Turn off TweetDeck :-) That is the best way to avoid getting distracted.

Something else I try to do is check the social media discussions the last 10 minutes of an hour...however, you must walk away after ten minutes and not keep discussing. I do let the TweetDeck notification stay on without sand just to keep an eye on important articles and news.

You have to remember that you are not making money from social media, but from your work you have to get done. I know some do work in social media all day and that is there money, but the tasks to make money are not discussion based with a lot of friends (typically).

I use Leechblock for Firefox - helps me stay aware.  But have to override it some days because Social Media is a big part of my client work.  I also use a random-time timer to help me stay on track to billable hours, etc.

Well the simple answer is to stay away.  RSS is the same for me.  I try and check all the networks and feeds once a day, sure the news may be a few hours older, but if your job depends on you being first to know, then these networks might not be a timesink afterall.

For Twitter and G+, I keep them pulled up on my laptop while working on my desktop.  Then I keep my laptop closed most of the day and try and only open it once an hour or so...  Try I said:)

I don't keep up with Facebook as often as the other two.

Just (try) to pick certain times of day that you can afford to absorb information.  It's easy to get distracted but social media isn't the only distraction out there.  Self-control is your friend :)

I use them as a break from real work. Check them in the morning, do some work, take a break and check again...do some more work, etc.

At least that's the ideal! It really depends on how busy I am. If I'm in the middle of an important project, there are usually less breaks or they're very quick ones!

My sysadmin blocked Facebook at work, and I use Twitter on the web because I'm constantly reading about what's going on in the industry. I don't really get caught up in silly stuff there usually (didn't say I didn't start silly stuff of course) but I haven't found it to ever be a problem in terms of concentrating on work. I enjoy multitasking though. I never check Google+.

It starts with discipline for me. I have to tell myself to shut down Tweetdeck sometimes and focus on what matters more.

Beyond that, I also keep Tweetdeck in a different "space" on my Mac -- meaning it's not right in front of me and I have to go to it. I've also turned off all Tweetdeck alerts and notifications.

Facebook is easy to ignore because I'm not a fan and don't use it much, outside of occasionally posting links.

But Google+ I find hard to ignore because of the persistent red alert icon up top whenever I hit a Googe site. Fortunately, I'm not super active there, either, so I usually only have a couple notifications to check.

I like the idea of using a laptop for social networking during the day; it means you have to make a conscious effort to use it, not just "Oh, email's taking a bit to load, let's just take a look at G+ here..."

If I'm checking my personal information, I do it during lunch or during my morning or afternoon break. If I'm checking out our company stuff, I do it in two blocks, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, as work permits. Only in a slow stretch, though.

I use a laptop also.  I used to use tweetdeck and a few other SM tools, but it was very time consuming.

Rather than spend all my waking hours being social, I typically "socialize" while watching TV at night the awful commercials now being played :)

Of course, will power and self control are certainly my most useful tools.

I have been working with social media sites while working as Social Media Marketing expert in promotion of my products. But when I am in the office where social media sites is not allowed, the sites are blocked by our server. Perhaps this is the best remedy if you can't resist the use of Facebook or Twitter.

I mostly check my social media on my phone so can control that to breaks and boring social moments.

I do favourite and bookmark things in those times, and the processing of them eventualy intereferes with my real work!

At times I have to do a major kulling of stuff I wanted to check out.

I try to get my social fix early in the day; I check Facebook first which is truly social for me, then Twitter and now, Emprie Avenue (yikes!). I work from a list, and I tend to allow myself a few minutes of social when I have completed a task. It's a reward.