Smile you’re on Social Media!

At this stage in my life I needed a new challenge.

Something like Facebook.

I can hear teacups rattling and people choking on their sandwiches. Can’t you find something more edifying? Something safe?  More your age?  Never thought you would go that way!

I thought so too.  But now that I have taken the brave step and finding that I am still alive, I am beginning to like it.  Even thinking about starting to twit, or is it tweet?

But why? I hear you ask.  I have a few close friends that also shake their heads in dismay and promise me that they will rather die than be on Facebook. Why so extreme? I will rather Facebook and be alive.  Sounds like a better choice to me!

Let me tell you why and what I have discovered over the last weeks:

• First, it’s not that difficult. If you’re able to read and know how to access the internet, you can do it.  Tip: let the youngsters help you.  They love to share their superior knowledge.
•   Facebook is not from the devil. Same with MXit and the other social sites.  In a lot of these cases the unknown lends itself to wrongful and evil interpretations.  But I won’t disagree that the devil may also know about these tools.
• Facebook helps me to communicate with my friends and family. It facilitates the sharing of knowledge … or so they say!
• It’s the biggest photo album in the world.  You don’t have to wait for your children to come back from holiday to see their photographs.  You can view it the moment they share it on Facebook.
• News is instant.  Much like the old plaastelefoon in days gone by.  It feels if you are eavesdropping on your friends.  The only difference; it’s legal!
• But be warned!  Facebook can also be dangerous.
• Say only on Facebook what you would be prepared to say in public.  The same with photographs.  Only post pictures that you would be proud to see printed on the back page of a national newspaper.
• Watch out whom you allow as your friends. Everybody is not your friend.  You don’t have to accept their invitation to become friends.  Especially people who haven’t been friends with you over the last fifty years.  Suddenly they want to be your friend.  Nonsense! Just remember that you already have enough friends as it is.
• I have discovered that there is a difference between a personal profile and a page for a business.  A lot of people don’t know this fact and open a personal page for their business. Do a bit of research before you dive into the ocean of social media …

Dat daar altyd doemprofete oor enige nuwe tendens/uitvindsel sal wees, is ‘n feit soos ‘n koei.  Maar ek het my les jare gelede met die sage van die vrotmelkkultuur geleer!  Toe ek na maande se wik en weeg besluit om tot dié geledere toe te tree, toe val die bedryf se boom uit …

Nie weer nie.  Ek onderskryf nou Jack MacAllister se motto if you don’t make dust, you eat dust.

Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell. – Seth Godin

The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.  – Bill Gates

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks.  – Author Unknown

Image: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot/FreeDigitalphotos