5 Simple Things to Improve your Social Media (while eating pie)

You can accomplish a lot in an hour. Allow me to make a few suggestions.

•Bake a pie
•Watch an episode of 'Grey's Anatomy'
•Do 5 simple yet important things to improve your social media (while eating pie).

That last one seems like it would take a lot longer than an hour, but most of the apprehension over digging into social media comes from the belief that you don't have time for it. You do.

Here are 5 things you can do now to make social media more useful and enjoyable to you and your followers.

FACEBOOK: Create or subscribe to an interest list.

Think of an interest list as a shareable personalized news feed with content pertaining to a specific subject or group of subjects, one you can control whenever and however you want. Your regular news feed is jammed full of stuff your friends are doing and sometimes it's TMI. Interest lists allow you to choose a topic — say news — and subscribe to the pages or people you care about most.

It takes about 60 seconds to create a list, but if you are short on time, just type in a topic, hit subscribe and you're done. To get started, go to the main Facebook page (not your Timeline) and look toward the bottom of the left rail for the area titled "interests." Interest lists were introduced in March, and it might be Facebook's most overlooked feature.

INSTAGRAM: Upload your first photo or interact with someone.

There's a reason Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion: It's popular. If you have an iPhone or Android device, you need to introduce yourself to Instagram. You'll hear people talking about adding filters to photos. That's only part of what Instagram does. The power of the platform lies in the community of people that want to share what they are seeing around them. The first time you follow someone from Japan and they upload a shot of their commute to work, it's pretty awesome. You feel like you're right there.

PINTEREST: Score an invite, pin and be hooked

If this column has any fine print, it's this: It's easy to get started on Pinterest, but once you do it's very addictive. Request an invite at pinterest.com or ask a friend, search for one thing you like and repin it to the board you just created. Then let me know what you think.

GETGLUE: Social media meets TV.

GetGlue is a social network for entertainment — TV shows, movies, books, music and more. So before you watch a show, like "Grey's Anatomy," check in on GetGlue. You can earn stickers, discounts and other rewards. Your whole life is social, and now watching a show alone in your pajamas with a pint of ice cream in your lap is too. You're welcome.

ANY PLATFORM: Check your privacy settings

They aren't really confusing, there are just a lot of them. And because they tend to change often, it's always a good idea to jump in and make sure nothing is awry. Start on Facebook by clicking on that arrow in the upper right corner and selecting privacy settings. What you see might surprise you.

That's it. Those 5 things will expand your social media repertoire, and I promise they won't take up much time at all.