Association Marketing Springboard

Happy New Year! If you're like me, you're struggling to get back in the groove after a wonderful, but exhausting, holiday break. I came back to hundreds of posts to my RSS reader (read the posts I "starred" here) and that many more messages from the listserve. Information overload was a hot topic on the listserve--how do you follow the blogoclump when you're also following the listserve and any number of other networking activities? I'm glad my fellow bloggers monitor the listserve better than I do. There were several excellent responses defending association blogs.

For me, blogging provides an outlet and a personal record that is more accessible than the listserve. And because it's so personal, I've been able to connect with other bloggers in ways that I find difficult through listserve e-mail threads...half of which usually end up in my spam filter. I've learned so much since I started this experiment...I think everyone should try it.

I agree that the listserve is valuable, too. With one e-mail you can gather a range of opinions and draw from the experience of a large group of established participants. I can't claim to enjoy the technology of the thing, though. I predict that, in the future, a better way will evolve and take hold. The ASAE listserve feels so 1992--I'm always freaked out that I'm using it wrong. Are there good instructions somewhere?

So am I overloaded? You bet. But life sure is more interesting this way.