Two weeks ago I decided to take a faceook hiatus and deactivated my facebook account. (Those that know me well know that I have had a love/hate with facebook since it's inception).

My reason for removing myself from the social slipstream? Purely attention deficit. I was spending more time reading status updates than reading essays or books.

Now, I'm a self-professed obsessive about time management and a fierce opponent of life-wasting activities. I have been a regular reader of Nicholas Carr's blog (author of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brain) and a staunch advocate of the "Getting Things Done" methodology of David Allen. I'm keenly aware of most people's attitudes toward social media as a time waster. You would think I would know better but I found myself hurtling along the social consumption channel with so much regularity that I decided to stop the flow. Since I'm no facebook acolyte, I had expected to confirm facebook as the massive life-suck it is often accused of being: a crutch for the listless and an opiate for the masses (elitist, I know).

I was wrong.

What did I miss during these two short weeks? I suffered no withdrawals as some have when they deactivated but I most certainly missed my network of friends and acquaintances. I also, surprisingly, missed the simple act of sharing on facebook. Life's simple pleasures (running five miles, seeing a famous historical artifact, reflecting on a good book) are sweetest when shared with friends. Moreover, I missed glimpses of these small celebrations in the lives of my friends and family.

What did I not miss? Random invites (Sims, Mafia Wars and its ilk). Indiscriminate invective of the passive-aggressive. Random inanity from people whom I definitely want to stay connected to but don't necessarily want to talk to everyday (surely I'm not alone in that, am I?). I also didn't miss that little black frenemy cloud. You know the one, the little dark useless puff that follows what you say and comments only to be dismissive or derisive. Not that I've had a ton but one troll/hater/stalker is enough to blighten any day.

The real question is, did I accomplish anything in two weeks? Yes. I started running again (long overdue). I read The Body Artist by DeLillo, Darkness Visible by Styron and Paul and Me by A. E. Hotchner (guilty pleasure). I finally read an author that has been high on my wish list, the renown Native American writer N. Scott Momaday. I finished House Made of Dawn and read (and reread) A Divine Blindness: The Place of Words in a State of Grace (beautiful essay). I resolved to crank up my commitment to this blog (no posts in that time, but, hey, gotta start somewhere) and I spent a lot more time outdoors. An interesting sidebar: I also spent more time sharing text messages and images with my family first rather than loosely connected friends first. (It's hard to lose that sharing impulse once it becomes a part of your DNA. It reminded me that text is a far more intimate form of conversation than "status updates").

Final thoughts on the facebook Hiatus experience?

1. Facebook, though not a life-suck for many, is a life diminution. Our facebook posts are not the sum total of who we are though they are the sum total of the persona we create (intentionally or unintentionally). Fact is, we only share a fraction of who we really are. Human beings are far more sacred and complex to be reduced to social sound bites. I try to remember this about my friends, we should give more social deference than we often submit.
2. Develop the habit of rich consumption first. Because we hold in our hands the wealth of the world's knowledge and ostensibly, libraries larger than the vast horde of Alexandria, we posses a powerful freedom: the freedom to educate ourselves. The biggest facebook lesson for me was to fill life's tiny moments with ingestible insight from sources other than facebook and twitter and make this heuristic act an impulsive habit. (For example, when standing in line at the grocery store, I instinctively picked up my phone and started reading where I left off in my current digital book, Storyteller Uprising: Trust and Persuasion in the Digital Age. Prior to the Facebook Hiatus, I would have simply slipped back into the social stream).
3. Though I am a happy introvert, I secretly relish those movie moments in period films where friends gather for multi-course meals and indulge in profusely intelligent conversation. Like the woman who resolved to visit all her facebook friends, the facebook hiatus forced me to think of ways to extend social media to include more social connectedness.

I am glad to be back on facebook with my friends and family but I endeavor to practice moderation, at least as it relates to that which I consume. Social media in all its forms (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.) are delicious snacks and at times are are even founts of fascinating insight but taken as a whole, scarcely hearty enough for one's only diet.

One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes." - Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

Content is the new wave of social. Experts on content are emerging by the handful, entire conferences are now developed around content, books and white papers are burgeoning and there will likely be no end to the current content proliferation. For good reason, too: the web, the world's information hub, is a destination city, the origination point for purchases. Desktops, handhelds, tablets: it's where the zero moment of truth happens.

