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Why Use a Screen Name?

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on April 11, 2024

Is There Any Good Reason to Use a Screen Name?

So, a screen name – good idea, or no? Particularly in the age of Facebook and the real names requirement.

I was inspired by this post in Angela Connor‘s blog. If you don’t know Angela Connor, I urge you to check her out; her blog is extremely insightful and is still one of my favorites.

Her ideas make a great deal of sense, and I think some of this is why the Blizzard forum experiment in real names for users was such an immediate and egregious flop.

Masks

The ’net, like it or not, is for many people a place of masks. You pretend to be younger and thinner than you are. Or you pretend to be unmarried. You pretend to be a Klingon. Or you’re a teenager and pretend to be an adult. Or you pretend to be another gender or richer or lovelier or more conservative or whatever.

And the masks can be freeing to many. Perhaps they were freeing when the ancient Greeks donned them while performing Oedipus Rex for the first time. I think there is more of a place for them than perhaps we’d all care to admit. Because there seems to be a value to being able to spread war paint (or lamp black) on one’s face, or wear a Halloween costume.

Screen Name Unreality

And this is not the same as our reality. It is related but not identical. Maybe the librarian who goes out for Halloween dressed as a dance hall girl wants to be known as someone who takes risks (and maybe foolish ones, at that). But when the morning after rolls around, she’s back in the library helping others do research.

A Screen Name Allows for (Somewhat) Anonymous Commenting

This kind of anonymous commenting allows for something like this. Because the sympathetic guy who’s really seething inside gets to call people out. He gets to be a bully and be an all-around racist jerk (I have worse names, but don’t wish to besmirch my blog) behind one screen name.

But then he surfs to a different site where he can chat up the ladies with his sensitive New Age guy demeanor, all behind another screen name. And then when the time to log off comes, he goes home and kisses his wife and plays with his children. And this is all one guy.

Facebook and Screen Names

To comment openly through a full, correct name (usually) medium like Facebook would be to cut off the dance hall girl. And it would stifle the racist jerk, the ladies’ man, and any number of other secret selves in favor of a drab and ordinary world. Even on a news site, which is pretty much the definition of drab unless there’s some sort of a hot story, the jerk, the dancer and the Romeo all want to be free.

Still, Facebook has been a runaway success. But some of that is still screen names. A person with Au at the end of their name is identifying to all and sundry that they are on the autism spectrum. I have seen last names like Lionchaser and Orange and Juneberry. The chances are extremely good that none or most of these are real.

But does that actually matter, in the grand scheme of things?

Who’s Real?

But we shouldn’t take their opinions as seriously as the real people. Because, even though those personae live in real people’s skins, it’s the real people who vote, marry, pay taxes, work, make the news and are members of our real society.

The trouble is telling them apart and knowing which one is real.

Can you always tell? I bet you can’t. Not always.

ChatGPT Adds to the Confusion on Screen Names and More

Beyond whether the name is real, are the posts real these days? A friend who runs a writing contest just had to jettison a few entries because they were written by AI.

AI is only going to get better and better—and more unnerving—as time marches on.

We may very well look back on questions about screen names as being a quaint little hiccup. You know, right before the Apocalypse.

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… And Facebook for All Your Account Settings

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on November 17, 2022

… And Facebook for All – Your Account Settings Explained

… And Facebook for All – Your Account Settings – in Facebook, how to do you change your account settings? When you pull down on the Account section of Facebook, you see a few choices but they change.

Keep in mind that Facebook is continuously testing its format. What worked a year ago might not work now, but these are pretty close to being right although some of the parts have moved around on the page or might now have new names.

• Privacy
† Notifications
• Account Settings
† Security and Login
• Ads
† Support Inbox, and,
• Videos

Privacy Settings

Control some aspects of the sharing experience here. So this includes who can see your photographs, religious and political views, etc.

Notifications

You can decide on which notifications you get, with separate settings for desktop and mobile. Which is rather helpful.

Account Settings

This is a part of Facebook that always seems to be changing. It is entirely possible that, by the time you read this blog post, these instructions will be obsolete. I’ll keep everything at a high level and won’t get into too many specifics. So it is divided as follows:

† Name
• Contact
† Ad Account Contact
• Identity Confirmation

Security and Login

This section indicates if you are using Facebook Protect. It shows if you have two-factor authentication set up. You can also change your password here, and see if there have been any unauthorized login attempts.

Account Settings: Ads

This isn’t to run Facebook ads. Rather, it’s to make it clear what your preferences are. If you keep getting ads for stuff that you don’t care about—or find offensive—you can take action here. Is it a perfect system? Of course not. But the more signals you can give Facebook about what you want, the more likely you will get an experience you love.

