Farcebook - anyone else. . .

David Stallard

David Stallard

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Random question for you all - am I the only one that just doesn't 'get' the whole farcebook thing? I have loads of people saying that I should be on it to boost traffic to my site etc etc - looked at it again today and after 5 hours of wasted time I deleted the account. It's no wonder all the kids (and not so young kids) are half brain dead - just see the panic set in if they can't check their timeline thing

The teams know where to find my site, the magazine's have a direct link either in the feature or the contents 'staff' page, I post enough links on the few forums I use - if someone can't find me after all that then am I really missing them?

My name is David and I'm a farcebook 'detester'

.DAVID.
 
I have a Facebook page but just lurk now, and do not make any comments. I have had to "defriend" two people (relations), because they just post absolute tripe on there, and to be honest would not like anyone knowing that they are related to me.
Most of the conversations between people are utterly banal, I mean who wants to know that someone is cleaning their house, that their baby has been sick for the umpteenth time, or read absolutely incredible stories which are fuelled by "urban mythology"?
 
andy700 said:
, or read absolutely incredible stories which are fuelled by "urban mythology"?
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That - I can't remember howe many times ive seen old and hoary urban myths , that a quick snopes search would have debunked , repeated as gospel truth over on bookfarce. Like the evil criminal gang using baby seats to lure female drivers out of their cars ... Give me strength :bang:
 
andy700 said:
I have a Facebook page but just lurk now, and do not make any comments. I have had to "defriend" two people (relations), because they just post absolute tripe on there, and to be honest would not like anyone knowing that they are related to me.
Most of the conversations between people are utterly banal, I mean who wants to know that someone is cleaning their house, that their baby has been sick for the umpteenth time, or read absolutely incredible stories which are fuelled by "urban mythology"?
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if youre creating a "business" page why friend anyone at all if you don't want to see what theyre doing. just use the post as page feature..
 
I use Facebook for keeping in touch with friends and contacts. For quite some time I resisted using FB to promote my business because I find FB pages really bland, boring and let's face it, every business page looks identical.

However over time I've noticed that more and more business is coming via FB. Talking to other small businesses and fellow wedding photographers I think that's fair to say that others are seeing the same.

It now seems that the act of going to a website then manually emailing someone is a couple of clicks too many for a lot of people. Given the amount of competition, it seems many brides to be prefer to look at your FB page then click message. The last three weddings I've booked have come directly from FB.

To me it has become a necessary evil.

David, if your business is doing well without it then fair play to you. But certainly I'd argue that a presence on Facebook has become as important, if not more so now than a website.
 
I don't understand people who get all uppity about Facebook and Twitter and suchlike. They are what they are and they are what you make of them.
If your timelines are full of people talking about cleaning their house or what they had for breakfast, that's your own fault for following or friending such inane individuals.
 
ghoti said:
I don't understand people who get all uppity about Facebook and Twitter and suchlike.
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When people complain about Facebook making changes I suggest that they stop paying for it and go somewhere else.


Steve.
 
Steve Smith said:
It's as good or as crap as you want to make it.


Steve.
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Absolutely this simple.

Not having a Facebook page as a marketing tool because of the rest of the inane drivel that's on there is like not taking out advertisements because there's crap in the paper, or not going into town because there are drunks in the subway.

The idiots don't define Facebook, they can be ignored there as easily as they are everywhere else.

If I avoided spaces where there might be people I didn't like, I'd be a hermit.
 
i think more than half the world is on facebook and not to use it to your benefit would be a shame the world is evolving and people use it a lot more than you think
 
A lot of people don't see it as evolution, more of a regression.

I mean social interaction by Faceache is better than no interaction at all but its hardly a replacement.
But then, who knows how much real life interaction is initiated by FB contact, and how much is replaced by it..:shrug:
 
Must admit that my interest in Facebook is starting to wane following the recent changes they've made. There's no doubt that it did used to be an effective way of promoting your business via a business page, recent changes are making it increasing less effective I feel, ot at least a great deal more costly to achieve the same sort of "reach".

Simon
 
Whilst I can to an extent see a point to Facebook (keeping in touch with old friends/relatives), I find the stuff that gets posted by most people complete drivel. I have never posted much but I wonder how on earth some people have the time to post so frequently.


That said, I haven't logged onto Facebook for a couple of months now though.

But twitter, that I don't get at all.
 
I dislike social networking sites and I try to avoid them, but I can see how they can be useful for business if it suits someone's way of working. It's not for me though. I cringe at some of the stuff I read. It encourages poor communication and lack of politeness. Sorry to sound old fashioned but I prefer more traditional means of communication.
 
I only really use it for photography related things - i have some relatives, friends, colleagues etc on my "freinds" list, but the bulk of people have been "un-followed" as I don't want to hear endless posts about people being "hung over" or see post after post of people's baby photos.
 
