Many people are walking away from their “too many” social media channels. They are choosing social media more wisely because they are coming to the conclusion that publishing their lives in real time can cost them time they are not willing to give up.

People are getting off Twitter and concentrating on Facebook or Google+. Or they are getting off Facebook and just working with Twitter. Or they are getting off everything and concentrating on their lives.

As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Well, it seems to me that could now be rearranged to mean, “Life is what passes you by while you’re busy with Facebook.”

In the past year, At a “State of the Union” at Twitter’s headquarters Twitter announced that it has over 100 million active users worldwide, half of whom log in daily. However, only 40 percent of those people tweeted in the past month.  TechCrunch reports that Twitter defines an “active user” as “anyone who logs into Twitter once a month,”

Miley Cyrus, with over 2 million followers, has not helped Twitter’s cause. She up and quit. She then posted on YouTube this,  “I want my private life private,” she intoned. “I’m living for me.”

Nielsen reports found that more than 60% of U.S.-based tweeters ditch the site after their first few posts.

Harvard Business Review says that the median number of lifetime tweets per user is one, and over half of the estimated 20 million people on Twitter tweet less than once every 74 days. That means that the vast majority of conversation on the site is produced by a very small group of people. HBR also reports that  10% of tweeters make over 90% of all tweets.

According to ‘Inside Facebook’ 6 million American users not only considered quitting Facebook, they also acted and left the social networking site.

Life is when your daughter comes home from school with grades waaaay below expectations. Or your son doesn’t make the basketball team. Or your wife gets laid off. Or your father dies. Life is the real thing, in real-time, and many people are now coming to the realization that life deserves a lot of attention. Much more attention than any social media channel.

So, if people are de-emphasizing social media channels and concentrating on the channel that is most rewarding…where does that leave companies?

It means that companies will now be forced to focus. Where are your real customers? Is the brand messaging being seen and heard? Is there two-way communication with consumers who are engaged?

And, of course, brands will need social media reporting to measure what is getting traction and what isn’t. Without this reporting brands have no compass. And with no compass, they will be be shooting in the dark and, most likely, wasting a lot of money.

Think delivering a message to a crowded room with no one listening.