More than a billion people worldwide are members of Facebook. Millions of others use Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn or YouTube. We at Danburg Properties of Boca Raton are among them – as are teens, seniors, college students, business owners and users cut from every cloth. Chances are, you are, too.

Even though we manage and lease a million square feet of office, commercial and warehouse space in Boca Raton, and use social media to share information about our properties, we also keep up with friends, family and – yes – even distant contacts and connections we haven’t seen or heard from in years. Lamentably, we often complain about the silly content shared on social media, or how much time we waste viewing it.

But is it really a waste of time?

Social media can be a powerful source of information and industry or community insights available almost nowhere else – if you use it effectively. It’s an extension of “Citizen Journalism,” the belief that news reporting today goes beyond the newsroom or anchor desk and includes anyone with a smart phone or tablet computer.

Maximizing social media’s ability to keep us information takes action, purpose and even a little deliberate culling of contacts and connections.

For example, at Danburg, we Like certain news sites – whether the New York Times, the Palm Beach Post or the South Florida Sun-Sentinel – so we’re kept informed about world events. We Like industry sites focused on development and property management trends that  drive our business.

And, of course, we Like numerous dog and pet sites, because they bring us pleasure and information about one of our favorite pastimes.

We also use social media to share news about our community, our properties and our tenants. That can be the beauty of social media. We can share “news you can use.”

As for Citizen Journalism and “news you can use,” social media like Facebook or Twitter can inform us about snarls on I-95, or give us reviews of some new steak house in Boca Raton.

Of course, social media – like television or video games – can waste our time and leave us with little to show for time spent. With a little active culling, we can winnow our list of “Friends” or likes that bring us no purpose or pleasure. We can stop endlessly playing online games – those that leave us wondering where the time went.

We can spend the time, instead, searching for new sites or Facebook pages that bring value to our lives and work.

We can invest more time in a social media service like LinkedIn. From college grads to CEOs, members use the free networking site to share business information, find career opportunities and generally build their personal brands.

Whether with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any other social media site, active, deliberate and engaged participation can make the difference between time wasted and time invested educating or enlightening yourself.

How do you use social media? What role does it play in your life? Let us know. We might even share it with others.