What’s this About Giving Your LinkedIn Profile A Facelift?
Dahling, you need a facelift! This post is a riff on an old article from Social Media Today: 6 Tips for giving your LinkedIn profile a facelift.
I liked this article and recognize that it was designed to be a straightforward beginner’s set of tips, but there is more that could be done. There usually is.
Use a Profile Photograph
I absolutely agree. I realize there are people who are shy or who feel that they don’t photograph well. But the truth is, most of us on LinkedIn don’t care.
Unless you are looking for a modeling or an acting gig, your appearance does not and should not matter. That is, so long as you are neat and presentable, and are in business attire. Head shots and images up to about the middle of your chest are best. You don’t need a full-length body shot.
I also think that keeping a picture off your profile because you don’t want to reveal your race, gender or age is somewhat wrongheaded. After all, what are you going to do if you actually get an interview with a company (and not necessarily directly through LinkedIn)?
Send a proxy in your stead, a la Cyrano de Bergerac? That’s kinda silly, dontcha think?
As for me, people online are going to figure out that I am female, they will get a pretty good handle on my age and my religion and if they look a bit, they’ll even see pictures of me when I weighed nearly 350 pounds. And I embrace those things and don’t try to hide them. Your ideas may differ, but I don’t, personally, see the value in hiding such things.
And if an employer is going to pass me by because I’m no longer 21, or not Asian, or too short or whatever, then I don’t want to work for that employer, anyway. And… that’s probably illegal, anyway.
Use a Vanity URL
On LinkedIn, you can get them to make you a specific URL for your profile, rather than just accept the computer-generated one. Not surprisingly, I think this is a great idea. This happens to be mine. You can get a bit of an SEO bounce if you use a vanity URL. It is easy and it is free, and it is considerably more memorable.
Plus, if you wish, it’s a good thing to put on a business card or a resume, or even into a signature line in email.
For a Facelift, Use a Headline
Personally, I find these weird, but that may be just me. For me, just my job title seems to be fine, as it evokes (currently) not only what I do but the industry I am in right now. I’ve always, personally, found that titles like Terrific Social Media Manager or Experienced Fry Cook just seem odd. But that may be me.
Try it—but I’d recommend doing so as a more or less controlled experiment. If it’s not working after, say, six months, I recommend rethinking it.
Update Your Email Settings
If you’re open to receiving job openings, make sure that your profile says so. And if not, make sure you say that instead. People won’t necessarily follow your requirements in this area, but some will. And it can serve as an indirect means of indicating you might be interested in making a move if the timing and the circumstances were right.
Make Your Profile Public
Personally, I think that the only time your profile should be private is in the first five seconds after you’ve created it. Then again, I have had an online persona since 1997, and find it easy to share a lot of things.
Of course not everyone feels this way, but it seems to be kind of useless to have a LinkedIn profile if you don’t want to share it with anyone. Networking, which is what LinkedIn is all about, is, in part, about going outside your comfort zone and meeting new people. This is not like Facebook where, potentially, the pictures of you drinking in 1963 could come back to haunt you.
This is a gathering of professionals. Any employer upset if you have an online presence on LinkedIn is not only not with the times. They are being thoroughly unrealistic. Employees look for better opportunities all the time. Wise employers recognize and accept that. Denying someone access to LinkedIn, or being upset by an employee’s presence therein, is misplaced.
So go out there and fix your profile! And give it a facelift!
Want More About the Conquest of LinkedIn?
If my experiences with LinkedIn resonate with you, then check out my other articles about the largest networking site on the planet.
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 will not 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 am 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 my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about the largest social network on the planet, by far.
Meeting Offline. Oh. My. God. You want me to do what?!??!
Go offline. Yes, I really and truly want you to do this. I want you to go out and meet real-live, honest to goodness human beings. You know, members of your own species.
But, but, but, I hear you saying, why am I on on online networking site in the first place? Isn’t it to build a network online?
Well, sure it is. But nowhere in there is the word only living. Online, yes. But not exclusively there.
Not by a long shot.
Traditional vs. New-Style Networking
Traditional networking involves fairly formalized, ritualized meetings between job seekers and employees of companies where the job seekers wish to work.
Here’s the drill: the job seeker gets an introduction via a friend, or a friend of a friend, and goes to the contact’s office. The job seeker brings his or her resume and the two of them chat, maybe for a half an hour or so.
And the job seeker leaves the resume and, if he or she is good at follow up, sends a nice thank-you note. The contact may or may not respond, promising to get in touch if something comes up, or if the contact thinks of someone else for the job seeker to talk to.
And the cycle either continues, or it dies on the vine. And so it goes.