Support Inbox

This area is undoubtedly going to continue to evolve as questions come up and the increasingly complicated Facebook system breaks in all sorts of interesting and as-yet unexpected ways. Here, you can see the status of anyone or anything (such as a group) you’ve reported.

You can also get to their Community Standards.

This kind of section used to have a space for questions. And it may have such a space in the future.

But keep in mind: Facebook won’t answer 99%+ of any questions you have for them. Why? Because they are running an enormous site with a surprisingly tiny number of employees. Hence many of the judgement calls come from bots.

Account Settings: Videos

In this section, you have some control over the quality and volume of videos you see on the site.

Accounts Center

All the way at the bottom (currently), click on it and you’ll be able to manage connected accounts, such as on Instagram.

And … that’s it.

For now.

Want More About Facebook?

If this article resonates with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social media platform on the planet.

Facebook Features:

† Your Home Page
• Profile Page, Part 1
† Profile Page, Part 2
• Company Pages
† All the Rest of It
• Offsite Sharing Next article

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… And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page, Part II

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 12, 2022

… And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page, Part II

It’s something Facebook members have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of times. It’s your profile page.

Let’s talk some more about your profile. Here’s mine.

In addition to the basic tabs at the top, it also contains:

• A space for your profile picture
† Information on any mutual friends you might share with anyone peeking at your profile
• A small subgroup of your friends
† Your likes
• also, your photos
† Your links
• A share button, and,
† Some ads

NOTE: Facebook continually A/B tests, and so buttons and features move, change, are resized, added, or can disappear altogether. Your neighbor can sometimes see a rather different version of Facebook versus yours.

And this is normal. But these elements have been there for quite a while. It’s a safe bet that many of these account settings will stay on your FB profile page. Although their order and names will probably change.

Let’s look at these in order.

A Space for Your Profile Picture

No one is stopping you from putting up a picture that is not, actually, of you. As a result, I’ve seen dogs on Facebook, scenery, people’s children, and cartoon characters and more. Hence it’s a place to be somewhat expressive.

However, recognize that, if you’re using Facebook at all for your business (or if you’re simply looking for work), you’ll need to tone this down.

If you want to go fairly conservative (which I personally think is best but opinions differ), go with a headshot or a head and shoulders shot that’s fairly recent. And, do make sure you’re smiling.

Mutual Friends

If someone surfs in and finds your Profile Page, they’ll probably be drawn to whether you’re really the person they’re looking for, and whether you have any acquaintances in common.

If you’ve got a somewhat common name (e. g. Gregory Cole), then it’s really going to help out people if they see anyone who you know is in common with whoever they know.

One way I’ve used this information has been in locating High School friends, as we tend to have the same mutual friends.

If I see that Jane Smith is also friends with John Jones and Dave Brown (names are made up, of course), then I realize, aha! Chances are good that Jane and I attended High School together. Or, at least, she’s from my area.

However, sometimes it just means that Jane is a local (if John and Dave stayed in the area after graduation). Or it might mean she’s a younger or older sibling of my classmates. Hence it’s an imperfect system.

A Small Subgroup of Friends

So this is six friends (fewer, if you have fewer than six friends, of course). And it used to be you had control over this, but apparently not anymore.

As Facebook gets larger and larger, aggregations like these start to go the way of the dodo. Why? Because Facebook is really just a big, honkin’ database.

With over 2 billion daily active users, all these displays, with their sorting and re-sorting, are going to get memory intensive rather quickly.

It will never, truly, be a bare bones platform a la X or Bluesky. But you can expect to see some aggregative niceties to go away over time, or to be aggregated even further.

After all, how many times have you seen only the so-called “most relevant” comments instead of all of them when you click on a post. That, my friend, is saving Facebook some valuable memory.

Your Likes

Whenever you click Like on a group or page, it can show up here. A few show up at a time, and they rotate. To take something out of rotation, un-Like it. Much older and inactive pages and groups show up less, as Facebook follows social signals in this area, too.

E. g. pages and groups that appear inactive or even downright abandoned will lose precious visibility time and space to groups and pages that are up to date and lively.

Photos on Your Profile Page

So here is where your profile picture shows up in all its glory, and bigger than on your Home Page. Therefore, make sure it looks good here as well as on your Home Page. What I said above bears repeating.

If you’re using Facebook for business (or if you’re looking for work), make sure your profile image is a flattering photo clearing showing your face. It need not be full-length (and, if it is, it’ll be smaller on the Home Page, but here it’s all visible) and, for God’s sake, smile!

