In keeping with the headline, I am going to keep this post short and sweet.

Just because there are now a million and one channels (text, telephone, YouTube, Facebook, Foursquare, Skype, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) available to convey your every thought – via audio, text, images, videos, illustrations, emoticons and more – doesn’t mean you always have to have something to say.

The cart has gotten in front of the horse… the tail is now wagging the dog. And I am not talking about teenagers gone wild on social media. I am talking about organizations.

It’s bad enough that all the things a company or institution has to say (as part of its “storytelling” initiative) is now defined as “content”. But now these same companies and institutions feel like they need to spew content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It doesn’t matter that their social media calendars are clogged with pablum; it just matters that they are talking.

Sheesh and double-sheesh.

Communication doesn’t need to be that confusing. It’s fine to listen to everything your digital, social and search experts tell you, but you don’t have to DO everything they tell you. Discriminate. Use your good common sense. Just like you don’t need to know what your cousin Sal had for lunch today or watch one more video of your co-worker’s cat chasing a laser, your prospective customers don’t need to know that you have a special on french fries every other Tuesday and you are donating $500 to a local charity.

Sometimes invisibility is better than transparency. Sometimes less is more.