LinkedIn Changes That
With LinkedIn, the drill differs. Here is what I found to be helpful. Your mileage may vary, or you may come up with something else. So, instead,
1. You find a person you want to meet. They may be in your industry, or an industry you want to get into. Or they are in a company where you think you’d like to work. Make sure they are close enough to you that getting together is feasible.
2. And you ask them to link to you.
3. You do this with about 19 other people – this is a numbers game, and not everyone will say yes. My experience has been, out of over 200 of these, only one person has flat out said no.
However, over half either ignored my link request or just never got around to it.
I have even met some of these people under other circumstances – it’s often not hostility that keeps them from linking to me, it’s that they are busy and processing far too much information at any given one time.
So, give yourself better odds. Mine have been about 45% have said yes to the link request.
More
4. Someone says yes. Great! Send them a note, saying something like,
Thank you for linking with me. Would it be possible to meet briefly for coffee? I am interested in going into ___/working at ___ company/working as a ____ and can see that you have done that, and I hope that you have a few tips you can share. Thanks!
5. Repeat this with anyone else who’s agreed to link with you, pursuant to your initial request. My experience has been that, out of the people who linked to me, I contacted about 55% of them to ask them to coffee.
For the others, I realized they were either too geographically remote or they let me know they could link but were busy, e. g. they were new parents.
And then, out of that group, about 25% of those actually got as far as scheduled meetings. Hence my success rate was that I met with about 6% of the people I initially wrote to.
6. So block off an hour or two, but tell your guest that you only want 20 minutes of their time. Hence that way, if the meeting goes over, you’re covered.
Yet More!
7. Don’t bring your resume! Instead, bring either a laptop or your smartphone or a pen and paper. And bring a paper list of companies you’re targeting. Because if the conversation flags, you can always ask your guest what he or she thinks of those companies, or if your guest knows anyone at any of them.
8. Furthermore, have your guest select the date, time and place. In addition, give a couple of choices of dates or places for meeting offline, if your guest is having trouble deciding and
9. Offer to pay for coffee. Even if you’ve been out of work for a long time, most people are sensitive enough, and realize you’re probably watching your funds. However, you must ask.
Meeting Offline Specifics
As for the meeting itself, make it whatever you want it to be. And if the conversation flags, remember it’s only 20 minutes out of your life.
So you can always claim a prior appointment. However, if the conversation goes well, be sensitive to your guest’s time – just ask – do you need to go? And then just follow their lead.
So follow up with a thank-you email, and send a note every few months or so, to maintain the connection. Just send along an article or blog post that you think that your guest might enjoy.
And it is also a courtesy – although not strictly necessary – to follow them on X and/or read and comment on their blog, if any.
So will it work? It can. I did not meet with a lot of people in terms of percentages. However, the people I met with gave me very good information, and introduced me to others (or informed me of upcoming events) which helped me out even more.
And it also was incredibly helpful to me in my work, as I had a good, strong network to draw on when we had events and needed to fill a room.
This kind of activity will certainly get you out and about, and give you exposure to people in your current or future field. Finally, meeting offline counts as making a job contact for virtually any Department of Unemployment.
There, now, meeting offline wasn’t so bad, was it?
Want More About the Conquest of LinkedIn?
If my experiences with LinkedIn resonate with you, then check out my other articles about the largest networking site on the planet.
In addition, in the original article, the author talks about, essentially, how to tell whether a Twitter feed is being handled professionally, or not. Hence following are their “5 Points to consider before hiring a service to manage your Twitter account.”
Professionalism: Check Their Twitter Stream
1. First of all, before you even look at the different tools for measuring a Twitter user’s level of influence (which can be misleading and in some cases manipulated) you firstly need to check the individual’s own Twitter stream.
† What type of language do they use? – agreed. Because branding involves, among other things, speaking the language of your customers.
Are you a hip hop record label? A travel agency catering to retirees? A diamond jeweler? All of these businesses have different customer demographics.
Hence there is no “one size fits all” here. However, this does not mean people cannot adapt to communicate properly with everyone they do business with. After all, you need not hire a child to market to children.
But the Social Media Specialist needs to get the message across so that the target readership is receptive.
Lazy Tweets
• Do they spam their own followers by sending lazy Tweets for example? #FF @Tweeter1 @Tweeter2 etc. – I’m not so sure I call this spamming. I think, at times, it’s useful to do this.
But overdoing it (and you’ll know it’s overkill if tweets (I still call them tweets. Don’t you?) like this, or quickie retweets, dominate the stream) is definitely not a good way to do business.
† How do they use their own account? Is it professional or sloppy? Do they Tweet late into the night and have no professional boundaries. Do they over mix professional with personal Tweets. – agreed. And with useful tools such as HootSuite, you can schedule tweets.