Plus, photographs also show up on your wall if you upload them and agree to publish them to your wall.

Your Links can go on Your Profile Page

So put a link in your status, or post it to your wall, and it will convert to something clickable. And if it comes from Youtube, it’ll even embed the video. And like most things on Facebook, any link can get comments or “Likes”.

A Share Button

Actually, there are several of these. Pretty much everything on Facebook can be shared in one manner or another, and even off Facebook.

Bottom line: your Profile Page is your face to the world. It is clickable, shareable and somewhat searchable. Don’t want people to know something about you? Don’t put it on your Profile Page.

Want More About Facebook?

If this article resonates with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social media platform on the planet.

Facebook Features:

• Your Account Settings
† Your Home Page
• Profile Page, Part 1
† Company Pages
• All the Rest of It
† Offsite Sharing

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Creating a Facebook Page

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on December 9, 2021

Creating a Facebook page

How do you go about creating a Facebook page?

Pages versus Groups

Why do you want one over another? Why does it matter?

Groups, as you might expect, allow for more discussion. However, everyone is on a more or less equal footing in terms of presenting content. And if that is what you want, then of course that is perfectly fine.

However, if you are looking to essentially market your own wares, then a group is not going to help you very much. Instead, your own messages will be lost in the shuffle of everyone else’s content and messaging. As the administrator, though, you can eliminate any discussions you do not wish to see. This can get tedious, plus you lose the entire discussions.

With a page, you are the site owner/administrator. You create the content, which others react to, which can include commenting, and those comments can include links. If you want those comments and links gone, you can eliminate them. But this is an activity which is bound to become tedious. But at least the generalized discussions would remain.

Look and Feel

We have all noticed branding for our favorite commercial ventures, whether it is the shade of green for Starbucks and its products, or the use of a mascot/spokes-character like Flo from Progressive Insurance. Or it could be the backward ‘R’ in the Toys ‘R’ Us store signage. For your Facebook page, your website, your Twitter stream, and your background image, it pays to brand these items.

Branding can be subtle, such as a color scheme, or more sophisticated, with the creation of a special logo for your page.

How to Create a Facebook Page

Facebook is constantly changing the means of performing tasks, as it is continuously A/B testing (e. g. it tests which layout or color scheme, etc. gets you to click more). Currently, the way to make a page is, click on Pages on the left side of your feed and then click on Create a Page.

Then select the page type. Select Artist, Band, or Public Figure, and pick either Author or Writer. Add your name and then click Get Started.

Seriously, it’s that simple.

Now go make an author page!

Does This Method Ever Change?

Yes. Constantly. Check at the source, always!

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… And Facebook for All – Offsite Sharing

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 7, 2021

… And Facebook for All — Offsite Sharing

Offsite sharing is a fascinating concept. Perhaps the most compelling feature of Facebook consists of the availability of the Like Button.

The Like Button and Offsite Sharing

Because the offsite Like Button dovetails beautifully with its presence on the site itself, i.e.,

“The Like button lets a user share your content with friends on Facebook. When the user clicks the Like button on your site, a story appears in the user’s friends’ News Feed with a link back to your website.”

Drag and Drop

Furthermore, the site tries to make it easy for even novice programmers (and people who can really only do drag and drop) to place a Like Button on their own sites for offsite sharing.

The premise is irresistible. You add the Like Button, people “Like” your own site, and that information transmits back to Facebook and to the Likers’ friend lists. In addition, their friends, who may not have know about you at all, suddenly do, and the offsite sharing spreads even more. They, hopefully, check you out, Like you, and the process repeats on and on, ad infinitum, or at least in theory. And with enough intersecting friends with enough non-intersecting additional friendships, a few Likes could translate into dozens, if not hundreds, or even thousands, of new people who know about you.

Engagement and Reach

However, engagement and reach are both going down. And Facebook actually has the gall to try to get people to pay for what it does! Quelle horreur!

But, seriously folks, how do you think Facebook pays its bills? They do it with advertising. If users won’t be charged (and Facebook would be mighty foolish to start charging all of those free sources of detailed consumer data), then advertisers will be. And of course that already happens.

What gets a lot of people’s undershorts knotted is that the freebie advertising is harder and harder to implement. Facebook seems to push everyone with a page to start buying likes to get more offsite sharing.

Thumb on the Scale?

Whoa, Nelly! Because that would be kind of unethical, if the site was deliberately putting a thumb on an imaginary scale and making it harder for people to reach their fans without paying for reach and engagement.

