{"id":2818,"date":"2009-05-05T02:05:31","date_gmt":"2009-05-05T07:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=2818"},"modified":"2009-05-05T02:05:31","modified_gmt":"2009-05-05T07:05:31","slug":"managing-incoming-information-what-is-facebook-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/managing-incoming-information-what-is-facebook-for\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing Incoming Information; What Is Facebook For?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, May 5, 2009.\u00a0 I have a friend who recently joined Facebook and she’s not sure exactly how it works.\u00a0 Why do all these people want to be my friends? <\/em>It’s just a networking gambit, so if you’re on there to network and bring attention to your website, just accept new friends.\u00a0 What if they only have stupid things to say.\u00a0 I don’t want to read all that from everyone.<\/em> Just use the “hide” feature to hide them from your news feed.\u00a0 I have 743 “friends” yet less than a dozen on my news feed.\u00a0 On my news feed, I have a handful of friends I actually know and rarely get to see in person.\u00a0 I use Facebook to stay in touch with them, and I like hearing about the goofy things they do throughout their day.\u00a0 I like hearing what they think about what they do and what they think about what they see around them.\u00a0 I like knowing what Aimee from childhood is having for lunch and what she does at work.\u00a0 It gives me a glimpse of their real lives, lives that I don’t\u00a0 otherwise have time to keep track of.<\/p>\n

Not everyone uses Facebook the same way.\u00a0 I use it as a purely social tool.\u00a0 A lot of business owners and other professionals I know use it the same way.\u00a0 Many of my media friends, publicists, etc. all use it purely for socializing.\u00a0 Now Facebook may be where they make all sorts of good professional connections, but they will check each other’s websites as listed in their Facebook profile.\u00a0 They will email the person directly, not though Facebook, if they are interested in doing business with them.<\/p>\n

Then there are those new entrepreneurs who have been told by high pressure types that Facebook is a great place to solicit and market themselves.\u00a0 Their posts are always promotional.\u00a0 Some of them use a lot of ALL CAPS and exclamation points!!\u00a0 They give you no glimpse of who they really are.\u00a0 Even a couple of my “real” friends do that.\u00a0 And not all the time.\u00a0 But enough that I hide them from my news feed.\u00a0 Oh, I can read them anytime I want by going to their wall or “checking hidden posts” at the bottom of the Facebook home page.\u00a0 And maybe I miss some interesting posts.\u00a0 But I simply don’t want to be solicited when I go to Facebook, so I keep them hidden.<\/p>\n

For me, Facebook is a break in the work day.\u00a0 I understand I am not in a typical business and I have a lot of advantages.\u00a0 As a publisher, it’s my job to find interesting, illuminating writers to turn other people onto via Horizons Magazin<\/a>e.\u00a0 So I already combine what I love to do with being a workaholic and it works out well.\u00a0 So for a break, even for a few moments, I go to Facebook and see what the local gang is up to.\u00a0 And I don’t want to read what everyone is promoting.<\/p>\n

So who’s right and who’s wrong?\u00a0 It’s not a question of what’s right and wrong.\u00a0 It’s the same as sitting with a group of friends in the library or in church.\u00a0 Some of them know how to behave in the place and some don’t.\u00a0 We’re lucky that, in life as in Facebook, we have the choice to hide from our news feed anything we don’t want to be exposed to.<\/p>\n

We can choose to keep our attention on what we prefer and what we like, and simply “hide” info we don’t care about.\u00a0 Hide? <\/em>I hear you saying.\u00a0 You can’t hide from reality.<\/em> That’s not what I’m talking about.\u00a0 I’m talking about, as Abraham-Hicks says, being a selective sifter of the input you accept into your conscious awareness.\u00a0 I don’t have to change the behavior of anyone around me.\u00a0 I don’t need to quiet the screaming meamie on the corner.\u00a0 That’s not my job.\u00a0 No one is asking me to do it.\u00a0\u00a0 I can just choose to focus on other things.<\/p>\n

Let the screaming meamies have their say.\u00a0 Just hide them from your news feed.<\/p>\n

That leaves lots more room for useful input.<\/p>\n

I’m just discovering Facebook<\/a>
\n<\/a>Facebook quizzes; every little bit of insight helps<\/a>
\nFacebook posts; I\u2019m in charge of what I attract <\/a>
\nFacebook friends to the rescue, helping me Excel<\/a>
\nIf a Friend Asks For $$ In Facebook, Ask A Personal Question<\/a>
\nYou Want To Be My Friend On Facebook?<\/a>
\nHow To Stop The Stupid Facebook Posts On Your Wall <\/a>
\nThe Zen of Farmville on Facebook? WTF? <\/a>
\nAre Your Facebook Friends Really Your Friends? Don\u2019t Assume Mine Are Either
\n<\/a>What I post on Facebook<\/a>
\nFinding childhood buds on Facebook, flashback to age 18<\/a>
\nPutting personal details on Facebook and Myspace<\/a>
\nIs it ok to break up with someone over Facebook?
\n<\/a>Why I like Facebook<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

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