There’s no excuse for late night tweeting, and no need for it. If the stream is meant to engage internationally, it might be a good idea to split it up into more than one account, so that one stream is for North America and another for Asia.
Messaging
• Are their own Tweets all over the place so you are not able to pick up a clear message. – this is a good point, and not just when it comes to Twitter. A clear message is key – for a robotics company where I worked, the message centered around sales.
Messages promoted education and/or robots. NASA, for example, was only mentioned in the context of robotics, not in the context of space launches. There’s a lot of information out there.
Consider it to be a bit like a garden – usually it needs weeding and thinning, as opposed to fertilizing.
† Furthermore, do they acknowledge where they take their material from or just duplicate what they see their competitors do? – ah, this is big. It’s why the original source for this article is listed. And it is a big part of how the ‘net works, or at least is supposed to.
You post a blog entry. A competitor sees it. If they riff on it and post it and give you a link back, then that’s good for you. And you thank them and do the same in reverse and yeah, they’re still a competitor. But you’ve got common ground and in some areas you can cooperate.
Or they don’t acknowledge you. And everybody digs their heels in and the world becomes a slightly more miserable place. Hey, you make the call, but I prefer cooperation pretty much every time, myself.
Too Much Self-Promotion?
• Do their Tweets make any sense to you or are they just full of self promotion they hold no real value other than grooming their own ego. – true, but I think sometimes this can come from Social Media marketing folk not being properly trained.
If the marketing manager is unsure of how much promotion should be mixed in with information, the marketer might be similarly confused.
† How much negativity comes across in their stream – not everything is or should be positive, but I do get this. The idea is, well, are you promoting to people who want to buy your company’s organic brownie mix, or do you just sound petulant and whiny?
However, you can sometimes be too perky. But I think if there are errors in this area, they should probably fall on the side of more, rather than less, perk.
Professionalism: Which Business Accounts Do They Manage?
2. Ask for the name of one of the business accounts they manage, and go through this with a fine tooth comb. Keep an active eye on the account and monitor how they manage the business’ online profile.
• How many tweets are there and what type do they send? – it’s a quantity and a quality game on X. You need to get across some seven views before people start to consider buying. And consider X’s international, 24/7 appeal – people may be checking your messaging out at 4 AM your time.
This, by the way, goes against an earlier statement about the marketer not tweeting into the wee hours. No, they shouldn’t – but unfortunately, sometimes, that’s when the readers are online.
After all, if you’re tweeting for people playing World of Warcraft, they’ll be on at 4 AM. As for quality, that goes along with the above statements as well – are the tweets worthwhile, or are they dull self-promotion?
Engagement
† How do they engage with the client’s audience? – some of this is in the form of retweeting. Retweeting and replying have a place, as it is a give and take type of engagement. Is there professionalism behind the engagement?
• And how is the call-to-action placed and worded? – this is fairly self-explanatory. There is a difference between what looks like a hard sell, and what has more of a friendly “Hey, check this out” vibe.
Does the marketer know the difference? And is the difference readily apparent in tweets?
† In addition, do the articles relate to the client’s industry and audience? – this harkens back to my NASA example above. Content is necessary, of course, but irrelevant content is worse than no content at all.
Because it’s better that the marketer pump out less content if it’s not relevant, yes?
• Do they add any value? – the $64,000 question! Can you tell without having access to measurement tools?
Professionalism: References
3. sk for a number of references and call them. This, of course, is excellent advice any time you are hiring.
† How has the business level of influence grown? For sure if they cannot achieve this for themselves, then they can’t do it for the client. – try objective measurements if you can get them, like Google rankings, bounce rate, etc.
• What have been the benefits? – only your industry will have the specifics for this. Increased sales may or may not be the actual benefit.
After all, sometimes social media is used for damage control. If that can happen more efficiently and inexpensively – that might be the benefit.
† What difference has it made to your online brand? – again, this is a specific question.
• How good is the level of communication? – hard to say what this means without context. After all, the car dealer and the online cancer support group will have different needs in this area.
† What results has the business seen? – again, objective measurements are best, whatever you can get.
Professionalism: Metrics
4. Ask what X measuring tools they use to provide their clients with monthly reports. Do they use anything else to measure how things are working (or not)?
• While there are some good free tools around they do not come close to paid analytical tools for managing X and other social media accounts. – agreed, but sometimes that’s how things go, particularly if the person you’re considering has worked for startups or nonprofits.
†Ask what recommendations they have made to the client that have enabled the business to grow based on the findings. – these should be in whatever reports the person under consideration provides.