So, are they doing that?

While the jury is still out (after years!), I’m still inclined to say no. After all, the site grows by leaps and bounds on a second by second basis. And so engagement and reach dilute without Facebook having to do a damned thing.

Finally, does the site benefit from making it harder for page and group administrators to connect for free? Absolutely. But do they have to work in order to create this condition?

Nope. Life does it for them.

Offsite Sharing: The Upshot

Beyond issues with Russian interference and how the Facebook algorithm can sometimes tamp down third parties, offsite sharing can work pretty well there.

Political and other paid ads, though, are another story. They are a reminder that, every year, Facebook becomes more and more of a “pay to play” platform. Hence if you want to share something from off the site, your shared content might be lost amidst the paid stuff. So be it.

Want More About Facebook?

If this article resonates with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social media platform on the planet.

Facebook Features:

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Social Networking/Social Media Tips

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on September 7, 2021

Social Networking/Social Media Tips

Social Media Tips? Yes, please! A while back, Grassroots Giving Group published some great Social Networking tips. I agreed with their ideas but would like to expand upon them a bit.

And they were essentially exploring when Facebook and Twitter (X) are useful. Here are some of their ideas.

Ideas

Here are a few quickie ideas.

Announcements

Don’t just announce upcoming or new things but also add links in order to drive traffic. Agreed! However, I would add a targeted landing page.

If you’ve got people coming in from Facebook, why not create a new landing page to personally welcome them (e. g. Welcome to our Facebook Friends!). The best part about that is that, since it’s a separate page, Google Analytics will track the clicks separately.

You’ve got a fighting chance of getting good metrics, so you’ll know whether your announcement of the opening of a new branch of the Widget Factory played better on Facebook or on Twitter.

Sending shortened website addresses on Twitter – use an URL shortener. Of course! But why not use one (such as from HootSuite) where you can get some click metrics? Using both a personalized landing page and an URL with click metrics can give you an even clearer idea of how traffic flows.

Oh, and they don’t tell you why you should shorten an URL on Twitter (even if the URL fits), but I will: to make it easier for people to retweet.

Planning

Here are some tips for better planning.

Planning in Advance

There’s nothing new here. You should keep up with things and plan in advance. Absolutely. And that means, when you’re hot and creative, write, write, write! Keep drafts and ideas going, and also think about how you can expand on your own blog entries or others’ (such as this blog entry).

Get yourself a stable of other blogs/blog writers, news sources, etc. Who inspires you? Who interests you? And don’t repeat or steal, of course. Rather, expand and comment. These are perfectly legitimate ways to update your blog.

This Day in History

Commemorate occasions in your company! There must be something you’ve done that is good blog fodder. Of course, not every day is memorable, but it’s another way to keep the pipeline going. If July 12th is an important day in your organization, make sure that the July 12th blog post and Tweets are ready to rock and roll, and they are updated to the correct year.

Heck, in HootSuite and SocialOomph (mentioned above), you can schedule Tweets. Why not schedule the Tweets for July 12th (or whatever your special day just so happens to be) and be done with them?

Quotes

They said, “Quotes!”

Quote Collection

I like this idea, and I think it can be used for a lot of purposes. This is not only quotes about your specific organization or its work, but even more generalized quotations. Surely there is something from Shakespeare (“My kingdom for a horse!”) or the Bible that could work for you in some capacity or another. It can be another jumping off point for creativity.

Ask Your Audience Questions

I think this is more useful if you have a somewhat large and actively commenting readership. While a rhetorical question is lovely, I think it’s just better if you can get at least a little feedback. Otherwise, it feels like you’re just shouting out to the wilderness.

Staff Introductions

This is another great idea. While your site might already have staff biographies, that’s another way to get the readership acquainted with who’s making the product.

Notes From Your Day

I don’t know about this one. Your day, maybe. Mine? I guess this is, in part, centered around the event reviews I’ve done. But otherwise, my days tend to be spent, well, here, blogging. Which may or may not be thrilling to others. But I can see where my coworkers could have some very interesting days. The process of invention is pretty fascinating.

Social Media Tips: Takeaways

So there you have it. Some pretty amazing social media tips for getting and keeping things going. And, while the post wasn’t, specifically, about blogging, it rings very true for that very specific – and sometimes challenging and elusive – task.

Finally, many, many thanks to the Grassroots Giving Group.

For more information, see the December 16, 2010 edition of Grassroots Giving Group.com’s blog.

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… And Facebook for All — Company Pages

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 5, 2021

Liberty, Justice (?), … And Facebook for All – Company Pages

Company pages have become spots you put together on Facebook to support a business (not the same as a fan page).

