Social Networks

[Paul Lee]

Social networks are the fashion today. Will some of you that use Facebook, twitter or Linkedin let us know how they are working for you? Maybe a few pros and cons. Has it helped your business or become a burden to keep up with?

[David G Baker]

I am on Facebook but don't use it for business, I use it to stay in touch with friends and family. I have found people that I had lost touch with years ago and now communicate with almost on a daily basis. So far I have found that Facebook is the best for me. I check Facebook several times a day to see if any thing has happened that I want to comment on or am interested in. It is much less time consuming than a phone call.

[Jim Becker]

I participate in Facebook for personal communication with friends and family. I don't use it for business, although I use it keep track of a number of businesses and firms that I "like" in a convenient way. Even my 80 year old dad is on Facebook as are his living siblings. Our extended family isn't 'close' so Facebook is starting to help us get closer, at least from an information sharing perspective. The one thing that anyone using Facebook and other social networking systems have to do is be sure that they have their privacy settings nailed down to their preferences and constantly monitor them as things change...which they do from time to time.

I also use LinkedIn for business networking; not as much as many folks, but it does help me stay in touch with what folks I know in my industry are up to.

[Bryan Morgan]

Social networks are the fashion today. Will some of you that use Facebook, twitter or Linkedin let us know how they are working for you? Maybe a few pros and cons. Has it helped your business or become a burden to keep up with?

I had one for a couple months to "keep in touch" with friends and family. What a collosal waste of time. I canceled my account. I just don't have the time or inclination to post my life story online. Plus, its nobodies business. If I need to tell somebody something I'll send them an email and be done with it. I keep a nonsense twitter account to check what NASCAR drivers say after a big wreck.

We used facebook and twitter for our business for a few months but the reality is, the type of people that use these services are not the type of people that would use my companies services. If some bimbo came in speaking the way kids do on there "like, OMG!, I totally need this architect to go over my pad for my BFF yo dog!" they'd be shown the door and told to never come back. :) The sales girls that were in charge of maintaining it posted nonsense similar to what the other kids post. Terrible spelling and grammar. It was rather embarrassing for our company. The only people who followed/friended us were other employees just looking to brown nose. Waste of time for us.

I followed some guitar and amp companies while I had my facebook account and they did things right. Brief updates about what the company was doing and maybe some pics or youtube links for new products. I thought that was a pretty good way to utilize these social services. They also used correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. :)

[Belinda Barfield]

I resisted joining Facebook until about six months ago. I don't post a lot, but I do use it to follow family and friends - even some Creekers. I have a separate Yahoo e-mail that I use only for Facebook because security does seem to be an issue with social networking.

A friend lost everything in a fire over the weekend. Within an hour of the fire there was a post on Facebook to notify her friends, and an event set up to raise money for her. That was really convenient and seemed faster than e-mail.

I have to admit that I find the level of profanity used by some friends to be offensive, as well as some things they post, but I have the option to "unfriend" them if I so choose. I'm guessing that at some point in the future some of my younger friends are going to regret posting every intimate detail and photo but I was 25 once and just as hardheaded about taking advice as they seem to be.

[Chuck Wintle]

I like facebook for staying in touch with friends and family. I never try to post my whole life or any personal details about myself, just the odd posting about life and/or the weather.

[Paul Lee]

Thank you everyone for replying to my question. There haven't been many replies but all of you seem to say the same thing. This is a tool for family and friends and not used here by many for business. I see networks like Groupon and Woot having great success in reaching large numbers of qualified customers. We run a small local business and we are looking for anything that doesn't cost much to connect with new business.

[Bryan Morgan]

Thank you everyone for replying to my question. There haven't been many replies but all of you seem to say the same thing. This is a tool for family and friends and not used here by many for business. I see networks like Groupon and Woot having great success in reaching large numbers of qualified customers. We run a small local business and we are looking for anything that doesn't cost much to connect with new business.

