Social software for the busy professional

Ryan Carson has put together an insightful piece on the current state of the social software landscape and how it correlates with the typical nature of a busy professional. Indeed, I too face the problem where I seem (read: relative) to have a million things to do while battling to keep an empty inbox and minimising the number of subscriptions in my Google Reader. If that's not enough, over in Kuala Lumpur, we grapple with managing the 12-16 hour time differences with the pace setters over in the USofA (imagine conference calls at 10pm on a Friday night!)

I'd recommend reading Ryan's piece, and the thread of comments. Here's a relevant excerpt:

The most successful social sites right now are ones that have engaged a largely younger audience that is now growing up with tagging, online identity issues and blogging. Maybe the upshot of this is that in ten years’ time MySpace will be the new LinkedIn. One thing'’s for sure, in my experience once you get to the '“career stage'” of your life everthing changes. You'’re looking to simplify your life and solve your current problems. In a way, you have to become more selfish with your time. If something doesn'’t directly help you, your family, or those you love, it'’s probably going to fall to the bottom of your priorities.

Side note: I had the privilege of meeting and chatting with Ryan at a one-day workshop (Building Enterprise Web Apps on a Budget - How We Built Flickr) presented by Cal Henderson and organised by Ryan's Carson Workshops. Excellent chap! They've got a bunch of interesting workshops every now and then - great opportunity to meet some of the best minds in the industry.

Relevant links:

• Why I don'’t use social software by Ryan Carson
• What I learned from Flickr
• Cal Henderson on "How We Built Flickr" by Tom Coates