Tags
Can anyone explain to me why Facebook is worth any of my time?
And I don’t mean why you may prefer Facebook over Twitter, or that it’s easier than having a blog, etc, etc …
I would really like to know why someone like me with several blogs, a Fotki account for photo sharing, and two active Twitter accounts would require a Facebook account. I am not being facetious – I really want to know. I’ve been keeping two FB accounts running, even though I maybe only visit them a couple of times a week. Any posts from me there are auto-forwarded posts from Twitter. And I would be happy to drop both FB accounts today except people keep telling me that they are necessary to have in terms of social media stuff, especially for business purposes.
I don’t understand the difference between FB home pages, Business Pages, and Fan Pages. I hate all the stupid adolescent apps that bombard you with zoo animals, pokes, and invitations to join a mafia family. To name but a few. And recently I can’t visit my FB pages without being bombarded by auto-suggestions about people I should add as a Friend. I mean, get outta my face already with that crap.
Am I the only person who seriously dislikes Facebook?
casa azahar 
Facebook, what’s that?
LikeLike
😛
LikeLike
Yes, I hear you regarding the games and pointless invites. Luckily there’s a hide switch to limit the nonsense, but the torrent keeps on flowing. I am not a fan of FB applications, especially when they seem to want to gain access to personal information.
What I do like about FB is the fact that people whom I wouldn’t normally expect to be active on the Internet tend to be happy with the place. Quite a few of my cousins and good friends are there and nowhere else, so from that point of view it’s good. Sharing photos, news, that sort of thing.
Otherwise I’m scratching my head a bit..
LikeLike
I have found and been found by people I haven’t seen in years via FB.
LikeLike
You say that like it’s a good thing. 😉
LikeLike
I don’t like blogging, Hootoo is more for for me either comedy or science and I don’t want my entire fotki picture collection out there. FB is an intermediary between my old school friends, my family and the youngsters I meet when I apprentice or work experience them. There is a HUGE age and gender gap in my business, the old farts (myself included) held on and are holding on for far to long in what is essentially a closed shop. Gen X barely made a dent, Gen Y similarly and now the next group doesn’t seem to know how to communicate with us old Boomers any other way. Plus, the X and Yers that did make it in are all fairly clique-y if you don’t keep tabs on what’s going on. I’m still not sure it’s a compliment to be invited to a work Birthday party and be the only one over (Waaay Over) 40 there.
I’ve reconnected with several Uni and school friends I had no idea were still around and I like the fact that I have some sort of idea of what my kids are up to (24, 26 and 32).
LikeLike
I use Facebook only as a central place for all my contacts to get in touch with me as need be, and I get an email if there’s any messages that come to my inbox – but other than that, now that my Scrabulous friend has cancelled her account, I use it to play Scramble with someone else every once in a while and that’s IT. I hate all the other crap on there, too! I doubt it’s as “necessary” as people have made it out to be to you. If it was helping out your business, you would know by now and wouldn’t have written this post, right?
LikeLike
Well, quite. But perhaps I haven’t seen any clear response to the Sevilla Tapas FB account because I don’t actually post anything there other than forwarded Twitter updates. Also, I am told that most of Facebook is behind a login, preventing search engines from indexing the page, so Sevilla Tapas should really be a Fan Page, which is public.
On the other hand, I’ve also been told that if I have a Fan Page people may just “stay” there and not visit my website. Also, you kind of have to spam people to get them to join your Fan Page, which I don’t like.
So, I’m still undecided about that.
LikeLike
I use FB all the time because people I know use FB and it is one way of sharing stuff with them. They don’t Twitter and Twitter really is not any good for the wide variety of types of sharing that is immediate and everyone uses. And… we aren’t limited to 12 words.
Everyone from my niece and my friend’s daughter to someone at church and my refugee friends and their family in Kosovo can see my photos and I can tag my photos of them without having to go to 133 blogs or photo-sharing sites.
