Prioritization for the Hyper-Connected

Recently I made the decision to become very digitally connected. This was mainly a career decision, and I have treated it as such. I have been spending much more time with my blog, People Sales. I edited my Facebook profile to be a business networking tool, and to focus attention on the blog as well. I joined Twitter and have been building relationships with my contacts on it as well. I am currently building my LinkedIn profile, too. I even finally broke down and bought an iPhone, which has tied all my other efforts together into one big powerhouse of constant networking connectivity.

So far, my efforts are doing exactly what I want them to. My blog actually comes up on the front page of Google when I search David J. Dotson now (awesome!). I have had 2 job interviews in the past week when I previously went 2 months with only 1. My name and my ideas are getting out there to people I haven’t yet met personally. In short, a lot of things seem to be falling into place now that my networking engine is picking up speed. But is it possible to fuel the fire too much?

I’m very new to the hyper-connected lifestyle, so maybe I’m just in cell shock. But I already find myself constantly hearing my phone beep at me because someone’s tweeting, I have a new email, I have a new blog or Facebook comment, or (in a few instances) an actual missed call. I try to respond to everything relevant as quickly as I can, but the time adds up, and I can already start to feel as if I’m a little removed from what’s going on around me.

The biggest 3 questions I have been using to prioritize my responses are:
· Does it require my attention? Is this a comment, message, or opportunity to which I should respond, but is not urgent?
· Does it require my IMMEDIATE attention? Am I going to miss out on a chance to build a relationship or participate in something time-sensitive by postponing this?
· Is it relevant to me whatsoever? Is it just a tweet of an article or URL that, while it may be interesting, really doesn’t affect me or mine one way or the other?

So far, using these as a guideline for allocating time and responses to my contacts has seemed to help some, however I am still it out. Do you have any opinions or tips on how to achieve a good balance in one’s connectivity? Or should the Gen Y professional just accept that they need to be able to be reached at all times? Any other thoughts on the subject?