Professionalism: Time
5. Finally, ask how much time they intend to spend on your account over the week.
• How will this time be managed with all their other projects?> – this is a good question for any sort of a freelance or offsite working relationship.
† What elements of account management does this breakdown in to? – again, this is not confined to social media; it’s a good question for any potential employee who’ll be working remotely, or not exclusively with you.
• How will they keep you informed and up to date with relevant tweets and conversations? – reports? Emails? Something on Slack or Teams? What is manageable and relevant?
Professionalism: My Own Ideas
And now a few of my own when it comes to professionalism.
† What do the tweets look like? Are they interesting? Relevant? Grammatically correct within the character limit? Or are they just slight variations on a theme?
• Do all provided links work, or do they go to dead ends? And do the links have any sort of measurement behind them, even simple click metrics? Do they lead to generic pages, or to any custom landing pages for X users? Can you get metrics and attribution from them?
† What’s the follow/follower ratio? Does the person follow everyone, or are they, at least seemingly, a bit choosy in this area? We all know that junk follower accounts exist – does the prospective hiree even follow those or seem to use auto-follow?
• So how often does the person tweet? Daily? Monthly? A monthly X stream is barely this side of useful. Tweets need not come every five seconds, but it is a fluid, evolving medium and needs more attention than that.
† And finally, and this is a question for the person (and you may not get an accurate answer, by the way), does the person under consideration actually like what he or she is doing?
Do they have a passion for it? Or is it, like, Time to make the doughnuts?
I’m not saying that we can (or should) always love what we do. But plenty of people love doing this. Why not hire someone who does?
Finally, you can get a passionate Social Media person, to handle your Twitter stream, do your blogging, manage your online community, promote your Facebook page and more. And they will do it with professionalism and aplomb.
We really do exist.
Want More About Twitter AKA X?
If my experiences with X resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about Twitter/X.
While it’s now got a new name, and has changed considerably, a lot of these tips will still work. And they will often work with other social media platforms as well.
Liberty, Justice (?), … And Facebook for All – Company Pages for Writers/Authors
Company pages have become spots you put together on Facebook to support a business (not the same as a fan page). These have gotten more corporate recently. For a writer, this is what you’re currently dealing with.
For other types of companies, you’ll need to open them up and do some experimenting.
Also, 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 for fans. Let’s start with the main tab.
Main Tab (Posts)
• Intro
† Page type (author, etc.)
• Location
† URL (which you can click on to promote your website, for a fee, of course!)
• Ratings, if any
† Photos
• Posts (under each post, there’s a button to boost that post)
About Tab
Now for the About tab.
† Contact and basic info
• Page transparency
† Details
• Categories
† Contact Info
• Websites and Social Links
† Basic Info
Within the About tab, there are subtabs. The main such tab includes followers in the first . section.
Followers Subsection
Followers has tabs for Followers, Following, Mutual Following, and Likes.
Photos Subsection
The next section is Photos and just includes tabs for Photos and Albums.
Videos Subsection
The only thing in this subsection is, unsurprisingly, videos.
Two More Subsections
These are just Groups and Likes.
Mentions Tab
This tab is just for whenever anyone has contacted or tagged you. Do yourself a favor, and look at it on occasion, as it can sometimes become a spam magnet.
Reviews Tab
This one only contains reviews, if any.
Followers Tab
This is really just another way to get to the aforementioned Followers subsection (under the About tab). Followers has tabs for Followers, Following, Mutual Following, and Likes.
Photos Tab
This is really just another way to get to the aforementioned Photos subsection (under the About tab). Photos just includes tabs for Photos and Albums.
More (with a down arrow)
Currently, this tab provides ways to get to:
• Videos (same as the aforementioned Videos subsection under the About tab)
† Live (live videos go here)
• Groups (same as the subsection under the About tab)
† Music
• Check-ins
† Sports
• Movies
† TV Shows
• Books
† Likes
• Reviews Given
Also, there’s…
There are also a Shop Now button (which you need to set up), a Like Button, and a Button to Message the page owner.
As you may imagine, things are different for the owner/admin. So, switch on over to that account (which I believe is made when you make the page), and let’s take a fresh look.
There’s a spot for Page Health, where Facebook will tell you if there’s anything glaring that you need to do. Just under that, you can invite friends to Like your page. Don’t go nuts with this! Too much of this form of self-promotion can actively harm your brand.
Also, you can edit the intro/bio or other details like URL. And, you can feature any of your photos, or upload something new and feature that. There’s room for more than one featured photo.
Posts
Over by your posts, there are options for a live video, a reel (you can just upload a preexisting one), and adding a photo or video. You can feature (pin) a post, too.