I know what my friends in the band are up to, what musicians and bands are going to be at my favourite bar(s). I can tell from a thumbnail rather than having to go to a link if I am interested in something. I can watch the video on FB rather than going to YouTube to watch it.
I’m one of the few people in my many, many friends and family that have a blog and I don’t think any of them regularly read my blog. Most of the people who visit my blog I don’t know on FB. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t have a blog but they don’t. Some don’t even know what a blog is and some have never heard of Twitter. I set up a blog for the Fellowship so that we wouldn’t be inundated wit email discussions and no one could figure out why they would ever bother with it…. I kept trying to tell them that they could visit whenever they wanted, read it whenever they wanted and not have to wade through long emails which invariably have all those little >>> at the beginning of every line. They still didn’t “get it”. They never used the blog. I set up a Twitter account to enable the Fellowship to be more “visible” in the community and they didn’t understand that, either.
The fact is that FB isn’t for some people and they just don’t have a need for it. For others, it is the only social networking they would ever use.
LikeLike
I should also mention that I have a MySpace account and use it rarely. I do check out music from various bands and that really IS the only reason I bother with it.
LikeLike
I don’t really have a problem just leaving my personal FB account as it is. I never post anything there other than occasional forwarded Twitter posts, which I always hope will bring people over to the linked place (usually here) to leave a comment. But usually a comment is left there, and I get an email telling me so. Otherwise I don’t bother checking it much.
It’s more the SevillaTapas account that I am trying to figure out. Sure I can just leave it as it is, like the personal one, but it seems like everyone with an online biz has started Fan Pages lately and I am trying to decide whether I should do this as well. But then, what happens to the existing page? Won’t the “friends” there get confused? Will things posted end up on both pages? And how the hell does one make a Fan Page anyhow?
LikeLike
I use Facebook. I ignore the shite I’m not interested in, disallow any app that spams and stick to my own little corner, much as I do on h2g2.
I find that FB allows me to keep up with friends and family from the old country, new friends in uni and old colleagues.
Anyone you don’t like you can quietly go to their profile page and down in the left hand bottom corner you can un-friend them. Plus, you’re in no way obliged to agree to friend requests.
For me the difference with FB vs. h2g2 is the flesh factor. I know the people on my FB in person, I befriended them offline (with a few exceptions where h2g2 has bled over to FB).
Much as I care about my h2g2 friends – I have never met most of them – and I probably never will. But here I am – talking to a group of people I met there, specifically on your blog that I visit every day.
LikeLike
“Facebook….why?” Well, I guess it’s bit like asking BBC…why? It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I , like many others, use it as a hub to keep in touch with family and friends. Some businesses use FB for marketing purposes and they do it successfully. You appear to have developed a very robust hatred of FB, judging by your numerous posts on twitter and, ironically, FB. One thing that really confuses me is when people complain about the quality of a TV channel – I just don’t see the point when there’s a choice to change channel. May I suggest that you adopt a strategy that emulates a hatred for a TV channel like the BBC. Switch over. 🙂
LikeLike
I was dragged kicking and screaming (metaphorically) to Facebook and it took me a while to warm to it. I also hate all the apps and block anyone who clutters up my news feed with them. I chat with my son in Argentina most days. I keep up with friends I don’t see very often without engaging in lengthy phone conversations – I know that sounds lazy. I’m delighted to see photos of their trips, their kids and grandkids,their home renovations, etc. I also manage a fan page as part of my job and find it a good way to get our message out.
LikeLike
I also appreciate being able to block people (people like my nephew’s crazed ex-wife and my husband’s replacement for me, and my ex, for that matter) I don’t want to see my profile and read my status. I wish I could block them from seeing my blog.
LikeLike
Your quote nailed it exactly:
“And I would be happy to drop both FB accounts today except people keep telling me that they are necessary to have in terms of social media stuff, especially for business purposes.”
Really, that’s the MAIN (and maybe only) reason. You’ve gotta have one, not because you’ll feel “naked” without it, but so that your contacts and clients see you’re “plugged in” to what’s going on in the internet world. It gives you “street cred” (by “street” I mean “internet” and by “cred” I mean “credibility”).