This Thursday, I'm presenting to an exceptional group of college marketing students our content marketing strategy and how to build a career around developing thought leadership and rich content. How to cultivate tribes, seeking like-hearted colleagues while improving your mind and enriching your life. How to swim against the tide by becoming as adept at creating as most people are, (listlessly so), at consuming. Primarily, what I hope to convey are three essential points:

1. All content is risk. Bad content. Good content. Personal content. Business content. It all represents risk of some kind. Those who have published something beyond a facebook update or a tweet know what I'm talking about. Taking your thoughts, your business, your life public is a harrowing act. The risk begets a surprising reward: "The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it." - John Ruskin
2. Quality should trump quantity (particularly since the noise has become deafening). A post (a video, a podcast) doesn't have to be a magnum opus but collectively, your output should at least represent a credible oeuvre within the niche that you have established for yourself and your business.
3. Ultimately, content is about selfish giving. Creating content that helps others, rewards you most of all. Call it karma, paradox, the law of reciprocity, whatever: it works. Most notably, it works if you understand your unique value proposition as an individual and as a representative of the brands you serve. Content serves to develop a loyal band of followers and the following begins when you publish from your distinct point of view. "You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment." - Annie Dillard

The future belongs to nerds and content creators (marketers).  Those who dare to build, create and publish consistent, compelling content will chart their own course and rule the world (or, at least, the web). Content is king and the future belongs to the creators.

For new readers to my blog, "Links That Matter" is a monthly post that includes notable articles and resources I've recently discovered. This month's LTM includes big changes with Google's algorithm plus a few other tools and resources I discovered while attending BlogWorld/New Media Expo:

• Google's official post on its newest algorithm change. Search Engine Land notes that the results will change about 35% of all searches. Wow. Here's How to Meet Google's Newest Quality Standards for Content (in light of these changes, Tara Hunt's The Decline of Original Content is worth reading)
• The new app Oink! is getting a lot of press, partly because it is from Kevin Rose of Digg fame and partly because it is pretty cool, beautiful UI too. Watch Kevin explain on TechCrunchTV.
• Google Drive is coming, article by MG/Siegler, heads up DropBox and Google Reader hoists a long overdue update to Reader
• I've read these posts multiple times now: Famous VC Fred Wilson's What a CEO Does and the follow-up (written by Matt Blumberg), What Does a CEO Do, Anyway? By the way, for a rich, fairly fast education on business, tune in to Fred's MBA Mondays podcast
• By now, you might have your fill of Steve Job's stories but Mona Simpson's eulogy for her brother is deeply touching
• Peter Shankman took to the stage at BlogWorld/New Media Expo and delivered a fascinating keynote. It was earthy advice (read: not just for nerds), humorous, insightful and punctuated by profanity throughout (fair warning), probably one of the best keynotes I've heard in years. You can watch it in its entirety here
• Great insight into the work ethic of Jim Cramer / CNBC Mad Money: James Altucher's 10 Things I Learned Working with Jim Cramer
• Christopher Penn hits upon why you should connect with practically everyone and anyone on LinkedIn (I agree). Speaking of LinkedIn, they've updated their CardMunch app and for a couple of rich reads: Why Your Business Should Maybe Stop Ignoring LinkedIn and 5 Tips for Using the New LinkedIn Company Pages (By the way: the LinkedIn user base grew by 60% in 2011)
• Heidi Cohen wrote a nice break-down: What Bloggers Can Learn From (Technorati's) 2011 State of the Blogosphere research
• Sick and tired of likes, thumbs and pluses? Me, too. You'll like this: Number of Fans and Followers is NOT a Business Metric, What You Do With Them Is plus a related article It's About Response, Not Engagement
• How to Optimize a PDF for Search
• From Business Insider - Famous Photographer Annie Leibovitz Recommends the iPhone Camera
• You don't have to be into podcasting to appreciate this (check out the revenue discussion!): Podcast Answer Man's interview with Leo Laporte
• Marketing Profs always delivers: 5 Things B2B Website Content Needs to Do to Engage with Visitors 
• More important than ever: The Recommendation Economy by Valeria Maltoni
• 4 Excellent Examples of Creative Google+ Business Pages from HubSpot
• Why Hiring a Marketing Department Has Changed - 5 Subjects a Business Owner Must Now Consider in Every Interview / Tamar Weinberg
• From Eloqua, C. C. Chapman, Joe Chernov and Ann Handley, The Grande Guide to B2B Marketing

Finally, there's something profound here for us marketers to take to heart: Why I can't hear you (Dave Winer).