a habit and to spend time, you are not using it anywhere to improve your life. So, what could you possibly do?
1. Use the internet, don’t just spend time – Internet has become a place where people come to spend time. Wrong. Use the internet to spread your ideas. Use the internet to improve your life. Search, research, buy, connect, make calls, run a business but make sure you are not sitting before your computer for spending your time because you’ve nothing else to do.
2. How to use your blog – Blogging is also over rated. You share (and promote) the stuff happening around the internet. You are not giving out any value. That’s the reason most of the blogs fail. They are started to spend time on the internet. Why do you think Chris Brogan and Seth Godin are successful as bloggers? They give out value. They are not spending time. They are using the internet.
3. Research and write an eBook – If you really want to improve your life through, select a topic, use the internet to research upon that subject and write an eBook that helps people improve their lives. Write squidoo lenses, publish blogs, write articles and design websites. Do something meaningful. Sell your eBooks or earn followers by giving them away for free! Either way, you are adding some value: to yourself and to the internet.
Using the internet to improve your life means promoting your ideas on the internet. It means you are using it to improve yourself and you are showing off that improvement to the world. It’s about earning an authority is a field you belong to! If you aren’t adding or gaining value, the internet is only working against you.