Facebook For Bloggers

I’ve taken the plunge! I’ve joined Facebook.

If you are a Facebook user already, you can add me as a friend by clicking on my mug shot to the left. If you are unfamiliar with Facebook, let me try to convince you to join!

Facebook

Facebook is like instant messaging (IM), email, photo/video sharing, and blogging software all rolled into one application. You can have as much content or as little as you want. And best of all, it is extremely safe. You have the option to allow or disallow people to become your friends. And you can share all, some, or none of your information with various friends.

Facebook is also designed for people who already have friends. Sure you can meet new friends through Facebook, but it works best if you already have networks/community and friendships to begin with. For those you know, it makes it easier and more fun to stay in touch. And you can get in touch with old friends (I have already spoken to people I hadn’t seen/written to in over 10 years.)

Facebook is totally unique. Rather than multiple pages or posts, it is one simple home page–your profile. And you can add boxes, which have content to your heart’s content. You can easily edit the layout and remove anything you don’t want. And it is very user-intuitive (i.e. its easy to learn).

Facebook is also growing by leaps and bounds. It is up to over 100,000 new users a day! Yet the policies of Facebook are very careful to disallow any false identities. They don’t let you post pictures or videos you have not created, and are very protective of privacy. So for most of these users, Facebook is a legitimate safe way to connect with real live people they know.

For more insight into the idea that is Facebook, you may be interested in reading the company founders first interview with Time magazine.

Facebook For Bloggers

I’m sure a lot of you might care less about Facebook. Then again, if you are blogging and reading my blog, you are already internet savvy and so you might be interested.

But for you fellow bloggers, there is no reason to avoid Facebook. WordPress.com has a very nice application that brings your latest posts right into Facebook. Each time you create a new post, Facebook also posts a note about it with a link. I’ve already seen some friends view my blog which had not previously, just because I set up Facebook.

For other blogging platforms, there are a variety of blog applications you can add to Facebook. I use Flog, to input my mission blog posts. And through Facebook directly I import all my photo blog posts as notes.

Once you set it up, Facebook can work on auto-pilot, promoting your blog. And periodically you can search for people you know, to see if they’ve joined Facebook. Then again, they might be searching for you too!

And if you focus on Facebook a bit more closely, you can join causes and network with others around common interests. I’m promoting Mike Huckabee through Facebook. And I’ve joined other groups. Already I’ve had someone become a friend through one of my groups, and that might lead them to my blog.

Now granted, Facebook could steal more time away from family and other concerns. Josh Harris has an excellent post on prioritizing family time in relation to Facebook. But it doesn’t have to. I view it as basically an additional email program, with a few extras I can tinker with now and again. Interestingly, Josh also encourages those who are single to get busy and use Facebook as a tool to find a potential mate!

So now you can head on over and sign up, if only to check out my profile. You can always abandon ship if you think its not for you!

Note: the picture above is from the online version of “The Future of Facebook” by Time (Paul Sakuma / AP).

On a completely unrelated note, I’m still looking for a few more guys to join a Fantasy Football league. We probably have another week or two before we cannot do this, without more people.