I never bother with any (and I mean ANY) of the silly applications that keep flashing before my eyes. Just give me the basics on Facebook and let me easily find and keep in contact with old and new friends, not to mention give me a place to upload and share photos.
Using Facebook and Twitter for marketing works for those willing to bombard their followers with their promotions, links, and company information. In my opinion, THOSE are not the “friends” you want to have. Who wants to constantly be marketed to? I mean, don’t we get enough of that in everyday life already?
In my opinion, the best way to “use” these social marketing sites is to provide GOOD and insightful information. But don’t give them EVERYTHING upfront or they’ll have no reason to visit your DotCom. Give them enough to entice them to want more. And be sure they know how to find it via the links under your profile photo. If your reputation is solid people will want to know what else you have to say on one topic or another.
Best of luck!
Saludos, MadridMan (obviously not my real name but it works for branding purposes)
LikeLike
Thanks for your very thoughtful reply, MadridMan (even though this is NOT your real name! 😉 )
Yes, it is to do with maintaining my “net cred”, as in not leaving out one of the major social marketing sites that almost everyone else seems to be using.
So I think a public Fan Page would be better for SevillaTapas than the usual login protected friend page thing it is set up on now. I just dread having to go over to FB to try and figure out their crappy interface. If I manage to set up a Fan Page, what happens to my original one? Will I still be able to use the new ID URL? At the moment it’s http://www.facebook.com/sevilla.tapas
LikeLike
What MadridMan said!
I mostly don’t like it, either. I especially don’t like the new form factor where all the stupid mafia wars and bejeweled blitz stats for other people show up as the default feed. Bleah.
One thing I DO like about it is that I have more contact with my family this way. I have a tiny clue now what people are up to, my old cousins I haven’t seen in a hundred years, nieces, sis, sis’s old boyfriend … I don’t use the phone much and we don’t live near any of them, so really, it does keep me in touch better than I would be without it.
LikeLike
So, check it out! It looks like I already have a Fan Page. I thought it was called a Business Page. Whatever.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Seville-Spain/Sevilla-Tapas/77971975333
But now what do I DO with it?
LikeLike
I just became a fan! I have no idea what you DO with it now! 🙂
LikeLike
Well exactly! I mean, once people sign on as a Fan, what keeps them coming back?
LikeLike
You have to post something there.. Perhaps updates…
LikeLike
I have it linked to SevillaTapas on Twitter now, to post selected tweets there. But I still don’t know what keeps people going there to check. It’s not like being on their FB feed, you know? Hmmm…
LikeLike
I had a Facebook page. After a month I quit it. I connected with some people from my past. No one else I knew was on it or if they were they didn’t want to be my friend. I can only take so much rejection. After all, if your own niece doesn’t want you to see her facebook page, well. . .
I have no net cred.
LikeLike
If you start a Twitter account I’ll follow you! 🙂
LikeLike
Also: Post your new restaurants and reviews on your Facebook biz page. I know it seems duplicative but that’s what everyone does.
It will send updates out to your adoring fans. 🙂
LikeLike
Is a Fan Page the same as a BIz Page?
LikeLike
Yes, I was going by your description. I think FB also used to use that interchangeably with Groups pages. Maybe still do. I have a group page and a fan page for work.
LikeLike
I have a feeling that group pages are different from fan pages. But okay, if the fan page is the same as the biz page I made a few months ago, that explains why I didn’t know I had a fan page.
Progress! 🙂
LikeLike
I hate fb too, but I keep my page because I have many friends in other countries with whom its an easy way to keep in basic touch. Of course, the really good friends get emails and calls or read my blog!
Also, its quite a good way to contact people you’ve lost touch with or only met once but got along well with, I’ve found. Useful when moving to a new city.