You have to think about your client base. Never once did we have anyone come in saying "dooood, I OMG I like totally saw your FB profile and I sooooo had to come in and get some GFX done, bro dude yo!" :) If you look at some of the profiles on there, do these look like people that would pay their bill to you? :) I guess it depends on what your business offers. I know our collectors use it to try and track people down... don't know how successful they are.

[Art Mulder]

Social networks are the fashion today. Will some of you that use Facebook, twitter or Linkedin let us know how they are working for you? Maybe a few pros and cons.


I participate in Facebook for personal communication with friends and family. I don't use it for business, although I use it keep track of a number of businesses and firms that I "like" in a convenient way. ... The one thing that anyone using Facebook and other social networking systems have to do is be sure that they have their privacy settings nailed down to their preferences and constantly monitor them as things change...which they do from time to time.

I also use LinkedIn for business networking; not as much as many folks, but it does help me stay in touch with what folks I know in my industry are up to.


Jim has nailed most of it. Let me just add a few thoughts.

1- I've been on LinkedIn for a few years and find it to be essentially useless. The only reason I keep my account is inertia. I found no help at all there when I was unemployed 2 years ago.

2- I use Facebook much like Jim does. I purposefully limit it to close friends, local friends, and family. The BIG problem with facebook (aside from the security issue Jim mentioned) is that is has NO WAY AT ALL to allow you to segregate your friends and interests.

There are some things (photos, comments, whatever) that I would like to tell to my family, that I do not necessarily want to tell my college friends. Ditto there are some things that I might want to say to my work buddies, or woodworking buddies, or camping buddies, or church friends, or, or, or, that I do NOT want to say to other segments of my life.

Facebook has NO PROVISION AT ALL for segmenting your friends into groups like that.

And it continues to stun me that no one has fixed it.

...art

[Bryan Morgan]

I don't know if it matters, take it for what it is, but Facebooks funding can be traced back to the CIA. Sounds like a conspiracy but you can figure it out for yourself.

[Belinda Barfield]

There are some things (photos, comments, whatever) that I would like to tell to my family, that I do not necessarily want to tell my college friends. Ditto there are some things that I might want to say to my work buddies, or woodworking buddies, or camping buddies, or church friends, or, or, or, that I do NOT want to say to other segments of my life.

Facebook has NO PROVISION AT ALL for segmenting your friends into groups like that.

And it continues to stun me that no one has fixed it.

...art

I agree, Art. Very good point. There are some things that my friends post that I would never want my elderly aunt to read. She has sent me about 20 friend requests and I keep refusing. I would like to be able to have different interactive groups of people.

[Greg Peterson]

I have two FB accounts. One for family and friends and one for my professional side. I keep the two separate. We are judged by the company we keep and some folks do a better job of presenting themselves on FB than others, so my professional FB page is a lot more deliberate. Friends and family, not so much. I have had to unfriend a few folks because their online persona is a bit base for my taste.

As a tool for friends and family, it is great. The professional side, not so much as I think I am an early adapter. I think FB will become very much the business card of the 21st century.

[Orion Henderson]

I certainly use it personally, as do most of my relatives and friends (of all ages). I believe the business side is in the infancy (Horton Brasses has a page-check it out if your interested) but it will be a necessity in the future. For me it is one more tool to get feedback from people and share the ins and outs of a business. If your business operates in a personal manner, not like say...Wal-Mart...I think it is invaluable to have a personal connection. If anything, Facebook and other "social networks" provide a long distance way for people to do business as people rather than nameless faceless corporations. I see that as a return to old fashioned values. No company wants anyone to have negative things to said in a public space so it behooves you to treat people like individuals and do your best.

[Jerome Hanby]

The only "social networking" of which i partake is this cool message board about woodworking :D. My wife and kids play on the others. Linkedin is just a generator of nuisance messages from losers i worked wioth in the distant past. I delete all of those emails automatically.

