How I Use Facebook

July 13, 2007 · Comments

WebInno

WOW! Facebook has become a hopping place. (By the way, my profile is here, should you want to connect.) It went from being a school thing to being a place for professionals to connect in a much more multi-faceted way than, say, LinkedIN or even Twitter. And there are lots of really fascinating people. I should know. I spent the last hour plus requesting to add them.

Who Can/Should You Connect With?

For a guy with lots of connections, I have two schools of thought. I say yes to every request, even if I’m not sure I know you. It’s just not in my nature to turn people down, and I have no incentive to do so.

On the flipside, I try my hardest to find a connection between me and the person I’m trying to connect. We’ve met at a conference. We know lots of the same friends. I’ll stretch it to as far as “I’ve read your blog for years, and love your work.” But I don’t just add names I have NO connection to at all. No reason to do so.

Don’t feel shy. People can deny you. No skin off anyone’s back to do that. So there’s no harm in asking. Someone I know recently connected to Seth Godin without any weirdness.

I’m There. Now What?

So far, I’ve enjoy the contact book for Facebook. I’ve enjoyed the Groups feature. I like that I can port my Upcoming calendar there, as well as several other apps. I like that you can leave messages for people, write on their “wall,” or join groups and write back and forth via forums.

There are full fledged applications that can add to your experience, including things like Zoho Office and Socialight and Flickr and Twitter, etc.

Stupid Apps

There are LOTS of opportunities to do silly things on Facebook. I don’t play along, but that’s just me. There are applications with zombies, food fights, super poking, and whatever else. Fine if you like them. I don’t bother. I’m not passing judgment beyond calling them stupid apps. You have fun with that.

Then What?

I recently built a group called Grasshoppers. The idea is to build something where we can friendsource, and be helpful. I invited every single person I had on Facebook. So far, over 140 people have joined in the few hours that the group has been alive. Through this group, I can message a lot of people at one shot. I can mobilize people to help other people. I can reach out and build community on a different scale altogether.

You can use Facebook as a very powerful social network.

For Business

I’ve found AMAZING business contacts on here that are pertinent to my day job. You might, too. For instance, Ray Ozzie of Microsoft is on there. So is Vint Cerf. Funny but so was Reid Hoffman (LinkedIN) and Marc Canter (People Aggregator). So is pretty much everybody doing anything on the Internet, to name a few, but also some not-so-Internetty types.

There are ways to make this a business tool. And an outreach tool. And a cause tool. It’s a fairly open platform.

The Privacy Thing

There are some rumblings in the blogosphere about all the various apps grabbing all your personal data. I am not fighting this. Instead, I’m offering that if you’ve already loaded Facebook up with all your pertinent personal data, it’s pretty much gone. Maybe I should be more up in arms? I’m not. You can fight that one.

Further Reading

By the way, Robert Scoble has a great post on why Facebook, why now that’s worth reading, too!

So, what do you think? Are you on there? How have you found the experience?

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  • Chris:

    Thanks for this! I've been doing a little bit of reflection on facebook for nonprofits - mostly looking at the groups/causes
    http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/07/shar...
  • I've always preferred Facebook over MySpace because it's cleaner. It was not remarkable until they opened the API. Now, it's actually fun to hang out there. I think that Facebook's non-customizable interface makes it less about self-expression and more about socializing and organizing. The other social network gets lost in the froofiness.

    One of the best things about Facebook is that, like Twitter, you know what your friends are doing without having to go from page to page. You instantly have a picture of what's going on as soon as you log in. Overall, Facebook is useful and invites you to interact rather than having to hunt for things to do.
  • Okay, I finally caved in and joined Facebook.
  • Chris

    My latest thoughts on Facebook can be found at http://blog.neilcford.com/?p=57

    There's a link back to this article too.

    - Neil.
  • I'm enjoying Facebook as well. And hope they work the platform part out even more. What i would like to see is maybe 2 profile pages, one for the serious business stuff and a second where you can put all the more personal apps, like movies, photos, books etc.

    As for the privacy, I consider whatever I put on the internet becomes readable for everyone.
  • Hey Chris

    Great post, I agree ! I recently blogg'd about using facebook as part of your business at my blog.

    Keep up the great blogging !
  • bgavin
    Interesting.

    I joined Facebook the night of the Virginia Tech shootings. I wanted to read and to understand how the VT studetns were processing what happened. I was blown away by the sense of community, not just among the VT students, but how many other college students reached out.

    Back then, in April, there was no one I knew on Facebook. I did find my friends' kids and my nephew. In three months, Facebook has become the most recent Next Big Thing.
  • I had joined FB a while ago but never found a reason to get active. I mean it's great to friend people and leave messages back and forth but ultimately I was bombarded with too many silly app requests that I began to find it very unappealing.

    I'm not into friending a lot of people that I don't know. I'd like to connect with someone on at least some level before being connected with them. I guess that's why I ultimately ended up siding with LinkedIn. I found it cleaner and more professional and I'm constantly in touch with my connections there.

    It isn't until recently that I"m beginning to use FB and even then only to a small extent. I use it to engage with people that I've connected with at some level and I'll continue to do so but I'll shy away from a lot of what I consider to be the useless apps. (Like you said, I'm not talking bad about these apps, they're just not for me).

    For now, I think I'll continue to favor LinkedIn but you can still catch me on FB.
  • unique4
    MY CO WORKER WANTED ME TO BECOME A PART OF FACEBOOK AND I ALWAYS TELL HER I DON'T HAVE TIME.SINCE SHE IS OFTEN SPEAKING ABOUT SOMEONE SE SAW ON FACEBOOK,WELL I GUESS I'AM JUST A LITTLE CURIOUS. GUESS WHAT , SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW I'VE SIGNED ON. I'AM ALSO DOING A CRUISE TO THE BAHAMAS IN 2010 OF MAY 30,THRU JUNE 5,STARTING AS LOW AS $523.00
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