I'm not a fan of auto-updates. My active online communities - Facebook, 85 Broads, Linkedin and Twitter - are very different venues and how I choose to communicate varies with each. No, I'm not suffering from multiple personality disorder! I'm being authentic, being "me" on each site. I'm focused on being responsive to each of my audiences as well as focusing on the subtle nuances of each social networking site. What I tell my friends on Facebook (former co-workers, friends scattered across the globe) frankly, may not be of interest to those I connect with on the Twitter cocktail circuit and surely, is not what the professional community of networkers and job seekers what to know about me on LinkedIn. It would be more efficient to auto-update but not nearly as effective in connecting with friends, connections or followers (think personal handwritten thank-you note vs group acknowledgement email).

And I'm not alone in thinking you need to approach each of these sites differently. In Fast Company, Gina Trapani writes about getting the "I've seen this before" feeling on social media...because guess what, you have! Gina writes:

"The Golden Rule of social networks is "you get what you give." Writing updates that suit the medium will yield a stronger community and better conversations than just broadcasting one-to-many headlines."

Does auto-updating indicate you "don't care"? Who knows. Maybe it's simply an indicator that someone has yet to accept that social media is about conversations, and conversations are personal, and personal conversations take a little more effort - and guess, what....time.

Gina Trapini's article "The Case for Handcrafted Social Media (Or Why You Should Stop Auto-Updating Your Feeds)" http://www.fastcompany.com/1561641/the-case-for-handcrafted-social-media?1267231161