Under each post, you can click for insights. Click on it, and you’ll see views (followers vs non-followers), reach, interactions, link clicks, views, and interactions. Interactions include likes, reactions, shares, and saves.
† *
• *
Company Pages and Details
For every tab and section which a fan can see, there’s a way to edit it. In addition, you can adjust privacy settings for each such section.**
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 my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about the largest social network on the planet, by far.
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. Good luck!
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Want More About Facebook?
If my experiences with Facebook resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about the largest social network on the planet, by far.
I have been managing Able2know for over twenty years.
It is a generalized Q & A website and the members are all volunteers. I have learned a few things about handling yourself online during this time.
Chill the F*** Out
1. There are few emergencies online. Take your time. I have found, if I am in a hot hurry to respond, itching to answer, it usually means I am getting obsessive.
2. When it is really nutty, step away from the keyboard. I suppose this is a corollary to the first one. Furthermore, I pull back when it gets too crazy-making, or try to figure out what else may be bothering me, e. g. I have not worked out yet, something at home is annoying me, etc.
Being online, and being annoyed, does not equal that something online caused the annoyance.
Be Clear
3. All we have are words (emoticons do nearly nothing).I like to make my words count, and actually mean exactly, 100%, what I write, but not everyone hits that degree of precision in their communications. I have learned to cut about a 10% degree of slack.
4. Not everyone gets you. You might be hysterically funny in person, but bomb online, Netizen. Or you might feel you are a gifted writer, but you write to the wrong audience.
You may be hip for your crowd, but hopelessly out of it in another. This is not, really, a personal thing.
You can either waste your time trying to get everyone to love you or you can recognize that you did not convert one person and move on from there. Choose the latter; it will save your sanity every time.
Keep Chilling Out, Fellow Netizen
5. Be Zen. E. g. I have found the old, “oh, you go first” kind of thing smooths the way a lot. I am not saying to not have your say and let everyone else win all the time. It is just, ya kinda pick the hill you wanna die on, e. g. what is really important. Stick to those guns.
The others, not so much. E. g. getting into a shouting match and kicked off a site due to your hatred of the Designated Hitter Rule – even on a sports or baseball site – falls in the category of you are probably overreacting and being really, really silly.
I doubt that that is a hill most people would try want to die on. But defending your beliefs, fighting prejudice, etc.? Those are probably better hills.
Controversy, Shmontroversy
6. And the corollary to #5: controversial topics are controversial for a reason. They get under people’s skin and make them squirm. Be nice; do not do that all the time.
So try to engage people in other ways, Netizen. There are plenty of people on Able2know who argue a lot about politics. I am not a fan of arguing politics.
But we also get together and play Fantasy Baseball (talk about your Designated Hitter Rule). Or we swap recipes, or pet stories, or the like.
But then, when a forum member gets sick or becomes bereaved, people who just argued till they were blue in the face turn around. And they virtually hug and offer tributes, prayers (or positive, healing thoughts) and words of comfort.
And this user multidimensionality warms the heart. So, over the years, people have gotten better at it. If someone is really bothering you, it is possible that, in other contexts, you would get along. You might want to see if you can find some common ground, and other contexts.
Sing Along with Elsa and Let. It. Go.
7. Know when to stop, or even let others have the last word.
When I am really angry, I usually just withdraw. However, this is not a surrender. Instead, I am tired and life is too short.
You do not become a smaller, or less worthwhile person, and you have not lost (whatever that really means, particularly on the Internet, fer chrissakes) if you walk away and wash your hands of things. Netizen, you are entitled to call it quits on an argument or discussion.
Finally, I hope you learn from my insanity and my mistakes. Life is too short to let it get to you too much!
Here are some posts about my years in community management, and what I have learned.
Podcasting can get you to a wider audience. It’s a different medium from what you might be used to. And it offers practice and the opportunity to polish some skills that you, the writer, might not have realized you needed, such as thinking on your feet and being an interview subject.
Alas, I currently no longer podcast. But these tips don’t go out of style.
Getting Started with Podcasting
What do you need for podcasting? A computer and a good mic. Anything else? Well, only if you want to get fancy.
The good news is that you have most of this stuff already. In fact, you don’t even need everything that’s in the image.
Computers
It doesn’t seem to matter too much which type of computer you use. You really just need an Internet connection. You will need some speed, so dispense with dial up if you’re still using it (someone out there is, right?). I would, though, recommend using an actual computer as opposed to a phone for podcasting, as the resultant file is going to be huge.
Microphones
Many people think of a studio-style mic when they think of podcasting. But the truth is, you don’t need to get quite so fancy. My own microphone is part of a headset. It works just fine and most importantly, the mouthpiece is adjustable. You want adjustability because, inevitably, you’re going to sneeze or cough, or the phone will ring or whatever.