However, like everything else on Facebook, these pages and their settings do evolve, and they’ve gotten simpler these days. Currently, the following features are available:

• Change Background Image/Avatar
† Edit Page
• Promote with an Ad
† Add to my Page’s Favorites
• Suggest to Friends
† Information
• Insights
† Friends Who Like the Page
• People Who Like the Page
† Favorite Pages
• Photos
† Links
• Events
† Wall
• Info
† Photos
• This Week
† Notes
• Videos
† Post Scheduling
• Various Apps

Company Pages and Details: Change Background Image/Avatar

This one is rather self-explanatory. Furthermore, a good, bright background image is good, as it shows up when you share the page. In addition, you might want to change these on occasion as that generates an update.

Edit Page

Manage permissions, add an address or business hours, etc. here.

Promote with an Ad

This is fairly self-explanatory. Note that Buffer has said that Facebook ads are a mixed bag.

Add to my Page’s Favorites

So here’s where another company you can link your page to your event pages.

Suggest to Friends

Fairly self-explanatory.

Information

This is basic information such as the company’s location.

Insights

First of all, this provides basic click information, including the number of Likes and Views. In addition, you can also see information on age and gender demographics and, most importantly, when people are online.

Friends Who Like the Page

Fairly self-explanatory.

People Who Like the Page

Fairly self-explanatory, except this includes people you are not, personally, friends with.

Favorite Pages

This goes back to adding a page as a favorite. And it shows which company pages your company has favorited.

Photos

Fairly self-explanatory.

Links

Fairly self-explanatory.

Events

I’ve found adding events to be hit or miss. First of all, not everyone RSVPs, and not everyone shows up even if they’ve said yes. However, it provides more exposure and it will bring your page up to people as the event date rolls around. Because even people who are clicking “No” are still looking, at least a little bit. So use with discretion and don’t overdo this. Because not every activity is an event, and not everyone should be invited to everything. Since that’s just plain annoying.

Wall

Fairly self-explanatory. In addition, you can control who can add to your wall. However, keep in mind that if you are free and easy with this, you’ll get more posts but you might also get spam. Although if you shut this down, you end up with Posts to Page. And it’s easy to miss these!

Company Pages Info

Here you add more detailed information. Hence this includes the company’s address and its business hours.

Photos

Fairly self-explanatory. Posts with images nearly always do better than those without, so upload an image if the link you’re sharing doesn’t have one. Make sure you have permission to use the image!

Notes

Fairly self-explanatory. Hence add notes like you would on your own personal page. E. g. these are almost discussions. However, the responses are relegated to subordinate comments versus the kind of back and forth that comes from the wall or the discussions page. And this is, admittedly, a nitpicky distinction without much of a real difference.

I would, though, suggest that you not use the Notes section for blogging. Instead, get a blog through WordPress (yay!) or the like and do it that way. Because the Notes section ends up a rather poor substitute for that.

Videos

Fairly self-explanatory. Hence if you’ve got videos uploaded, they can show up here. However, this is not the same as linking to a video hosted online elsewhere.

Company Pages: Post Scheduling

Fairly self-explanatory. So just post to your wall but pull down on the post button and select Schedule Post. In addition, if you’ve been looking at your Insights, you should know when people are online. And of course you want to try to post when people will see your posts.

Various Apps

Finally, go to Edit Profile and there is an option for Applications. However, these days, the only ones are Notes and Events.

Want More About Facebook?

If this article resonates with you, then check out my other articles about the largest social media platform on the planet.

Facebook Features:

• Your Account Settings
† Your Home Page
• Profile Page, Part 1
† Profile Page, Part 2
• All the Rest of It
† Offsite Sharing

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Facebook versus Forums

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 20, 2021

What hath Facebook wrought? – It’s a Facebook versus forums smackdown!

Let’s Look at Facebook Versus Forums

Facebook, as anyone not living on a desert island knows, is a juggernaut of massive proportions. According to Oberlo, Facebook has about 2.94 billion monthly users and 1.86 billion daily users—and these numbers are only climbing. Keep in mind that these stats are for Facebook’s core products, too. Hence some of these users may only be going to Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger.

In contrast, according to Worldometers, 1.425 billion people live in China, and 1.428 billion live in India. The US has a bit under 340 million in population.

Hence, daily Facebook usage is the entire population of China + the entire population of the United States. And another 9.2 million people on top of that. So, Israel. If these numbers do not blow you away, then check your pulse.

