Yesterday I posted a note to my gardening blog, A Gardener’s Notebook, announcing that I had started a Twitter feed for the blog and the shared items I find using Google Reader. One of the first comments I received on the post talked about feeling overwhelmed at “having” to follow this social media service and that social media service and basically suffering from information overload.

As a rule, it is not intended for you to subscribe to every social media service where I (or others) provide information. You only need to choose one.

The average user thinks that just because a publisher, like myself, has provided an information source, they MUST pay attention to it. In fact, each user instead needs to select the source of information that works best for them.

In my own case, I tend to rely on RSS feeds and Google Reader to manage my information flow. Sure I use Twitter and Facebook and more, but when it comes to “reading” blogs and other information sources, RSS is my go-to source.

That is NOT to say that everyone lives like I do, though. Some people live in Facebook and spend little time elsewhere. Others love Twitter or Myspace or Email subscriptions. As a “publisher” it is in my best interest to reach as many people as possible, so I provide my content on as many services as possible. Then, each person can select whichever way they want to consume my content.

That is exactly what you need to do — pick your favorite and make great use of it. Don’t worry about the Twitter feed, the Facebook Fan page or others if they don’t interest you. They are designed for others.