What is Facebook Good For?

I cautiously joined Facebook about four-and-a-half years ago after receiving numerous invites, but in the beginning I was too afraid to drink the social media Kool-Aid. In fact, after opening my account, I wound up not using it for eight months. It was pretty intimidating and I didn’t feel a need to rush into this new-fangled form of communication. Besides, I’m a fairly private person and pushing myself into learning social media networking skills was pretty daunting... And most important, what if I looked dumb?

So, to make my entry into cyber networking doable, I decided I needed a goal, something to make Facebook a means to an end...a reason to give it my time and energy.

In my line of work, I’m in constant contact with clients and colleagues via the phone and / or e-mail; my question was: Could I use Facebook to help build up my communication skills and present my thoughts in a clearer, more concise manner?

I’ve found that over the past few years my answer to this question is: “Yes!”

I have both a “personal friends” account and a “professional friends” account. You might wonder, what’s the purpose of two accounts? And I’ll tell you; this is my solution to the different types of people I communicate with on a regular basis. I don’t want to bore my family and friends with posts around leadership development, hiring, HR and other areas they would have absolutely no interest in and vice versa.

For me, Facebook has met my original goal of upping my communication skills and stretching myself out of my comfort zone. I think I have made almost every dumb Facebook mistake a person can make, and you know what? I survived!

Facebook serves me now as a wonderful connection to friends, family, clients, and colleagues all around the world.

How are you managing Facebook or the other social media sites?

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