It is the 800 pound gorilla of the internet. And it is rapidly changing our interpersonal interactions, both on and offline. So, one of those areas is in the area of internet forums.

Facebook Versus Forums Sites Like Able2know

Facebook hits all forum sites and not just A2K. For years, I have been seeing drop off on a lot of different sites. It doesn’t seem to matter whether they are large, generalized places like Able2know, or small niche sites devoted to something like Star Trek. In addition, I hear about this same kind of drop off in other areas.

Facebook has its fingers in a lot of pies, and it is only trying to get into more and more of them.

The truth is, Facebook has taken over certain niches which forums or smaller sites have tried to claim. Such as class reunions—why go to a separate website and register (or even pay!) when your buddies are all or nearly all on FB anyway? Why not just make a group devoted to the reunion and divvy up the labor?

Using Facebook to market your crowdfunding (it could be to bring an invention to market or pay for your dog’s eye surgery or help out a friend who lost everything in a house fire) is a no-brainer. Looking for a bone marrow donor? Sure, go through the proper channels and the registry. But why not boost the signal by posting it on Facebook?

Everybody get in the Pool

So there are two generalized kinds of interactions (there are more, of course, but hear me out, okay?). One concerns the shallow end of things. You trade information about weather and generalized health inquiries. It’s political sound bites and the zippy pop song.

And much of what I’ve outlined above, like looking for a bone marrow donor, is mostly going to be the quick, shallow end of things. You’re a yes or a no. You send a care react and maybe you repost. But unless you’re elbows deep in it, you’re only pinkies deep, if that.

The other side of things is deeper. Because here is the in-depth political discussion where you really get to the heart of the issues. It’s the detailed information on a health condition or even how to make a soufflé or plant an herb garden. It is the symphony. And online, just like offline, it is a far rarer bird.

For you need time to develop that kind of trust. Furthermore, truly, you have to devote some time in order to have such a conversation in the first place.

In our bone marrow example, you can often find communities of like-minded individuals on Facebook. A small, private group may be able to help with more than a signal boost and expressing their concern. But that’s a small bit of the vast sea that is Facebook.

Swimming with Facebook

Facebook fulfills the shallow end of online interactions extremely well. It is very, very easy to catch up on a superficial level with high school classmates or the like. A Star Wars groups, for example, might ask basic questions like “Who was the best villain?”

George Takei has mastered these kinds of interactions (although, in all fairness, he also writes occasional longer notes). Because these constitute the quick hits that people can like and share, all in the space of less than a quarter of a minute. It works very well for mass quantities of information.

And, in a way, this is why Reels and TikTok are so massive. They are quick hits.

Facebook versus Forums – where Facebook Wins

Topics about one’s favorite song go better on Facebook than on forums as they are a quick hit and posting YouTube videos is simple. It’s colorful and, just as importantly, it’s pretty easy to pick and choose when it comes to interactions there, despite changes in privacy settings.

Other basic interactions (remember a/s/l?) are seamless or don’t need to happen at all. Partly this happens due to Facebook’s real names policy. Also, more people tend to use their real photograph and their real (generalized) location and age than not.

But there are also always going to be people who are going to check. Or they are just plain being nosy. For some, it may even be a poorly-conceived cover for transphobia. E. g. are you really female?

Facebook versus Forums – where Forums Win

But what Facebook doesn’t do so well is the deeper end of interactions (the extensive political discussions, etc.), and/or it does not do them well for a larger group of people or over a significant period of time or for a longer or wider discussion.

And apart from a small group of people fighting the same medical battle (on their own behalf, or a loved one’s), there aren’t a lot of occasions for the long-term, deeper talk.

As a result, just about all of the deep discussions go unsaid. Topics about elections outside the United States (particularly if Americans participate in said topics) are handled poorly, if at all. When it comes to the deeper end of the interactions pool, Facebook is just not a good place for that at all. Another consideration: even now, a lot of people still find that Facebook moves too quickly for them.

Swimming with Forums

For the deep end, it makes sense to collect into forums. You need to get to the heart of the matter. And that takes time, a luxury that Facebook often does not afford, as it scrolls by in a blur. Instead of mass quantities, forums can fulfill a very different niche by instead concentrating on quality interactions.

Forums offer, even for people who use their real names and are fairly transparent about their interactions, a chance to use a persona.

This is because Facebook far too closely parallels to our real lives. There’s just so much posturing you can do about being a famous rock star when your high school cronies are also there, and they remember holding your head when you had your first beer.

Again, the best way that Facebook even attempts to emulate this is in groups. But if you’re using the same login, then again, you’re found out. You get no chance to put on a persona hat, even for a moment. The jig is immediately and irrevocably up.

