The other day I got a 'friend' request from someone for Facebook, and I quickly realized that I had no earthly idea who this person was. I assumed she was probably either a reader of The Viral Garden, or maybe she had read my posts at Daily Fix. I added her, and then clicked on her profile to find some tell-tale signs of how we might be connected.As I was reading my new friend's profile, I quickly realized how all her interests and passions were here. One of the things that I absolutely hate about blogging (probably the only thing) is that I never have the chance to get to know many of my readers. Unless you guys leave a comment or an email, you remain an anonymous IP address or a number in my FeedBurner reader count. And I hate that.
But with Facebook, I now have a way to keep up with everyone, and perhaps more importantly to me, I can reach out to people that read my blog and get to know them a bit better. I've already reconnected with some bloggers that I haven't talked to since 2005 or 2006.
So if you're on Facebook, please add me as your friend. If you want, when it asks how we know each other, you can say that we met through blogging. Because now we have!
How are you using Facebook?
Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing, Facebook
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12 comments:
"I added her . . ."
It's Mack the Generous! And that's probably a good way to be on FB.
On Linked In, I've been getting all sorts of invitations for the past 8 months, many from people I have no idea who they are. Since Linked In has more "serious business" aspirations, I tend to pass on most of them. Do yo have a similar experience?
"On Linked In, I've been getting all sorts of invitations for the past 8 months, many from people I have no idea who they are. Since Linked In has more "serious business" aspirations, I tend to pass on most of them. Do yo have a similar experience?"
I'm the same way Roger, much pickier about who I connect with on LinkedIn, for the reason you listed. With Facebook, there's a much more personal and communal element involved. Sure, many people are joining it to use the site as a business-networking tool, but to me, that's a pleasant by-product.
There are so many other bloggers that I barely know, that I've bumped into here and there over the past 2 years. But with Facebook, I can add them as a 'friend', then it's much easier to find out more about them, and what our common interests are. IOW, it's easier to move a casual acquaintance to being an actual friend.
BTW if you aren't already on Facebook, you should join just for the Blog Friends app. It lets you not only link to your most recent blog posts on your Facebook profile, but you can also notify the app what your interests are, and it will posts blog posts from your friends' blogs as well that cover the topics that you are interested in. A GREAT way to learn about new blogs, at least for me.
I agree that Facebook is more social, more everyday, than LinkedIn. With LinkedIn, I will ask: ‘Can I honestly deal with a referral to this person?’ If not, then I pass.
As to Facebook et al, I believe: Facebook is for voyeurs, MySpace is for exhibitionists. The first page of Facebook is an update on what all your friends are doing; the first page of MySpace is your own. Call me a voyeur: I have found people whom I have not seen in 20-plus years there and am rapidly catching up on their lives.
"Call me a voyeur: I have found people whom I have not seen in 20-plus years there and am rapidly catching up on their lives."
Jack I am beginning to think that as Bloglines is a tool to subscribe to blogs, Facebook is a tool for subscribing to people. And the added bonus is that I can still keep up with everyone's blog via their profiles, but the blogs of their friends as well.
Mack: What has your activity with FaceBook done for your blog subscribers (which seem to be increasing)? Is there a correlation?
Roger it's too early to tell, as I haven't really spent much time with Facebook until the last week or so. In fact I think my number of friends on Facebook has doubled in the last 3 days (Hopefully it will double again in another 3 days). So I would guess there's little to no correlation in my increased time spent on Facebook, to the increase in number of feed readers, at least not yet.
What I do know is that Facebook is allowing me to get to better know my existing friends, blogging friends, and readers. Anything that does that is gold to me!
hi mack; your post was the nudge i needed to get signed up on facebook. i've been a linked in member for a few years and recently it has become more relevant but it is still annoying to get so many requests from headhunters and other people that I know are simply playing the numbers.
Anne welcome to The Book! Please add me if you don't mind. It's a big time sink, but great to learn more about all your friends and contacts that are about to be friends!
will do...once i get my lazy self around to it. nice to know that i'll have one friend at least:)
Randomly meeting people at Facebook has proven to be an incredible form of networking for me. LinkedIn has netted nothing.
Facebook has tremendous potential for networking & marketing as long as you're sensitive to the idea that it's a social space.
"Facebook has tremendous potential for networking & marketing as long as you're sensitive to the idea that it's a social space."
Great point Connie! This is what so many marketers don't 'get' about social media. They think it's a brand new sales channel. It's not. The only way marketers can be successful in social media is to use the same tools in the same way for the same purpose that we are.
I think 2-3 years from now, most companies will get this. But for now, many will continue to stumble.
Thanks for the inspiration on this one - I'm going to start up a Facebook group now for readers of my blog [prefer to keep my profile for people I actually know].
But the site is too good a way to put faces to names if you have them, and like you said, usually you only IP addresses.
Also thanks for the heads up on the Blog Friends app
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