Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll know that Facebook has recently introduced some sweeping changes (with more game-changing things on their way).
I’ve seen a number of my friends post this – a meme, I guess.
I’m struggling with the idea that people are that paranoid about their comments.
Facebook is a social network. Therefore it’s social and, well, a network. Both words indicate you might be meeting people and talking to them. Why would you want to hide your comments?
Honestly the first place my head goes is: what are you ashamed of? What are you hiding?
I can tell you that the friends of mine who’ve posted this to Facebook have nothing to be ashamed of. Which leads me to believe this is a comfort issue – I get asked a lot about privacy when I do speaking presentations so I’m not surprised.
Again, for me, it comes back to the idea that if you aren’t comfortable with people seeing your online activity you shouldn’t be online.
Or you need to get over it.
Nothing you do or say in a social network like Facebook can every truly be concealed.
If you really have a problem with friends of friends seeing your comments and likes ask yourself these things:
1) Am I being offensive?
2) Why do I have social network account(s)?
3) What could be the worse thing to happen to me?
If you’re posting anything which you really think might be offensive or controversial, take it to a Facebook message if you’re unsure. Don’t respond in the comment thread.
I understand that my friends don’t want to feel that Facebook has deceived them in some way by making their comments and likes more public than they thought they would be but there’s no reason for the paranoia.
This is the age of the internet where data is transferred in the blink of an eye.
I think it’s a bit late for for this kind of paranoia.
If you haven’t, you should. It’s a powerful (and somewhat controversial) film about the rise of Facebook and its creator Mark Zuckerberg. Oh, and it happens to have eight Oscar nominations.
Ok. I realise that there are lots of people who are not on Facebook and don’t care to be.
For those of us who live a lot of our lives online, Facebook has become de rigueur.
This post by Brian Solis really brought home to me how integrated Facebook has become with our online lives. Where it was once Google that we referenced, it is now Facebook.
It’s eye-opening to have such a shift laid out on your screen.
I strongly encourage you to read Brian’s post. For those of you not familar with Brian – he’s globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. He’s a bit of a demi-God in other words.
As a social media gal it’s only natural that I would be interested in the people behind some of the world’s largest online businesses.
Like Facebook, for example.
Later this year – if you didn’t already know – a feature film called The Social Network will be released and this is it’s official trailer which hit the internet yesterday.
It’s a brilliantly dramatic trailer and I’m super excited to see the film.
The year was 2003. Computer programming wizard Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) was a Harvard undergrad when he laid the foundation for a social networking website that would revolutionize the way we communicate.
Six years later the ambitious entrepreneur made his first million – but that was just the beginning. Despite all of Zuckerberg’s wealth and success, his personal life began to suffer as he became marred in legal disputes, and discovered that many of the 500 million people he had friended during his rise to the top were eager to see him fall.
Justin Timberlake co-stars as Napster co-creator Sean Parker, with Andrew Garfield filling the role of ousted Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich.
He’s a super talented Canadian photographer who I’ve know for a few years now. I’ve always admired his craft but was totally impressed when a message about ‘Foto Friday’ landed in my inbox a while back.
Ian decided to host Facebook Foto Friday. He would essentially be giving away a photo to anyone that turned up at his studio on the given date.
The catch?
The photo had to be used on all social networks.
Genius!
Of course I turned up with my husband and – obviously – I asked Ian to write about the whole thing. Why? Because Ian runs one of the first Winnipeg businesses I’ve seen using social media to effectively market his business. More than that. Ian absolutely embraced and understood the value in doing this. Golden rule of marketing: give before you take.
For years before any of this social media stuff – before the internet even – I’ve enjoyed gifting my work, usually to clients.
Clients who have kids get free baby portraits, for example. Or if clients wanted to enter their own design work in competitions, I’d shoot it for them. With the move to digital, it’s been even easier to gift my work.
Since Facebook, it’s been great to watch people respond to my work.
