Creative Commons photo by Quapan

Have you considered how you share information on the web? With the feeling of being trapped under an avalanche of information on the web, sometimes we decide to pull back on how much we share. Sharing more is not necessarily the best route for everyone - including for those of us who are web scavengers discovering gems daily. 

This is the hierarchy of sharing I employ daily. It may help you to know how to find a particular kind of information from me. Or it may spark thoughts for you to decide how you best like to share.

Blog You've probably noticed I update this blog (and The Mindfulist) daily. What makes it here? In addition to my own content, I blog on ideas I want to tease apart, assimilate, explore beyond standard share. I often privately bookmark so you're not reading a repeat of my bookmarks. It keeps it fresh. 

Delicious I use Delicious as my digital bookmark while reading during the day. Unless it's tagged "toread" I have read the piece. I tag it "commented" if I commented on it. This is a new practice - it helps if I want to go back and read follow up comments, as I don't check boxes asking if I'd like all comments sent to email.

Email Now that I only check email once a day, I stay away from email sharing. Even though I've been encouraged to start an email mailing list, I'm still not sure I want to contribute to inbox processing. I prefer the opt-in nature of Twitter and blogging.

Facebook I tend to share lighter fare on Facebook. I reflect a bit more openly about more intimate relationships (as in: the sound of a lover's snore is acceptable sound on FB, not Twitter). (MySpace account: deleted over a year ago and haven't missed it once.)

Flickr If I take one hundred photos, you'll see twenty. I don't blind dump. Every photo gets a moment of my attention. I edit lightly, usually with iPhoto. I've tried fancier editing programs but iPhoto is the quickest I've found to eliminate red-eye and the like.

Twitter In order to downsize my digital footprint in January I cut back to five tweets daily - max (from thirteen daily, average, in 2009). I now choose what I share carefully. Twitter is strictly social web or media. I still retweet and communicate at a high level. Most of it takes place behind the scenes, via direct messages. I've also pulled way back on the number of folks I'm following for two reasons: information overload (often in the form of repeat tweets) and Twitter lists, which has allowed me to follow in a way that lets you batch information.

As the social web evolves (and grows) it will become increasingly more necessary to sort through information. How can you help those consuming content?

To my mind it's just as important to filter before sharing as it is to share. I see the web heading this direction. In the same way the thong-poking-out-of-jeans trend has happily become a thing of the past. Just because you can share it all, doesn't mean you should.

What's your hierarchy of sharing? How do you decide what to share? What not to share?

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“The time you spend reading this tweet is gone, lost forever, carrying you closer to death. Am trying not to abuse the privilege.” - Roland Hedley