The Endless Online Christmas Brag Letter

And Facebook, while it can be a refuge for people to truly show they care for each other (in particular, in the groups, or using notes or chat), is more often a place where people instead get a chance to preen and show off. Like something? Then hit like! Don’t like it? Then either scroll past it or click to hide it, or even report it as spam or as being threatening.

Hell, you can even @ a tag group to comment on it.

And apart from the latter two actions, the person posting the image, anecdote, status, etc. is none the wiser when it comes to your reaction, particularly if there are a lot of reactions.

If you have a million reactions on a post, and 150,000 of them are anger reactions, how do you know your old college roommate was one of those people? Unless you have the patience and the hyperfixation to check, you are never going to know.

But with the forums, even if you do not use your real name, your opinions are still out there, for all to see, whether it’s about global warming or the Designated Hitter rule.

Facebook versus Forums: the Future

My crystal ball says Facebook is only going to get larger and more complicated. And advertising and other ways of keeping forums open is only going to get harder. Unless Facebook finds a way to take a deep dive into topics – and make it easier for people to find their way back after a day or two – then I fear a form of interaction may eventually be lost forever.

That is, unless Zoom calls and the like can rise to such a challenge. In and among the fluff and Zoom bombing and other annoyances and weirdness, perhaps that’s the way to go. Because I fear that forums are going to bite the dust before 2030, if not sooner.

There is room for both types of interactions. Facebook versus forums doesn’t have to pick a winner. The internet is a mighty big tent. But economics and sheer numbers might award a prize anyway.

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… And Facebook for All – All the Rest of It

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 16, 2021

… And Facebook for All – All the Rest of It

What’s the rest of it? There are really only two areas that I haven’t delved into: Groups and Notes (and keep in mind, FB changes constantly, so these could go away). Notes are kind of gone these days, but I am keeping this information for the sake of history, and because it may still be helpful in some fashion.

Groups

Groups: a lot more self-explanatory than you might expect.

They are, of course, a means for people to gather themselves together. Facebook is enormous and so, instead of looking through several million people to try to find someone who likes, say, Star Trek, you can hunt for a Star Trek group, join it and, voila! Instant collection of people with an interest similar to your own.

Joining in a group affords few obligations. Get invited to a group event? Well, it’s nice to RSVP, but not necessary. New discussion in the group? Well, it’s nice to participate, but you don’t need to. Add photos? Again, lovely, but no one’s holding a gun to your head.

Group Management

Managing a group differs a tad because it’s good to keep it lively. I’ve already talked a bit about groups before in this series, so I won’t repeat what I’ve said. However, mainly you want to keep discussions going (if any) and interest up. Gathering an enormous number of fans (yes, I know they are called Likes now, but what’s the human term? Likers? That just sounds weird, Facebook) helps with that.

This helps because it’s a somewhat objective means of showing interest in your group or cause or company, but since there’s a proliferation of dual accounts, that’s not necessarily much of an achievement.

Plus, since it’s so easy to toss a Share or Like button on any site, and Liking is so easy, having a lot of fans often just means you got your group in front of a bunch of people who are fine with clicking on a Like button, and nothing more. A group with 1,000 fans is not necessarily going to be easier to monetize than a group with only 100.

Notes

Notes became yet another means of getting across information. The main difference between them and the rest of Facebook’s discussions? The replies seem more like subordinate-appearing comments versus discussion replies.

Huh?

Yeah, it’s a difference without much of a real distinction.

The main usage I’ve seen for Notes consists of old-fashioned “getting to know you” kinds of notes. You know, the kind where you’re asked your favorite ice cream flavor or the name of your childhood pet. I’ve been on the Internet for over a decade and a half and, frankly, I think I’ve seen all of these by now.

Plus, not for nothing, but those are the kinds of questions that companies use to to verify accounts. Don’t answer them.

The last bit about Facebook is its very ubiquity. One of the reasons why it is so successful is because it’s, well, so successful. E. g., a long time ago, it hit a tipping point and started to become famous for the sake of being famous, and got bigger pretty much just because it was already huge.

FB is a well-known worldwide phenomenon. Mentioning it is so obvious and simple that it practically isn’t product placement to talk about it any more, much like mentioning a telephone in a movie isn’t really product placement to give a profit to Alexander Graham Bell‘s descendants.

See you online. And, yes, I will friend you if you like.

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… And Facebook for All

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 16, 2021

For Liberty, Justice (?), … And Facebook for All

Facebook matters.