Whenever a portrait I’ve done is used on profile shots, people ask “who did this?” Clients who stand in for me while I set up the lighting, before the impatient CEO arrives, ask for the shot to be sent to them only for it to appear the next day as their profile shot!
Meanwhile a good portion of my 700+ friends on Facebook continue to use the worst photos imaginable as their profile shots.
Rather than waste time on creating a “fan” page for my work, I wanted to find a way for people to value my friendship on Facebook. Some of those friends were mere connections I had yet to meet face to face.
What better way than to give them amazing looking profile shots?
So an invite to the first “Facebook Foto Friday” event was sent. This is what I wrote:
My first ever Facebook Foto Friday
What is it? It’s a opportunity for you to get a new Facebook profile photo. For Free. It’s only open to my Facebook friends as of now.
Why? I dunno, thought it would be a fun opportunity to meet with some friends, and ensure everyone looks good on Facebook.
Whats the catch? Simple stuff, really: - Only use the image for profiles on social networks, Facebook, Twitter,Flickr, etc. - Please don’t crop out my logo, and a credit would be nice.
How’s it gonna go down? Drop by the studio between the times listed. Feel free to bring a few different changes of clothing or props. Please no guests, animals, children,etc. Keep it simple! We’ll take a few snaps, and one image will be selected and sent to you big enough to use as your profile image.
What if I want more than one? Hmmm, well we’ll have to talk about that if that’s the case.
What if I can’t make it? Don’t worry, I might do this again, if it turns out to be fun!
I have no idea why, but I cringed when I sent the invite. I felt nervous and scared to do this.
To give away what you do, the basis of your business for free, in any form is a scary thing. This was new territory for me and I had no clue what would happen.
Would all 700 friends show up? Would no one show up?
Fortunately right away my fears were dashed with the overwhelming response.
People seemed impressed that I felt strongly about their profile images that I would do it for free. Even people who weren’t able to make it still expressed their gratitude. The power in the gift doesn’t even rely on anyone taking you up on the offer. Over the next few weeks I reminded people with my status updates of the event. People who weren’t my friends on Facebook, but were on Twitter were asking if they could come anyway.
The day of the event, we had approximately 40 people show up.
It became not only a photo shoot but a networking event. Rather than mingle in the waiting area as I intended, everyone hung out in the studio to encourage each other, egg each on, and enjoy the antics.
Some people brought props, some sat for a photo when they hadn’t planned on it, some just hung out and chatted. Jamie and Lisanne of BlinkWorks shot a behind the scenes video which in turn, had people interested in their business.
For me the real pay off was watching the reactions and all over Facebook as everyone changed their profile pictures. For the last few days, the comments have been constant, the new friends adds about three to four a day, and the amount of goodwill generated is priceless. I will probably do another one down the road, Twitter Tuesday anyone?
Ian McCausland is a commercial photographer in Winnipeg Manitoba. He’s embraced the social aspect of the internet since 1992, before the web! (Check his URL. This man bought up the ian.ca domain before folks even knew what domains were). Find Ian on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
In the past two weeks I happened to mention to my husband and another friend that they can hide the activity of their Facebook friends who constantly play Farmville and Mafia Wars.
It occurred to me that others would probably want to know how to hide the game updates too.
I’m not talking about hiding the friend from the Facebook stream entirely.
Facebook was kind enough to give us the ability to hide the gaming activity.
You can try it now. Go to Facebook and look through your news stream for those irritating non-sensical updates.
Hover your mouse over the update until you see ‘Hide’ pop up on the right. Click it and you’ll be given the option of hiding Mafia Wars, Farmville or whatever the annoyance is. Or you can hide that friend entirely.
I'm Liz Hover - a Brit gal in Canada; pet blogger; and the digital media manager for a Canadian film & TV training institute. This is my personal blog. I write about the social web ... and I might occasionally mention my dog. [Read more ...]
My dog's blog received three nominations and won third place for 'Best Design' in the Canadian Weblog Awards 2010. The website I produce for my employer has been awarded an Honourable Mention in the PRNews’ Nonprofit Awards.
