More New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions should apply to your online world — not just your offline life. Building on our earlier post, here are some more ways to apply traditional resolutions to your digital lifestyle.

Get organized. Do you find yourself overwhelmed by all these social media tools? Not sure how to keep up? You just need a little help getting organized. If you’re not already a user, start with FriendFeed — a very useful tool that aggregates all your web activity in one location. Plus, you can easily track what your contacts are up to. If you can’t keep up with your Twitter account, Brian Solis compiled a list of the top 10 Twitter tools. Our favorites? TweetDeck and TweetBeep. Even Facebook can help you be more organized and productive. Try out the groups feature or the calendar syncing tools.

Get a better job. Whether you’re actively searching for a new job or just want to strengthen your network, take advantage of the relationship-building aspects of social media. Make new contacts and get to know key executives at companies that interest you. Also, leverage your network. Who do your contacts know that might be able to help you? (For example, check out how Sarah Evans is actively using her online community to help a virtual friend find a new job.)

Reduce stress. There are two main ways to reduce your online anxiety. First, you just need to accept that you can’t control everything. Social media has opened the floodgates — giving anyone a platform to speak about you and your company. That’s just the way it is. Once you accept that, you’ll be able to develop a plan to engage and respond appropriately. Second, find ways to relieve your burden. For example, if you know that next month will be very busy — preventing you from blogging as often as you like — look for guest bloggers to contribute valuable content. Also, Chris Brogan suggests keeping a log of potential blog topics for those days when you can’t think of anything better. He even offers 100 ideas for interesting posts.

Volunteer. “Socia media for social good” is one of my new favorite phrases. Together, we can harness the power of the Intenet to really impact people’s lives — and you can help. Here at Costa DeVault, we’re donating time each month to help the Coalition for the Homeless incorporate social media into its marketing efforts. What can you do? For starters, help raise awareness by embedding your favorite charity’s Cause application on your Facebook page. Recruit others to join groups that you support. Participate in Blog Action Day. You can also donate money. Powered by the generosity of the Twitter community, Tweetsgiving raised more than $10,000 to build a classroom in Tanzania.

What are your New Year’s resolutions and how do they translate online?

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