But I can’t see its business use, frankly – its a social networking tool…
LikeLike
Well, Twitter is also a social networking tool and I’ve found it invaluable for connecting with new business contacts. I also quite enjoy it as I only follow back people I’m actually interested in. And now that they have added “lists” to Twitter it’s much easier to catch up on different groups of the people I follow (travel, food&wine, spain, social media…) separately if I don’t have time to go through the main list.
I still want to konw how people who join fan pages find out about new posts on those pages. I recently became a fan of my friend Lizzie’s page for her restaurant and if I want to know if she’s posted something new there I have to go and have a look. Seems like a duff system to me.
LikeLike
“I still want to konw how people who join fan pages find out about new posts on those pages. I recently became a fan of my friend Lizzie’s page for her restaurant and if I want to know if she’s posted something new there I have to go and have a look.”
When you post a new story to your fan page, it automatically posts it to your fans’ wall. You don;t need to go back to the fan page to see if it has been updated.
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4893/Join-the-Fan-Club-Facebook-Fan-Pages-are-Better-for-Business-than-Groups-and-Profiles.aspx
LikeLike
Your friend Lizzie possibly hasn’t sent out an update. Or she’s not posted it properly. If she had, you , as a fan, would have a message on your FB wall about it.
LikeLike
I guess it would help if I checked my Wall …
LikeLike
You don’t need to check it. FB notifies you when someone posts to your wall.
LikeLike
My cousin forcibly signed me up to Facebook. “You have to be on Facebook! It’s the best thing ever!” A couple of weeks later, she announced on Facebook that she was leaving the site, having become bored with it.
I read the Internet a lot, and when I think, “That’s interesting. everyone should read this,” I post it as a link on Facebook. That’s about all I use it for, really. I also read some of the links other people post (especially echomikeromeo).
It’s handy, sometimes, to glance through relatives’ status updates and get some idea what they’re doing without having to talk to them all personally. And if they’re doing something interesting, you can comment. Handy for me, anyway, because I have a scattered family. But it feels slightly weird to use my real name on the internet. I’m more at home on h2g2. (And the friend suggest thing found me a cousin I didn’t know existed, which is sort of cool. Might visit him next time I’m in the UK.)
Echomikeromeo has a blog called Worthless Drivel. All her posts there are automatically cross-posted as Facebook notes. It’s interesting to see she gets far more comments on her Facebook notes than she does on her blog posts.
TRiG.
LikeLike
It’s not that I’m at all concerned about people not knowing who I am. I’ve used my real name on h2g2 at times. It’s just odd to be in an environment where I’m not surrounded by pseudonyms.
Sometimes I think TRiG is my real name, I use it so often. (It is actually derived from my initials, so it sort of is. And I use it in signing text messages and the like, so real-life friends do know it.)
TRiG.
LikeLike
I seriously think of azahar as my real name these days. It’s amazing how many shops, restaurants and hotels have been named after me here! 🙂
LikeLike
I find Facebook to be good at getting the word out about live events, but pretty much useless for much of anything else. I do use it to keep track of people on different time zones than me, though.
I, too, signed up because you can’t claim to be a social media consultant without having a FB account, but each succeeding redesign has worsened the user experience. It’s currently quite appalling.
That said, if you ARE promoting events, it’s a requirement. Absolutely necessary.
LikeLike
Oh good, so it’s not just me who finds it horribly user-unfriendly.
And what’s up with the most recent change, as in what the hell’s the difference between the news feed and the live feed?
I think I’d actually do better promoting a local event with a link to a blog post or an Evite on Twitter. I have a Spain List on both accounts (aren’t Twitter Lists the shizznit?) and so I know it would immediately reach everyone I’d want to have it seen by.
But I don’t see myself hosting any events in the near future, so this isn’t really an issue for me at the moment.
LikeLike
Ivan the Terribly Average once wrote something like “Facebook is what happens when you fall asleep reading”. That’s my opinion as well.
I don’t have an account there neither do I have one at twitter. I have a blog nobody hardly ever read, and that’s about it.
LikeLike