In fact, my headset is for gaming. So, it’s light and portable and the sound is clear. All of these are good things. Really good things.
Software
To be able to talk to your fellow podcasters on your show, or to your guests, you’ll need some software. Essentially what you are looking for is chat. My team and I liked to use TeamSpeak. I imagine you could do as well with Yahoo! or Facebook chat. Just make sure that whatever you are using is private. Oh, and turn any sound notifications off.
If you’re going to put your podcast on YouTube (I think this is generally a good idea), you’ll need software for that, too. I use software that came from my school, Screencast-o-matic. The school also used TechSmith Relay but I still prefer Screencast-o-matic (now called ScreenPal). Either way, you want software which allows you to record a fairly long video without interruption.
You may not think that you need any sort of visual art software, but I beg to differ. At minimum, your podcast needs a logo or at least a slide that you can slap onto the front of your YouTube video. Photoshop or Gimp is ideal, but Paint or even Microsoft PowerPoint can do in a pinch.
Hell, I would rather use Canva in all honesty. You can make a rather nice-looking logo with their free setup.
Image Permissions
If you are going to use an image that you didn’t make, check the license! I like to use Wikimedia Commons as a lot of their images have open licenses or they just require an attribution and nothing more. But remember – just because an image exists online and you can right-click and save it, does not mean that you have permission to use it!
When in doubt, use one of your own images. I like to use scenery images if I don’t have a logo. Scenery can even be something really tiny, such as one flower bud.
Whatever image you use, make sure it’s clear. Something that’s fairly recognizable at thumbnail size is ideal.
For sound editing, the beauty of TeamSpeak is that it allows for sound recording. But you will still need to trim something or other. I have Audacity though I admit I don’t use it for much (I didn’t do the sound editing for our podcast). But Audacity is otherwise useful.
Practice
You should practice before you try to go anywhere with podcasting. It doesn’t need to be long or involved. Just, get to know the software. For example, TeamSpeak allows for a push to talk feature. Use it! This will help a lot when you are recording, as you need to consciously press a button for any sound to come out. Practice using this until it’s second nature.
Use Audacity, and record yourself saying something simple and scripted. It can be a nursery rhyme or the like. You don’t want to be doing this for more than a minute or so.
The idea here is to listen to playback. Can you be understood? Are you too breathy? Does your accent push through a bit too much? Do you talk too fast? Every single one of these issues can be fixed, including the accent.
Fix Your Audio
Generally, you will need to slow down and enunciate. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun, but at least in the beginning you’ll want to talk more slowly, in particular if you have a thick accent.
If you’re too breathy-sounding, try bringing the mic farther away from your mouth. As for outside noises, you’ll need to close windows and doors, put pets outside, and turn off fans and space heaters. Set your phone on mute.
When you work with co-hosts, practice with them at least once. Remember to not talk over them and, if you’re laughing at their jokes, you need to make sure that even your laughter is being recorded.
Hosts and Guests
Consider your subject and your potential audience. On the G & T Show, we talked about Star Trek and Star Trek Online. This included the novels and cosplay. We would also branch out to talk about other gaming and other science fiction. Having this broad a topic but with its own limitations made it fairly easy to come up with show ideas.
As for guests, our hosts networked at conventions, in the STO game, and on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
A clear main subject is really a best practice, too, because it helps you define what you will and will not cover. And God does it ever help when you’re stumped for ideas.
Cohosts
A co-host is an extremely good idea, as otherwise you’re talking to yourself a lot. While you could carry a show by yourself, it’s a lot easier if you don’t have to. Three hosts tends to be a really good number, particularly if the third is not too active. You’ll quickly find your hosts unconsciously dividing into three groups:
1. The talker – this person won’t necessarily stay on topic all the time, but they can fill dead air.
2. The organizer – this person understands creating a theme and keeping the show on target. This person often remembers to thank the guests.
3. The utility infielder – this person can chime in and also cover if either of the first two cannot podcast. Along with the organizer, this person often performs research and gathers potential podcast material in advance.
And the truth is, you can be any of these people, and probably a different one, depending on the subject matter. And if you have only two people, then the utility infielder role will likely be split between the two of you.
Guests
As for guests, consider your circle, both online and off. You can podcast without guests, and you will most likely need to get a few shows under your belt before anyone will want to visit.
However, when you do get guests, the usual details apply, e. g. be polite, give them ample time to plug whatever they want to plug, and prepare questions for them in advance. If your guest writes, for example, you might want to talk about the themes in their book, where they get their inspiration, how long they’ve been writing, and how they first became published.
