If you listen to social networking “experts”, they reckon you have to spend a lot of time – at least an hour a day – on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and the like. But most business professionals don’t have that sort of time available. So what’s the right mix?

Chris Brogan suggests 19 things you could do each day to maintain your presence in these networks. Personally, I think that’s too many (and to be fair to him, he does say “could” rather than “should”).

Here’s my cut-down version of his list …

Twitter

1. Find seven things worth retweeting in your general feed and share [If 7 is too many, do at least 3].
2. Reply to at least five things with full responses (not just “thanks”).

Facebook

6. Check in on birthdays on the home page. (Want a secret? Send the birthday wish via Twitter or email. Feels even more deliberate.)
7. Respond to any comments on your wall.
9. Comment on at least seven people’s status messages or updates [Again, 7 might be too many for you].

LinkedIn

11. Accept any invitations that make sense for you to accept.
12. Enter any recent business cards to invite them to LinkedIn (if you’re growing your network).
13. Drop into Q&A and see if you can volunteer 2-3 answers.
15. Add any relevant slide decks to the Slideshare app there, or books to the Amazon bookshelf.