Just over a week left in 2009, which means it’s time to think about resolutions for 2010. My list is usually full of bad habits I intend to swap for good ones. This year I decided to apply that principle to social media: what’s the #1 way I can change my social media habits in 2010?

I resolve to become a power user in one new social space each month. I don’t intend to get 500 friends/fans/followers in 30 days, but I want to understand the nuances of the space and see what makes its community tick. I know that Posterous is similar to Tumblr, but until I dig in and play around on both sites, I won’t really understand the difference. It’s fine to answer questions about Slideshare by saying “It’s a network for sharing documents and presentations,” but it’s so much better to pull up my profile, turn my computer screen around, and highlight features that I discovered by getting personally involved.

How I’ll do it: It takes a few hours to set up an account, add some content, find existing friends, and follow interesting people based on common interests or geography. Once I make that initial foray into the space, fifteen minutes a day should be all I’ll need to check new activity and add to the conversation. I intend to take a few hours about once a week to dig through all the privacy settings and power-user features.

Join me. I recommend starting with Farmville to see all the sharing features that make it the most popular app on Facebook, or learning YouTube features like building playlists and subscribing to other channels.

What are your social media resolutions for 2010?