This page documents my preferred methods of correspondance, plus covers some of my general social networking practices.  My motivation to isn't to intimidate others wishing to contact me, but to honestly reflect on how I communicate most effectively and how to optimize my online communication methods.  If in doubt, just send me an email.

Note:  Although outgoing and engaging online, I tend to be rather shy in person.  Please don't take offence, I probably just don't know what to say!  I'm also terrible at remembering names.

Preferred output methods (in order):

1. Twitter:  Optimal way for me to communicate status and highlight points of interest.  Brief and ubiquitous.  Average 4-8 updates per day, frequently engaging in conversation.
2. Email:  I have sporadic time for more synchronous communication methods such as IM, so email is my preferred communication method for messages of extended length.
3. IM:  Typically only used with established friends, but anyone is welcome to message me.  However, messages starting with non-content such as hello, you there, hey, what's up, etc are much more likely to not be responded to.
4. Flickr:  Photos from everyday life, social events, conferences, and general travel.  Also making a valiant effort to participate in Project 365.
5. Mento:  Fantastic bookmarking service that I'm using to cure my tab addiction.  Very frequently updated, especially on health and home topics.
6. Wiki:  Braindump of ideas, projects, links.  Constantly evolving.  Good place to see my insights in raw form.  May graduate to a blog post once "complete"
7. Tumblelog:  Highlights best content from other networks, research snippets from general topics on my mind, random amusements, etc.
8. Tripit / Dopplr / Upcoming / Facebook calendar:  General "where I'm going" category.  Tripit is used for collaboration on trip details with fellow travelers / hosts, Dopplr is used to share when I'll be out of town and where I'm going, and Upcoming and Facebook used for public social events and conferences.
9. Blog:  Document major life events and (mostly) fleshed out insights.  I don't have very many of either, so I don't update very often.  ^_^
10. Other social networks:  Probably a duplication of information listed above

Preferred input methods (in order):

1. Twitter (reply or direct message):  Quickest way to get in touch with me, works everywhere, inherent brevity.  But messages do get lost, so if I don't respond in 24 hours it's probably best to change to another method.  Also best way to process general status (what you've been up to).
2. Blog:  I try to keep my RSS reader updated with all the intelligent writers I regularly come in contact with or am inspired by.  Update frequency is not an issue.
3. Email:  Checked at least once a day unless I'm traveling, easiest messages are handled first.  I appreciate your heartfelt, extremely intelligent (read: long) messages, but because I generally suck at extended 1-on-1 correspondance, I tend to delay composing a worthy response.  If that much catching up is needed, would rather meet up IRL (sorry Alex, this means you're SOL for a while).  Also see:  InboxAvoidance

Special notes

• Generic social network messaging systems:  Email is generally preferred unless the message specifically applies to that application's context (for example, requesting permission to use a Flickr photo), but will still be processed in generally the same manner.
• IM status: Not used.  Takes too much overhead to mark myself away every time I step away from the computer, and I'd prefer not to automatically share my AFK status.  Have received complaints before, but I just don't see myself changing my behavior here.  Sosry.
• Phone:  I generally despise talking on the phone, almost as much as I hate listening to voicemail messages.  Consider this the absolute last way to contact me.  I rarely answer the phone if the caller isn't in my address book, and calls without caller ID are ignored with extreme prejudice.  I don't check voicemail for months at a time, so don't bother.  I'll see that I missed a call, and I'll call back when I'm free.  DO call me if:  1.  you're my mom, 2.  I send you my phone number, 3.  you are driving / lost and need low latency updates, 4.  emergencies.
• Oh yeah, about emergencies:  *the US three digit code for accessing emergency services* at lisabrewster.com will forward to my phone as a text message with approximately the same latency as twitter (when everything's working).  Use this contact method if twitter is down and message is time-sensitive, but not urgent enough to warrant a phone call.
• A special way to get my attention is to initiate conversation with "meow!"

