Facebook Personal vs Business

I am very aware of many social networks but Facebook is the largest.

I have been on Facebook for nearly six years, through many changes in its layout. I have 175 facebook friends and yes, I know each and every one. The average number for a relatively active user is 150.

What do I personally post on facebook? Next to nothing!

First, there are privacy concerns, I never give my actual birth date to any social network or forum but that is just my way of minimizing identity theft issues that could occur.

Second, I don’t use Facebook to play games. I have in the past, until they became tedious, with constant pressure to involve other Facebook friends in the game.

Third, over time I have cultivated a place that brings me humor and information about events, things I find interesting, and updates from people I care about. It is a superficial world where I have to remind myself that my Facebook friends also don’t post everything. I have some friends who talk politics, friends who still play games, family and friends in distant places, and locals who share what they enjoying doing.

I have enabled very few websites to post on my behalf, because I am concerned about my privacy. If you allow it, some sites post each time you rate an article on their site. In many ways I limit what is posted on Facebook so I won’t offend or provoke arguments between my friends.

On the business side:

I post occasionally and manage several Business pages. I share links to content that is unique, has changed or will soon be available.

Also I am still not a fan of many business pages because I don’t want advertising mixed in with updates from my friends. I recently created a Public Figure page for myself to keep track of many of the local business Facebook pages. This will allow me to keep the business information separate from the updates from my friends.

I think time will show that businesses that depend on a facebook page for the entire or majority of their marketing will be disappointed and not reach a deep, diverse audience. The traditional mediums of radio, internet and print will continue to reach the masses, especially when they provide content not obtainable anywhere else. Content like local news, weather, school closing, fires etc. Remember, word of mouth advertising on social sites is hard to manage and takes time, skill and tact to handle with out damaging your business reputation.

myMotherLode posted an informal poll asking about Facebook fatigue. Fifty-one percent said they don’t use Facebook, 20 percent are tired of it. This leaves 27 percent who use it and are fine with it. For the related news story and comments, read "Mother Lode Facebook Use."