[Jim Becker]

Art, it's a pain to set up, but yes, you can do some segmentation on Facebook using the Custom feature. But it's not very flexible or granular. For example, I use that to exclude my kids from seeing any of my status posts because they are often inappropriate for them to read. I have a group called "kids" that they are assigned to (in addition to "family" and my default status posting is for "Friends except Kids". I can manually open that up for a specific status post if I chose to do so by just clicking on the little padlock symbol below the text entry area and selecting from "Everyone", "Friends", "Friends of Friends" or "Custom".

Interesting that LinkedIn wasn't helpful to you during your job search. I'm constantly getting fed inquiries from recruiters looking for referrals or soliciting interest in a specific opportunity in my field. I've made some nice brownie points pointing them at a few folks that could be handy someday should I find myself in need...

[Art Mulder]

Art, it's a pain to set up, but yes, you can do some segmentation on Facebook using the Custom feature. But it's not very flexible or granular. For example, I use that to exclude my kids from seeing any of my status posts because they are often inappropriate for them to read. I have a group called "kids" that they are assigned to (in addition to "family" and my default status posting is for "Friends except Kids". I can manually open that up for a specific status post if I chose to do so by just clicking on the little padlock symbol below the text entry area and selecting from "Everyone", "Friends", "Friends of Friends" or "Custom".

Interesting that LinkedIn wasn't helpful to you during your job search. I'm constantly getting fed inquiries from recruiters looking for referrals or soliciting interest in a specific opportunity in my field. I've made some nice brownie points pointing them at a few folks that could be handy someday should I find myself in need...


Okay I'm going to have to remember that. I poked around my FB and have figured out what you meant and how to duplicate it! Thanks!

[David Weaver]

Thank you everyone for replying to my question. There haven't been many replies but all of you seem to say the same thing. This is a tool for family and friends and not used here by many for business. I see networks like Groupon and Woot having great success in reaching large numbers of qualified customers. We run a small local business and we are looking for anything that doesn't cost much to connect with new business.

Have you checked into g_____n (trying to avoid the search engines finding something on here)?

We have been going to a restaurant at the bottom of our hill practically since it opened and we were then often the only people there over dinner, so the owners will often talk to us a lot more casually than other folks.

They did g_____n, and they gave away $15 for a $7 charge, and I think they said that g______n kept $4 and they got $3. So they essentially were giving away $15 worth of food for $3 and hoping people would really order a lot when they came to help make up for it. I don't know how it's worked out for them, they're a small operation and 800 people bought their offer. They have been a lot busier in the last year, hopefully a lot of that is repeat business *without* coupon. they did say, though, that it's really not much cheaper for them to find advertising that works anywhere else, because the cheap things they tried have not yielded much.

[Rick Prosser]

I use Facebook for friends and family as well.
Great for keeping up with the latest developments.
Wish my mom had more than dial up - she would really benefit.

No business use really.

Not to get off track too much, but

I am surprised at how much more "edgy" (being kind;)) the posts are from my own kids and relatives. Why is it that mostly the younger generation - (man, I can't believe I am sayin' that...) seem to have less restraint, or professionalism, or tact, or whatever is the right term - when posting on social networks?

I post in the same manner as if I was speaking to my grandmother, but most seem to be using the bar room environment as a guide...I am not really offended, but just surprised, and maybe a little disappointed.:(

[Bryan Morgan]

I am surprised at how much more "edgy" (being kind;)) the posts are from my own kids and relatives. Why is it that mostly the younger generation - (man, I can't believe I am sayin' that...) seem to have less restraint, or professionalism, or tact, or whatever is the right term - when posting on social networks?

I post in the same manner as if I was speaking to my grandmother, but most seem to be using the bar room environment as a guide...I am not really offended, but just surprised, and maybe a little disappointed.:(

I too am disappointed by this behavior, which is one of the reasons I am against these social networks. There is nothing social about them. There are no consequences for what you say. Half of what I read on there would cause someone to get punched in the mouth if they said it in person.