Social network policies

Flickr

• Contacts:  People I know, attended awesome events with, or who inspire me with their photography
• Friends:  People from the above list that I want to receive updates from in my daily Flickr digest.  Please do not read any real friend / not friend data into this value!
• Not followed:  Non English speakers (I want to be able to talk to you!) and people who explicitly say that absolutely no reproduction, duplication, copying is permitted.  That means I'm limited in how I can share your work (and link back to you), which reduces the value I could get from that social connection.  Note:  Flickr automatically uploads photos with All Rights Reserved license, so this is acceptable (although these friends should expect a Creative Commons lecture at some point).  My clumsily worded goal here is to avoid people who go out of their way to declare that their work should never leave their Flickr page.  (TODO:  clean up the not followed section sometime when it isn't 2am)
• Tagging:  Those who tag people in photos have a special place in my heart.  Anyone can tag my photos, and I highly encourage everyone to tag liberally.  Don't feel vain if you just go through and tag all the photos of yourself...I really appreciate it.
• Unflattering pictures:  Should I add a photo that you don't care for, please tag it with IDONTLIKETHISPHOTO and it will promptly be marked private.  You can send me a message if you're self-conscious about posting the takedown tag, but please help me out and include links to all the photo pages.

Facebook

• All requests reciprocated unless the user is obviously trying to spam / game the network. 
• Event invites welcome, app invites marginally welcome if they are relevant to my interests (but keep in mind that they're probably not).  Will block functionality for users who abuse the app invite privilege. 
• With very minor maintenance, I currently do not find Facebook to be social overload.
• Tagging photos:  For the most part, I tag (and would like others to tag) all recognizable people in the picture.  Since others' photos of a user are displayed so prominently on their profile, some may not want pictures that are not primarily "of" them to be tagged.  This is fine.  To me, the act of tagging simply notifies users that a photo of them has been posted, and they are free to remove it if they want.

Twitter

• Following:  I'm comfortable with my filter setup (TweetDeck), so I'm pretty liberal with the number of folks I follow. 
• Adding:  Most new follows are of people I meet IRL.  I don't watch new followers regularly, but will usually reciprocate after a few intelligent @replies.
• Notifications:  I keep notifications on (via SMS) for people I regularly hang out with or who consistently provide amusing / relevant information.
• Replies:  I use TweetTrak to receive @replies as direct messages, which makes it a whole heck of a lot easier to have a conversation while mobile. TweetTrak service offline indefinitely.  
• Unfollowing:  Abundant and / or irrelevant messages.  No offence intended unless I remove you on other networks as well (to date, I can only recall this happening twice).

LinkedIn

• Adding:  Typically people I've interacted in a semi-professional environment (conferences or non-trivial conversation at other events)

Zivity

• I'm not able to log in regularly because of 1) the whole "boobs at work" thing and 2) avoidance of the number of messages I know are waiting.  Also see:  InboxAvoidance
• I usually get around to voting / returning friend requests only a few times per month. 
• Unfortunately, messages are infrequently replied to due to the 1-on-1 nature of the messaging system.  I just can't sustain that volume of individual conversations.
• Not content with my Zivity communication protocol.  A 1-to-many (private chat room) or preferrably many-to-many (public chat room) solution would fit in my workflow much better.

Other networks

• Not all networks are used enough to establish a protocol
  • FriendFeed, Brightkite, Pownce, Digg, Del.icio.us...
  • Keep in mind that this page is WIP and I probably haven't added all networks that I need to.
• Not interested in building out my social graph in that network
  • Wakoopa:  I pay a considerable amount of attention to this service but haven't found much social value-add
  • Tumblr:  engaged through other social methods
• Probably won't reciprocate friend requests for networks in this category on a timely basis.

Other CommunicationProtocols

• http://tantek.pbwiki.com/CommunicationProtocols (inspiration for this page)
• Chris Lunt's LinkedIn policies
• http://hober.jottit.com/communication_protocols

Also see:

• 43folders:  One Clear Line