If it wasn't for the likes of Facebook, I doubt I'd get that far with my cartoon drawings as I have done.
Oh, I do have my web site and I can still keep dropping my 'toons off elsewhere on the 'net (eg, here at TP) but at the end of the day, like it or lump it, facebook really is where it's at because it doesn't have that elitism thing about it (eg: TP tend to attract a particular audience).
Facebook also has something like 1 billion users, so with the "share" function, there's every chance any one of my cartoons could suddenly go viral - I don't think I would get the same effect here in TP.
It's true that there is a lot of guff in facebook but I don't really pay that much attention to it anyway.
When used propely, FB could easily become a very powerful business tool if you could press all the right buttons, as so to speak.
 
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David Stallard said:
I have loads of people saying that I should be on it to boost traffic to my site etc etc
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It's a little thing called SEO (search engine optimisation).

If links to your site are placed in high profile places (Social networking sites, blogs, BIG forums), your site will automatically start to move up the search results list on search engines like Bing, Google and Yahoo (etc etc etc).

Obviously being the first thing to come up when somebody searches "photographer in <area>" has got to be advantageous.
 
I always go on Facebook and find myself checking my phone every so often during the day to see updates, through that I've gotten a few more likes on my graphic design page thanks to friends and family sharing my page and what not. I usually just have it to keep in contact with buddies in other countries and family members that do not live close.. the odd friend or two too!
 
David Stallard said:
Random question for you all - am I the only one that just doesn't 'get' the whole farcebook thing? I have loads of people saying that I should be on it to boost traffic to my site etc etc - looked at it again today and after 5 hours of wasted time I deleted the account. It's no wonder all the kids (and not so young kids) are half brain dead - just see the panic set in if they can't check their timeline thing

The teams know where to find my site, the magazine's have a direct link either in the feature or the contents 'staff' page, I post enough links on the few forums I use - if someone can't find me after all that then am I really missing them?

My name is David and I'm a farcebook 'detester'

.DAVID.
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For people just starting out it's a very good source of advertising. I just wonder what you were doing on there for five hours?
 
joel222 said:
. I just wonder what you were doing on there for five hours?
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:thumbs:

I was reading a thing the other day that reckoned that 15 mins per day was the optimum time to spend on business social media

google "the social media examiner" theres loads of resources there on effective farcebook/twittering/pinster etc - I could put a link but i'm lacking in arsed
 
We see FB as a necessary evil but it seems to be less effective than it used to be.

Twitter on the other hand is a great business tool and our customers like it, and the fact that they can interact with us instantly.
 
I've only just (wednesday) started a FB page for my photography and I've already got 46 likes and the stats thing says I've reacher over 800 people in this time.

If it carries on like this I think it will become a good publicity tool - you can't say it's not bad, Nico Morgan's page has 16.5k likes!

Harry.
 
only thing is (another point from SME) you need to be sure you are getting quality as well as quantity - that is theres no point in spending a shedload of time on social media and thinking you are doing really well because you've lots of likes/follows/pins if it isnt actually translating into more purchases/bookings

the key is to make sure you ask clients/customers where they heard about you , and if after a year or so hardly any solid refferals are coming from your social media, to revaluate if its a good use of time.
 
I don't think in 7 years trading wedding video I have got one order from face book messers!!! They are people that want the cheapest thing on offer because that is what Facebook has become a cheap crap social site for bored people that have no life. It's simply a way of people having a conversation with themselves... Having said that it is another social website we feel that may create buisness so we do it!!!!!!
 
I need to do more with FB but its starting to now generate business. Much of this is pics I do of my own kids that people I know (or the wife does), or pics of kids friends... this leads to people saying they are great pics and then wanting a session.

It does take time!
 
Some of the content on it is just dire, but it's a good business tool
The shoots I've had via FB has easilly paid for my gear and if I find myself with a free afternoon or morning, I often get a booking by putting out a shout
It's full of loonies, but plenty nice people on it and as my likes/shares grow, it becomes easier to keep busy
i totally understand some people hate it, but as a marketing tool, it's pretty good IMO
 
Remember that times change and u need to adapt. In the 50s you had a shop and a local paper to advertise in. In the 70s you had yellow pages. In the 90s a range of other magazines and directories, in the 00s the web and now social media.
 
Great point that last one! Life is adaption for sure. My little grand daughter stays with us over the weekend and I learn more from her than all week with my mind boggling self. But after years in business and life its still simple? people like a bargain people go for the cheapest and Facebook seems a bargain place to enquire what they visualise they can't have. They look, they want, they look at other people wanting. When it comes to the serious clients they look they know they understand what they want, they book. Facebook is for people with to much time on their boring lives
 
Makes me very glad I've retired - I find the thought of "having to be" on the loathsome Farcebook utterly repellent - like the original poster, I gave it a twirl, decided I really didn't like it at all, and deleted the account! :D
 
I have stayed away from Facebook so far but......as many have already said business is business so need to adapt if it means exposure and possible new clients........I will be giving it ago and set up my FB page soon
 
I have probably 20,ooo photo's on film, that for the last fifteen years haven't seen the light of day.
If there is a print of any of them, it's probably in an Album on my book-shelf, or possibly in another at my mum's. And no-one looks at them.
They may have looked, once, when the snaps came back from boots, but?
I have loads of negatives of family events; Weddings, Christenings, Birthday-Parties, Engagements, Wedding Aniversary's; Kids school events, scout gala's gawd knows what.
And an AWFUL lot of people in the pictures have NEVER seen the photo's.

