Facebook Privacy Dependent on Facebook Friends

Freelance writers who use Facebook and other social media to promote themselves and their work usually have a lot of friends whom they've never met except online. We indiscriminately seek out and accept new friends who may read our work, confident that because we've educated ourselves on internet privacy, any information we've allowed on our Facebook pages is safe. We often post pictures of our cars, home exteriors and children to share with friends and to promote our work, never thinking about how much information we're sharing that someone can put together if they want to find us or  even get back at us because of our opinions.

According to a recent article I read, we may have a problem. Read More

All written content ©2010 Patrice Campbell unless otherwise noted.

Facebook Crisis Proves Importance of Social Media Support

It was a crisis. A CRISIS.


I clicked on my Facebook tab to check in with friends and my Facebook page was gone. I reloaded, and the page stayed the same. What in the world was going on? I needed proof that my circle of Facebook writing friends were still chained to their computers, churning out information and willing to offer advice and support to their fellow freelance writers.


I have to admit I panicked.


Many freelance writers don't realize how much of their social life they have given up in order to build their freelance careers. Deadlines, and sometimes sheer exhaustion have slowly reduced face to face time with real friends in the real world to practically nothing.


We've slowly replaced our social life with cyber life. Facebook offers a wonderful platform to fill the void. We can use the private messaging system to communicate those thoughts and ideas we don't want to share with the world in a status update. We can use the chat feature for a more detailed communication that need real time responses. We can share links to our work in status updates. The status updates also allow us to see what our friends and colleagues are accomplishing.


Most of us are logged on to both Facebook and Twitter continuously during our working hours. A quick glance at the browser tab alerts us to the number of updates while we've been busy in another browser window or working in another computer application.


I've known for a long time that I depend on social media as I work, but never did I realize that I was emotionally dependent on it.


When I took a break from the article I was struggling with to check in with my Facebook friends and let my jaw muscles have a moment to recover from the stress of grinding my teeth, it was gone....all gone.


No friends, no support, no Facebook.


In denial I reloaded and reloaded. I pulled up a previous Facebook from cache and tried to reload and log in to no avail. I was all alone in the world.


Fellow freelancers, remember the good old days when we actually took the time to make a phone call? Sometimes we'd get voice mail, but that was no problem. We left a message and went back to work as we waited for the person to call us back. I never panicked when no one picked up, did you? In fact, I usually expected my friend to be busy and was always prepared to leave a message on voice mail.


So why did I feel so disoriented when I lost my Facebook?


I clicked the Twitter tab and sent out my SOS to all my Facebook friends. Amazingly, my tweet was able to post to my Facebook account, even though I couldn't access it from my computer. I got a few replies from friends who were on Twitter at the same time, giving me reassurance that no catastrophe had happened and I wasn't the only survivor of a global catastrophe. 


Reassured, I went to my favorite news website and saw that a glitch was causing Facebook problems all over the world. I was finally able to breath.


We justify our time spent on Facebook and Twitter as using social media to promote ourselves and our work, but in truth, a lot of us find it's more than that. We have found friends that we will probably never meet face to face. We have found support from strangers. We have filled the holes in our life that our commitment to our work has left with people who are just like us. We don't meet up for lunch or drinks. But we've grown to depend on each other being available during working hours when we just need a bit of encouragement, or a good laugh.


I'll never feel like I have to make an excuse for being on Facebook again. Thanks for being there, FB friends and Twitter followers.


All written content ©2010 Patrice Campbell unless otherwise noted.

How do You Define Share?

As freelancer writers, we know the importance of social networking in self promotion. Most of us use Facebook and Twitter on a regular basis, and our stats show that we do get clicks from those sources.

Each time we see our links shared by Facebook friends or retweeted by Twitter followers, we imagine the extra clicks we may get as a result of the additional exposure.

Why, you might wonder, with hundreds of friends and followers, are so few people sharing your links?

It's true that freelance writers are a tight group of people who promote other writers by sharing links and tweets. But look up the meaning of the word share. It is implied that you will also share.

You are free to use social media in any way that suits you. So is everyone else. Sharing of links is not a requirement. But those of us who consider the time spent clicking, reading, commenting and sharing as part of our daily business routine soon have a list of people who promote us. We will go out of our way to promote them.

We can't share everything that comes across our page, of course.  Not only will links to our own content be lost in the sheer number of updates, but we may run the risk of alienating the friends and followers we have accumulated as simply readers of the topics we write about.

During writing challenges and toward the end of the month, writers can publish and post links to a lot of articles. If we promoted them all, even with being choosy and only promoting those writers who promote us the most, we could be sharing hundreds of links a day. Sometimes we have to choose which posts to share, which posts to simply click, tweet and comment on, and occasionally, when time is really limited, which links to simply click on and allow to open in a separate window. Luckily, Twitter followers are less likely to be offended by the number of links we promote and will often RT our RT's.

So, if you notice that one of your freelance writer friends is no longer sharing your articles or retweeting you, stop and examine your sharing behavior. Reestablish relationships by taking the time to be a friend and start sharing. It's never too late. Freelance writers are a forgiving group of supporting friends. For some of us, social networking is the only social life we have.

So, how important do you think it is to promote other writers, and how do you manage it with your busy schedule. Please share by commenting.

All written content ©2010 Patrice Campbell unless otherwise noted.