Following Yosi’s request, here are my Facebook tips and tricks:
1. Be careful with whom you connect – so you can keep the network personal. When someone I don’t know asks to connect with me, I always email him/her and ask how do we know each other, and why should we connect. If I don’t get an answer, I ignore the request. This way I can feel comfortable with writing a status message such as “Kfir is having a bad day” without feeling, well, bad.
2. Create groups in areas that are not saturated, and you can add value to the community – when I signed up for Facebook, I felt that there is a need for a Vloggers group. So I’ve opened one, and reviewed it periodically. I’ve met a lot of interesting people through this group, BUT
3. Don’t nag people in the group too much – this is Facebook, not Ning. Learn from Chris Brogan’s Grasshoppers experience.
4. Choose the applications you use carefully – don’t Myspace your Facebook profile. I check all the applications I find, but I am very careful with the ones I keep on my profile.
5. Invite your friends only to useful or fun applications – and no, Zombie is not one of them
6. Constantly review the groups you are member of, and engage in the discussions there. Nothing new here – this is a social network, so, be social.
7. Try to be a member of up to 30 groups – so people can see what are your topics of interest.
8. Initiate discussion threads between your friends – but don’t spam them. This is a great way to create a conversation with your friends not only you are talking with people you like, you are also helping them to connect amongst themselves. Did we mention that this is a social network?
9. Make your profile interesting to read – I invested a lot of time in creating a profile that not only provides information but make people read it through. Applications like iRead, friends wheel, flixster, and wordpress plugin (if you have a blog) bring my profile to life.
10. The most important tip of all – use it as a part of your social media toolbox – mesh it up with your blog, create events that are relevant to your day to day live, share your posts and video material and so on. it is like a snowball effect – one effort feeds the other and increase the impact of your online and offline social activities.
How do YOU use Facebook? What are YOUR tips and tricks?
Want to know more? Subscribe to my RSS feed or email list.
Technorati Tags: chris Brogan, facebook, internet TV, tips and tricks, social Networks, social media, ning, Yosi Taguri
22 Comments
This is helpful. I am a Facebook newbie, and am trying to figure out how to use this without getting stuck in the muck, so to speak.
I have a LinkedIn, but it’s kind of a rolodex thing, it has no life. There’s no reason to check in.
Facebook has a lot of life, but you need to figure out who to add. Like, do I add nieces and nephews? Or just business associates?
Susan, thanks for your comment.
I think it really depends on the way you want to use this network. I agree with you about LinkedIn, but I think each network has different approach, and fulfills a different need.
Personally I have in my network both business and personal contacts, but my business is heavily based on me as a person. I think that for sure you should add your nieces and nephews. You can also add pictures and videos, that give some personal touch. When you add business contacts, just make sure that you know who you have there, so you will feel comfertable with showing your more personal/private side.
Re linkedin vs facebook – check this post too http://pravdam.com/2007/07/19/facebook-vs-linkedin-an-unpopular-opinion/
and just for laughs – http://pravdam.com/2007/05/04/5-types-we-all-met-in-the-social-media-space/
Pretty neat. I follow at least a few of these. Thanks for sharing, as I think there are things to learn about how to conduct one’s self inside of Facebook.
thanks chris – what’s the most valuable tip you can give to my few readers
I have been closely following Jeff Pulver’s thoughts about Facebook and Linkedin. I see professionals who have started to use Facebook as experimenting and working towards effectiveness. It is certainly fun and alive. What I like best is seeing what groups others I know are joining. It is like being at a conference and hearing about a great panel down the hall and not missing any of it.
However, I still like Plaxo — especially the new 3.0 — for the connections and for syncing Outlook to Google. I like Linkedin because it shows a full resume and you know if someone is on Linkedin that they are serious about connecting with others. I have asked close friends I know to introduce me to contacts they have that I saw on Linkedin.
Very helpful suggestions for Facebook newbies like me… I especially appreciate your comment about limiting the applications. I was wondering if I was the only one who thought some of the applications aren’t appropriate for business connections. Happy day!
Anne, happy to help. regarding applications – I look at it as another extension of my day to day life. I will poke my friends, not my associates.
Hey Kfir – great post! Really enjoyed those tips an tricks… In fact, I liked them so much, I turned them into a song – see http://blog2song.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-10-facebook-tips-and-tricks.html
Dror.
Excellent article.
I’m glad I found it …
- Marc
Thanks Marc.
You can also accept friends from the majority of people who connect with you and then delete the ones after a few weeks that seem irrelevant or unacquainted.
Adrian – great tip, I’ll start using it…
Thanks so much Kfir for this article! It helps a lot.
Yonit
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=566558688
that is my profile join me there
great tricks
Hellow Friend
You can try below link To View Some More Face Book Tricks
Thanks**
Vevin.com
Hi Kfir-
One more tip I can recommend: update your status to something that catalyzes action in others.
For example:
Avoid: Noam is feeling good this morning.
Adapt: Noam is looking for LBS projects to invest in.
or another example: Recommends http://www.checkthisout.com
This way your status becomes helpful to your whole circle of friends. Social network have we mentioned already?
All the best,
Noam
Noam – mixed emotions about your tip. In many cases I am pretty much annoyed when people use their status messages for business purposes only. Though I use Facebook for business, I also use it to communicate with my friends. And just like I don’t want my friends to walk around with billboards on their back, I’d rather have a mix of business and personal messages.
These were awesome, thnx from me as well. Also one think many dont know is when keeping your profile visible ONLY to friends – if you reply to someone not on your list in anyway that has given them full profile access for up to one month! Something to keep in mind! http://www.facebookblogging.com
what is this tips for 50 year olds?
Nice site its very hellp full.
So where are the real tips?
how do i prevent my wall posts to others from showing up in the news feed ? it used to not be a problem but now with new settings it shows up ! help
2 Trackbacks
[...] My 10 Facebook Tips and Tricks [...]
[...] 10 Facebook Tips and Tricks [...]