Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Network

I was one of many afflicted with an odd Twitter ailment today – I couldn’t see anyone’s updates in my timeline or on third party apps. For awhile, I couldn’t see @mentions, either. This wasn’t a huge issue, though it was annoying… and it could have been worse.

From time to time, Twitter accounts freeze or Facebook locks users out or websites and blogs go down. Consequently, it’s important to have different ways to communicate with your network, particularly key members of it.

Most of the time, instant access to people isn’t mission critical, of course. But what if tomorrow, for example, Facebook disappeared? Or if you were launching a book… and you couldn’t get on Twitter for two weeks? Would you still be able to accomplish what you need to do?

You won’t have duplicate networks in place nor should that be the goal. Still, I feel comfortable knowing that people can easily find me at my blogs, Twitter, or Facebook… and I’m connected via those networks and quite often via email (listserv’s and directly) with

As a result, I can shout out for help, let people know my technical issues, and get the word spread as needed. And, of course, do the same when others get hit with the technical whammy.

Hopefully, these situations won’t come up, of course. But just in case… don’t put all your eggs in one network!

(eggs in a basket photo by eloquent light)