[Myk Rian]

I had one for a couple months to "keep in touch" with friends and family. What a collosal waste of time.
Ditto.
I keep getting requests to join Farmville, or whatever the heck it is. Had to personally tell my Sister to leave me out of it, along with taking me off her spamming, :FWD. FWD. FWD. RE; blah,blah,blah e-mails.
Some people should have never been introduced to the I-net. I keep promising to cancel my FB account.

Twitter? Never, ever been there, and don't intend on doing so. There's enough to do on the I-net without wasting time on Social networks.

Do I sound grumpy? Bah. ;)

[Steve Costa]

I do not use any social networking site. There are cosequences to how you present yourself on facebook or other sites. You apply for a job, the HR dept does a search on your name 1 of 2 outcomes are certain:

You present yourself as a "cretin" as discussed above, application into shredder, call back will never happen.

You present yourself as an articulate and intelligent person. "Dude", OMG etc. is not part of your vocabulary. You application now gets considered along with all of the others HR has received. Chance or getting the job goes from ZERO to much better!!! :)

[travis howe]

So....I'm not going to side one way or another as I work in a field that works against the folks the abuse such technology for....ID theft, stocking, abuse/misuse, intellectual property....and more than you can think of...and please do not say that it's only in the movies or a story tell, it happens...issues happens several times an hour across the US to the most unlikely people. I like the overall idea of social networking I simply want to caution my friends here on what type of data that you post... do some searches for security of social networking. http://www.brighthub.com/computing/enterprise-security/articles/9732.aspx
Just a small sample... be careful creekers...

r/t

[Belinda Barfield]

Update on the pros and cons. My dad is very ill and Facebook allowed me to notify family members and keep them updated. I get to "tell" everyone at once what is going on and his status doesn't have to go through the family grapevine with all the misunderstood phrases and additions/deletions of information that occur on said grapvine. Now, the con, my aunt requested prayer for my dad when he was admitted to ICU, which I just happened to read on Facebook before I knew he was in ICU. That threw me a bit of a curve. It did, however, generate quite the prayer chain.

[Bryan Morgan]

Update on the pros and cons. My dad is very ill and Facebook allowed me to notify family members and keep them updated. I get to "tell" everyone at once what is going on and his status doesn't have to go through the family grapevine with all the misunderstood phrases and additions/deletions of information that occur on said grapvine. Now, the con, my aunt requested prayer for my dad when he was admitted to ICU, which I just happened to read on Facebook before I knew he was in ICU. That threw me a bit of a curve. It did, however, generate quite the prayer chain.

Could you not have just sent an email to a group contact? Quick, easy, and your information doesn't get sold off to who knows who. :)

[Mike Null]

After reading this thread I think I'm going to pat myself on the back for finally using some good judgment. I have persistently avoided social networking or whatever it's called and I am very glad.

My website and email bring me enough kooks.

[Belinda Barfield]

Could you not have just sent an email to a group contact? Quick, easy, and your information doesn't get sold off to who knows who. :)

Yes, and I would have preferred to do so but my dad's family doesn't operate that way.

[Joe Mioux]

i use twitter and facebook to promote my business's blogs. Facebook has worked well in generating readers to my greenhouse blog.

[Belinda Barfield]

On Facebook among all the "I'm at home watching such and such a movie for the 14th time.", "I'm taking my dog to the vet.", and "I'm cooking spaghetti for dinner." posts, there is an occasional gem. For all of those who do the "copy this to your status" updates, here is my reponse (supplied by a good friend)!

Copy this and paste it in your status if you know someone, or have heard of someone who knows someone. If you don’t know anyone, or even if you’ve heard of someone who doesn’t know anyone, then do still copy this. It’s important to spread the message. Oh and the hearts ♥ ♥ ♥ ... for crap’s sake don’t forget the hearts! ♥ ♥

I just completely love the sarcasm in this !

[Matt Meiser]

Belinda, done. That there's funny--I don't care who you are.

[Bonnie Campbell]

Thanks Belinda lol I just had to paste it up ;)