Think outside the box and consider guests a little removed from your basic subject. Hence if your subject is books and writing, why not have a cover artist on as a guest, or a professional editor? Maybe feature a literary agent or a representative from a publishing house.
Hell, when I did videos for school, I even talked to a copyright lawyer.
Podcasting Extras
At G & T we had a Streaming page and used a minicaster. This also included a hosted chat room – the show broadcasted live and the audience could listen and follow along in the chat room. This was not necessary, but it’s fun.
Blogging
We also blogged about the show, which meant that we took notes (in our case, the utility infielder did this).
The blog was a great place to get the URLs in that we may have talked about but our audience might not have gotten the first time we mentioned them. With the blog, we could just make clickable outbound links.
We also made sure that a player was embedded into the blog, so that a reader could listen to the show if they would prefer that.
This kind of bilateral cross-promotion, where the show supports the blog, and the blog supports the show, is a great strategy.
However, if I were doing it all again, I would seriously consider also adding a player embedded into a newsletter.
Podcasting and Distribution
We always uploaded our podcast to not only iTunes, but also MixCloud and YouTube. These spread our broadcast even further. We used a regular logo card as the image accompanying our YouTube videos.
For special interviews, we made different images, usually with our guest’s provided headshot.
To introduce new segments, we used bumpers. These are just short (less than half a minute long) introductions to various segments (e. g. Star Trek News).
Ours consisted of our utility infielder’s niece giving the title of the segment and then some introductory music that we had permission to use (always get permission or make sure that music is public domain!).
Bumpers help because they provide a smooth transition between segments and they can cover up any ragged transitions. We spliced these into the completed file.
Our announcer girl also recorded our intro and our credits portion (with music we could use), so we added these as a part of post-production. Again, these provided recognizable transitions for our audience.
Promotions and Podcasting
We promoted our show on social media, with mainly our YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. We also had Tumblr, and Pinterest accounts but use them less.
Our main promotions came from YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. We also promoted at conventions, including a table at Star Trek Las Vegas for a few years.
Why Not Podcasting?
So what are you waiting for? Why not give podcasting a try?
A Look at Online Personas and Cyber Infidelity—Oh My!
Cyber Infidelity? Yep, it sure exists.
Years ago, author Sophie Hannah did some research for a book she was writing. And so, she conducted a survey of Twitter, OKCupid and other sites, in conjunction with just plain out and out asking people – is online infidelity worse than in-person infidelity?
Results
Her results were mixed.
Some of the respondents saw less harm in a relationship where the parties never actually, physically, meet. Others saw it as being more or less the same as a physical affair, or at least an emotional one.
Hannah did this research for her book, The Telling Error. She says,
“The thing about Twitter is that everything is on there, so whatever you’re interested in is there.But it is capable of being incredibly nasty. I noticed that whenever somebody either does something wrong or offends somebody, Twitter will form a kind of aggressive, vindictive mob and start slagging off that person. Almost always, the punishment is worse than the crime.”
Cyber Infidelity: Some Takeaways
For bored and isolated people, social media can often serve as a godsend. Yet with worries such as this, spouses might do well to be cautious. Not necessary jealous, but at least to be wondering a bit, if someone spends seemingly forever online. It does not help that a lot of online behaviors encourage an almost addictive obsession. Because we crave the latest tweets.
We can’t wait to read the next gem from the Huffington Post, or take the latest meaningless quiz from Buzz Feed, or try to prank our friends with the most recent fake news from The Onion. And do not get me started on Candy Crush.
In fact, many of these algorithms and reward systems are designed for, you guessed it, keeping us on the edge of our seats and fully engaged.
Hence the opportunities are all too ample for vulnerable, lonely people to end up typing a little too much with someone else, and for it to turn into sexting and worse.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Making friends online is truly fun and, for a lot of people, the only thing that truly keeps them sane. Consider the shut-in, the 24/7 caregiver, or the spouse of someone on deployment. Or the person crippled by anxiety. They probably aren’t getting a lot of opportunities to talk to people within spitting distance of their age group.
And of course there are people who have a significant other who does not share their fandom. Or just plain bored people.
Every single one of these folks is vulnerable, in some way, to this kind of cheating.
Ever feel like you’re on an online treadmill? Well, you just might be falling victim to social media’s relentless pace.
Social Media Continues its Relentless Pace to Try to Make You Stay Put
It’s a relentless pace out there. And much like the holidays accelerate the end of the year, and we suddenly look up on January 7th or so and wonder exactly what the hell just happened, social media is continuing to not so much reap the whirlwind as to be the whirlwind. But at the same time, there’s an effort afoot to slow down and control the whirlwind.
Twitter’s Relentless Pace
Case in point: Twitter has implemented changes, over the course of its history, that are designed to keep people on as long as possible.