I have about 5ooo photo's on F-B. I'm slowly uploading all of my old film pictures as I scan them.
I like the fact that I can tag people in the pictures; put a date against them, and a location.
Once 'up' people can look at them or not; add comments, thier memory of that day or event, or not, adding to the photo's value.

Freinds or relatives who never got to see pictures I took twenty, thirty years ago, because they had gone home after the event, before pics were processed, are now getting to see them; and things like pictures of my little brother's scout raft race in 1992! I can identify two or three people in my pics... my brother's! I put the snaps up, and tag'em... they appear in my brother's photo's; they look at them... but then thier old school-freinds are in thier freinds lists, my Brother's tag THEM, and they get to see the pics too.

This is the sort of thing, that I think 'Social Networking' was supposed to be about... the five friends rule, and getting stuff out there, stuff that IS actually interesting, that folk otherwise just wouldn't have access to or be able to enjoy.

Yeah... updates of my newest nephew's bowel movements.... I really COULD do without! Video of an old school-freind's cat, falling of a table, really don't interest me; nor does a plate of sausage and beans....

But, I have a teenage daughter.... Face-Book is her life.... and while I dont particularly give a damn what colour lipstick Jodie is trying on in Debenhams.... it IS interesting to see who is in my daughter's friends list.... and revealing to note what she and her freinds are getting up to! :lol: On which score..... that GODD F-B wasn't around when I was a teenager!

End of the day? Face-Book is a tool, like the camera itself... it captures and records the world around us, no more, no less.

So, there is an awful lot of day to day mundanity on there; trivia, punctuated by a lot of soap-opera drama's in a tea-cup... this is for a lot of people, a lot of their life..... but that juxtapositions, and throws into relief the little bits of beauty we might occasionally hope to stumble across.

So like life itself.... it is what you make of it... good, bad or indifferent.
 
Makes me very glad I've retired - I find the thought of "having to be" on the loathsome Farcebook utterly repellent
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Me too!
 
Bleo said:
Great point that last one! Life is adaption for sure. My little grand daughter stays with us over the weekend and I learn more from her than all week with my mind boggling self. But after years in business and life its still simple? people like a bargain people go for the cheapest and Facebook seems a bargain place to enquire what they visualise they can't have. They look, they want, they look at other people wanting. When it comes to the serious clients they look they know they understand what they want, they book. Facebook is for people with to much time on their boring lives
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That's really interesting from a business perspective:):

Can you show me the data to back up the fact that no person with money and taste ever uses Facebook as it's only used by low lifes:suspect:.

Because proper data to back that up would be really useful to people who take their business seriously.

Please tell me that it's not some narrow minded kneejerk uninformed rant and that there's metrics to prove you do indeed have the secret to social media and business success:).

The list of premium brands with a successful Facebook strategy suggests that there might just be a use for it.

Jaguar
Land Rover
Aston Martin
Gordon Ramsay
Heston Blumenthal
Hilton Hotels
Hasselblad
Phase One
Louis Vuitton
Paul Smith

Then as a Social photographer you'll find
all the local schools, play groups, youth organisations, wedding venues, other suppliers.

I'll bet none of those ever worry about the drivel that Facebook can suck you into and are only concerned about using it in unique ways as a marketing and communication tool. A business not using facebook because of the drivel some other users spout is as sensible as not opening a High St shop because poundland also have shops:thinking:.
 
Bleo said:
Facebook is for people with to much time on their boring lives
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Ah I dunno, I use Facebook a lot and I think it's a great way to keep in touch with friends I've made in the 40-odd countries I've visited around the world in the last 10 years or so.

But you know, obviously because I use Facebook nothing else I've done in my life is of any real consequence...
 
Bleo said:
Facebook is for people with to much time on their boring lives
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My wife and I live no where near either of our parents. Her parents live abroad and get to see our children twice a year.

If it wasn't for facbook they wouldn't see our children growing up. We use it as a tool to stay connected amongst many others - like the phone, email, webcam etc.

Can you explain to me how my sharing photographs and videos with my childrens grandparents so they can watch them develop means I have too much time and a boring life?
 
Facebook is what you make of it and what you want from it.
I have 60ish friends and post pics of my birdies and chat with friends and see what there up to, other people I know get wrapped up it and have 100s if not 1000s of people. I like FB and think its just a sand box to do with what you wish.
 
David Stallard said:
Random question for you all - am I the only one that just doesn't 'get' the whole farcebook thing? I have loads of people saying that I should be on it to boost traffic to my site etc etc - looked at it again today and after 5 hours of wasted time I deleted the account. It's no wonder all the kids (and not so young kids) are half brain dead - just see the panic set in if they can't check their timeline thing
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Facebook is a tool, in that you can use it to do stuff.

So, use it or don't use it. Complaining about something you don't use seems a trifle pointless though.

However I'm "half brain dead" ;) so therefore not able to hold an opinion.
 
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