Here’s a post I bet no one ever thought I’d write.
John Dvorak, whose articles and posts I have long enjoyed, sets forth a persuasive argument against Facebook.
I’m not going to try to summarize years of my posts and podcast rants, so let me just say for any new readers that I long held, and argued with anyone who would read or listen, that identical position. I called Facebook the new AOL more than a few times (for the record, MySpace, not Facebook, is the new Geocities). I protested over the walls. I proclaimed that I would always keep my content out here, free, accessible and controlled by me on the wide open web.
Then I realized something important. Facebook and web sites are not an either/or equation. Just because you use Facebook doesn’t mean you have to let your blog lie fallow. Most of my content originates and lives here. Some of it, I push to Facebook or Twitter (though I do not push my Twitter posts to Facebook and generally filter those who do).
But I have found Facebook to be a very fun and useful supplement to this blog, for two reasons. It’s easy, and popular.
Easy, because it lets me post short thoughts and share items that don’t warrant a full blog post here.
Popular, because that’s where the people are. There are tons of people on Facebook that would rarely if ever come here and leave a comment. Many of them are not tech savvy. Others are not particularly interested in the subjects I focus on here.
By using Facebook the right way, I can expand my interaction to another group of people, many of whom are real world friends of mine. I can actually drive some traffic here, by sharing some of my posts here on Facebook. And I can have more regular interaction with people.
John should give it a try. If I can learn to like Facebook, anyone can.
If we are, Friend me on Facebook.
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