At least, that’s what Mark Zuckerberg would want us all to think, wish and feel. I can understand that, a desire to make a website about as universal as possible. Once the site stopped being exclusive to collegians, the inevitable business model was to universalize it. And the site, today (although that will probably change), has about the best chance to become a truly universal web experience as any site.

Universality

So, are you on the biggest social media site on the planet? About 2.93 billion monthly active users are, as of 2022. But, wait, not so fast. Is that number truly accurate? Absolutely not. After all (and for different reasons), my husband and I each have more than one account. Do you? Even if you don’t, I bet you’ve got at least one friend who does, and probably lots more.

And that is perfectly all right, and is absolutely permitted by the site (although they’d like to change that). And they are trying to….

Real Names

Facebook also pushes for users to go with their correct names. Why? Because if you can hide behind a username, you might flame people more than if you can’t. Real names also (in theory) help to eliminate duplicates. But in all honesty, how many guys named Mike Brown do you know? I can think of two I’ve known in my life and that figure is probably more like four or five.

Even middle names might not fix such a duplication issue. There are probably several men with the name of Michael David Brown in the world.

Also, though, another use for real names is better marketing. If you Anglicize your name, then an advertiser might miss that you’re Hispanic, and incorrectly market to you.

Not So Fast On Those Real Names

We have all seen names which are not quite so perfectly right, though. How many of us have seen married women using a middle name of something like Was(whatever their maiden name was)? Hence Susan Davis might call herself Susan WasSmith Davis. It’s not a perfect solution, and you don’t really have to do that, anyway. Still, there are plenty of people who do.

Others might place a nickname within the middle name field. Robert Bob Brady, or Richard Dick Daily. But again, they might not have to. The more common nicknames are already going to come up in a search, even though, in both of these examples, the nickname starts with a letter different from the full name.

Still others may try to use stage names, but Facebook would rather you just created a fan page or had someone do so for you. This is not just to nicely help you keep your personal and professional lives separate. It’s also to market to your fan base better.

No Real Name, No, I Mean it, Facebook!

Then there are people who have damned good reasons for never using their real names, such as people escaping domestic violence. Facebook has gotten better and more sensitive when it comes to such needs.

Why Facebook?

The site’s main purpose (in case you’re just coming into the light after a few years on a desert island), is to sell advertising. Its offshoot purpose is to connect people, of all stripes, for free. But it’s those connections which sell the advertising.

There’s a lot else to it, at least on a general basis. But it’s still a valuable business tool for any Social Media Marketing Campaign.

But never forget: you’re the product that Facebook is selling.

The Best Parts of the Site for Social Media Marketing

Facebook’s main virtues, when it comes to your business, can currently be divided into three basic areas:

Personal pages and peripheral connections to same
Company pages and groups and peripheral connections thereto, and,
Offsite connections back to the site

By “peripherals”, I mean all the extra stuff that goes along with the site experience, and not computer hardware peripherals.

The Concept of Universalish Reach at Facebook

Beyond just the sheer numbers, Facebook is extremely good at putting people together who are similar. You always get friend suggestions, yes? Those people tend to either have friends in common with you, or they have some other characteristic in common with you. That ‘in common’ bit might be home town. Or it might be favorite sports team. Another possible connection could be where you work.

Now, let’s face it: if you work in a huge Fortune 50 company, then you’ll have tons of coworkers. And the chances are beyond good that you won’t know everyone. You may not even know everyone in your office building or even on your floor.

So sometimes when a friend request arises, it may feel like a mystery. Hence – look for a commonality.

Clutches of People

But let’s get back to the people you do connect with. It’s perfectly natural to hang out with the people you went to high school with, or who love the same sports team you do. You might feel more comfortable with fellow cancer survivors. Or you might want to set up a political echo chamber. Another thing you might want to do is spend time with people in the same profession as you.

But no matter what, we people tend to group together. It’s a natural tendency. We’ve been gathering together since before there was a Homo sapiens species.

Facebook just exploits that. Really, really well.

And if antitrust cases go one way, they might not in the future. But we don’t know that yet.

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… And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page, Part II

… And Facebook for All – Your Profile Page, Part II

A Space for Your Profile Picture

Mutual Friends

A Small Subgroup of Friends

Your Likes

Photos on Your Profile Page

Your Links can go on Your Profile Page

A Share Button

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… And Facebook for All – Offsite Sharing

… And Facebook for All — Offsite Sharing

The Like Button and Offsite Sharing

Drag and Drop

Engagement and Reach

Thumb on the Scale?

Offsite Sharing: The Upshot

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