They do this by embedding media more directly and making it so that you don’t have to leave Twitter’s embrace in order to enjoy a clip or a photograph. Often, this means shortening a URL.
So far, so good. But shortened URLs can allow for more malware exploits. It’s like one step forward, a step back and another one to the side.
Facebook’s Relentless Pace
Facebook, yet again, looks to change its layout. In fact, it changes it every single day. They are the biggest A/B testing site on the planet, bar none! So, what’s changing? What isn’t?
The profile is going to become richer and provide more information. This may or may not be useful to users but it will certainly keep them on longer. At least, that will happen in the beginning, when it’s a novel concept.
As time has passed, we have all seen how Facebook has attempted to become more things to more people. Is that good? Well, it can be.
But it also means that people have to take it more seriously. Somewhat ridiculously rigid rules on verbiage force people into typing silly stuff like ‘unalive’.
LinkedIn’s Relentless Pace
Long ago, LinkedIn tried adding Signal to make it easier to track even more of the social media avalanche – and, of course, to try to keep people on LinkedIn as long as possible.
Currently, they are using status types of communications. Sounds a lot like Facebook, eh?
LinkedIn also pushes articles, and tries to get you to follow thought leadership. Not a bad idea over all. Except anyone can, conceivably, become a thought leader. Kinda. Just post enough, and get a big enough follow. This is not a bad gig if you can get it, but it can also be a dandy way to spread misinformation, sports fans.
The Common Thread
What these changes have had in common, other than, perhaps, novelty for the sake of novelty, is the desire to keep people on site as long as possible. Put some tar down, and have us all stick, at least for a while.
So while the internet spins ever faster, and social media sites attempt to keep up, their overall strategies seem to try to slow us all down. Will it work? Is it a foolish dream to think you can keep people around with such tricks, such slick bells and whistles?
The Lack of Meaningful Content
What disturbs me is that there’s not a lot of content happening. And it would, could, should make me want to hang around. Instead of hiring writers to improve things, or rewarding good current content providers, each of the big three sites is instead pursuing a software solution.
But what’s the sense in hanging around a site if the content isn’t compelling? Or are we, instead, merely getting the sites that we, perhaps, deserve?
Hence here’s what happens if my Facebook friends list is dominated by people I went to High School with over thirty years ago. Their status updates and my wall have a lot of news of their birthdays, their children (and grandchildren these days), and their careers. But isn’t that what we would expect?
And if I instead tip my list in a different direction, and it’s suddenly dominated by the people I work with or diet with or do artwork with, the news is going to be different.
In particular, politically, you can see very different versions of each site, depending on your bubble. After all, a lot of us prefer to see people we like and agree with. … and that’s how we get ideological bubbles.
Comparison to Reality TV
One thing about Reality TV is that it’s anything but real if it’s at all successful. Because people just, generally, don’t lead terribly interesting lives (yes, you too, gentle reader). We pick up the dry cleaning. Or we bicker over the remote. We forget to buy sausages and make do with hot dogs. And around and around and around we go.
And all three of these really big social media sites, when we are not following celebrities and businesses, are really just a big agglomeration of Post-It Notes whereby we tell each other to grab milk on the way home. For “Reality” to be compelling at all, it’s got to be unreal, and scripted. It must become this fight or that rose ceremony or this other weird pancake-making challenge.
The big three older social media sites, when you strip away the celebrities and the companies, can be a boatload of errands or a standard-form holiday letter. You know the kind, where you learn little Suzie has taken up the clarinet. Over and over ad infinitum.
No wonder we need software solutions to keep us there. The relentless pace continues.
Whither TikTok and the Rest?
TikTok shackles you to it by way of its algorithm (sound familiar)? Like one video and you get sucked into the next one, and the next, and then the next one after that. The videos are short, so it doesn’t feel like a relentless pace.
Until you look up and realize that four hours have gone by.
It’s a lot like eating a bag of potato chips. You stick your hand in, grab a few or a big handful, and go to town. It doesn’t feel like a lot, until suddenly the bag is empty and you’re thirsty from all the salt.
In the world of dieting, the conventional wisdom is to portion out your chips. Fill a smaller bag and put a clip on the bigger one, and stick it back in the cabinet. In short, have some discipline and a smidgen of self-control.
With TikTok or anything else, unless we put a timer on our sessions or have external pressures getting us off the virtual hamster wheel, our lives pass us by as we succumb to the relentless pace.
Dang, I am a ray of sunshine sometimes, eh?
Want More About Social Media?
If my experiences with non-platform-specific social media resonate with you, then check out my other articles about navigating our social media obsessed world.
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