Befriend me.Or be my friend. I can't bring myself to say "Friend me." You know how bent out of shape I get over torturing nouns into pretending they're something they're not. But lost causes aside, I'm really trying to lighten up and be more sociable. This week I signed up for Facebook.
Actually, my firstborn signed me up. He's been telling me to get with the program for some time, and I finally decided to do it.
So far it's been hell. First I signed up for Harlequin's online tutorial for authors. I downloaded the meeting program, as instructed. I spent the next half hour trying to figure out why I couldn't hear anything as the screen shots of a Power Point presentation flew past. I didn't realize I was supposed to call an 800 number to turn on the sound. Not a good start in my new venture, but I gave #1 Son the go-ahead on setting up the page. Hands-on learning is generally best for me when it comes to anything to do with the computer. All too often it's a steep curve.
Then came the flood of e-mail. My son had generously shared his friends with me. I was delighted to get requests from nieces and nephews, former students, and kids who used to hang out at my house and raid my refrigerator. Pretty soon I was feeling like Mickey Mouse watching the mops multiply, so I called the Sorcerer. He helped me shut the water off, but he said I wasn't going to learn unless I got in there and tried things out. (I wonder where he got that?)
So now I've set the thing up, but I'm not sure what to do with it. I lasted on Twitter for about a day because I was pretty sure no one would want to know how many pages I wrote today or what I was cooking for supper. Facebook seems to offer a few more options, but I could easily lose myself in that news feed.
For a writer, I'm not the best communicator. I can see the possibilities with this--catching up with far-flung friends and family, enjoying the occasional blast from the past--but I'm a little intimidated by it.
What's your Facebook life like? Do you converse like we do here, or is it more like sending tidbits into the ether? Do you tune in every day? How much time do you spend? What do you put in, and what do you get out of it? Have any interesting hookups happened for you?
16 comments:
i kept getting a message from someone to join facebook and i couldn't figure out how i knew this person. eventually, i joined just to get that question answered. now, i'm hooked. I have my regular set of friends, but i'm also hooked into all my favorite authors. i will usually share pics of vacation and my work travels. i check it usually every day and, like most electronic gadgets, feel naked without it. it's some pretty addicting stuff!!
I reluctantly joined a while back. Get a kick out of it now. It's put me in touch with relatives, readers, and many other authors. And it hasn't been as much of a time suck and I'd expected, at least not after the initial jump in.
Congratulations, Kathy!
Unlike Twitter - which I forget about because I don't get notices on my e-mail, I LOVE Facebook.
It truly is more like a friends and fans network. I post stupid pet photos, comments about what's happening on my fav TV shows, how the latest book is going ... that sort of thing. earlier this week I posted that I had just put together 2 goodie boxes for some troops deployed in Afghanistan and ended up getting responses from a ton of kind folks who wanted names of soldiers to send to as well.
So not only is it 'social', it's
'giving'. Lots of feel good stuff going on out there
Oh - and I just posted YOUR topdown blog on my page so my friends and fans can see wonder over and read it if they have a notion.
I'm going to go out and friend you now :o)
I'm back. GREAT page!
Love your profile photo.
Now all you have to do is confirm that you want me for your friend. :o)
Please :::::
I like facebook too. I've probably complicated my page because I include family, old friends, new friends and readers. I enjoy seeing what's going on with other people and agreeing or disagreeing with comments. Nice to be able to give encouragement to someone feeling feeling down in the dumps. I don't take it very seriously Gotta watch the pics friends may post on your wall. I went on a girls trip to the lake this summer and one of my buds tried to post a pic of me in my bathing suit! I nixed that FAST! Welcome and enjoy Kathleen.:)
I've found some long-lost friends (the real kind) on Facebook. I pop in a couple of times a day, but there's no way I can keep track of everything there. I use it more to post photos and as a feed for my blog. Sometimes conversations get started, and they're fun, but it's not a big part of my day.
Hubster uses it solely for close friends and family, and the other day, when I was at a meeting, he was with our grandson and wondered why I didn't know that they'd baked cookies. He said, "I put it on Facebook." Sorry, but I don't check THAT often, and never on my phone, much less during a meeting.
Terry
Terry's Place
Romance with a Twist--of Mystery
This is interesting. Keep the suggestions coming, guys. I'm still struggling to figure out the options. I don't do anything on my cel phone except the occasional phone call, so that option is a non-starter for me. I had to take the e-mail off as a contact because my inbox was slammed. Learning...
Oh, and did I mention the naked lady?
I was trying to figure out how to personalize my URL, so I searched "Kathleen Eagle." What to my wondering eyes should appear but my new page and a second page of the same name with a naked not me photo. I screamed "Inappropriate!" to the powers at Facebook, and it appears to have been removed. Nude chick was, well...a bit younger than yours truly.
Hey, Kathy! Whoohoo you!
I like FaceBook for keeping up with my family. The company has a FaceBook page that is more for business.
What does it mean to "poke" somebody? Maybe I've watched/read "Lonesome Dove" too many times, but it sounds risque.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Facebook, Kathleen. For me it's been a great way to keep up with the relatives that live 2 miles away but we're all so darned busy we never see each other.
I think you'll like it better than Twitter. It's more personal.
I'm on it but not really into it. I signed up because of my two daughters. One is in college and she puts up her artwork. I've made the mistake of signing up for a few contests and now I'm deluged with messages I don't want lol. I would like to unfriend a few people that I said yes to because I didn't want to hurt their feelings but I hear that is even a worse thing to do. Basically, I like to play games on it lol.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Facebook, Kathleen! I have a lot of fun on my Facebook page. I don't maintain a personal profile, just my author page. I think my head would explode if I tried to do both.
On my Facebook page, it's really fun to just throw out something random and see all the fun and unexpected responses I get. Today, we played a random word association game. I said a word, and then each person in turn said the first word that popped into her head. My favorite was when one person posted "grateful," and the next person posted "sleep." LOL! You just never know how someone's mind is going to work. I get at least one belly laugh a day from Facebooking. (There I go, torturing a noun.)
If you're interested, you can see my page at www.facebook.com/susanmallery
Congratulations on moving forward with your technology!
My advice is to use Facebook so that it makes you happy and your life easier. I don't use the applications or play games but I do like to use Facebook to "chat" with my family a couple times a week: they all live 2,700 miles away. My granddaughter has her own FB page (monitored by Mom, me, and the aunts), so we get to "chat" most days.
I suggest that you check out the pages of your friends to see what they're doing and use that as a guide to make your own decisions.
Oh, and don't piss #1 Son off...
Good to see you made it to FB, Kathy!
I haven't a clue what the purpose of the 'poke' is but it kinda disturbs me a bit.
Keep your eyes wide for authors who will friend you and then immediately post promo for their own book on your page. They're out there, and I can't figure why they think that is okay.
Another thing that baffles me is when a reader will post one of those 'question' posts on your page. And you have to click on it to see how she answered a personal question about you. I friend fans all the time, but I don't know them all and I know they don't know me personally, so why the weird games?
FB is great for keeping up with relatives and friends. And I have all my blog posts forwarded to my FB page too, which give me daily content so I don't have to worry about posting their so often.
Welcome to the crazy and wonderful world of facebook. I love it because I can keep up with all my family, especially my brother who travels for months at a time. Also reconnected with friends from both high school and college.
I do none of the games or apps on facebook. I've blocked all farmville/yoville and any other town and ville from my facebook
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