Navigate The Blogosphere: Let's Talk Facebook

If you know me well enough or have known me for an extended period of time, you probably know that I have an addictive personality when it comes to virtual worlds.

I'm the highest posting member on my mommies' group - and I really haven't posted there regularly in about two years. Ehem. Still owning my crown, though.

So when it came to blogging and social media I honestly avoided Facebook for a really long time.

A REALLY. REALLY. REALLY long time.

Twitter? I loved Twitter. But Facebook? Nope. No. No thank you.

But  eventually, well, you already know. I caved because everyone said if you wanted to truly promote your blog you had to have a page for it. And if you wanted to promote in the right way you needed to engage on that page. And have fans. Likes. Whatever it was and is called - amiright?

And I so wished FB would let me just create a page all by myself. But would it?

No.

A big fat no at that.

And you can't join groups if you're not a person, either. Though that doesn't stop the spammers from trying. Ugh. Don't get me started or that will lead me to explaining why my Instagram account is set to private for the last year - give or take.

Anyway, I eventually joined Facebook.

I created my blog page.

It took me forever, but I got to 1K likes. And I'm even at the 2K+ mark these days. It's shocking.

But I started using it to my advantage. I started joining groups that meshed with me as a blogger and in doing so made connections with supportive and incredible people who helped promote my work honestly and helped connect me with the kinds of people I need in my bloggy world.

So why - you will wonder - did I spend some time today removing myself from a handful of Facebook groups?

Okay, fine, maybe you're not wondering - but I'm going to tell you anyway.

Sometimes I just let myself get pulled in. I feel wanted. I feel connected. And so I need to stay in these groups because I think they're where I need to be.

And then I realize. Oh - I haven't used that group in quite a while.

Or that one.

Or that one, either.

And so I start to drift away.

Not the ones that I run - although I've shut down one or two of those in my time. And not the ones that my friends have created - I don't disappear from those without warning.

But sometimes I'm in these "blogging" groups FOR bloggers, and I find I'm not really getting much out of them. And so I slide away. Because I know that nobody will really notice I'm gone.

And you know how FB tends to tell you about all these groups that all of your friends are in and you should join or be interested in and sometimes you even click through and believe it?

Granted, sometimes it is true. But other times? It's not worth the hassle.

Don't put that pressure on yourself. You don't need it. At. All.

So let yourself ignore those little so-called friendly reminders. And leave the groups that aren't working for you. It's okay if you're already Stumbling posts with colleagues and other writers in a blogging group you thrive in to leave the one that's just focused on StumbleUpon because you're not really using it as much as when you dove in head-first to that group.

And you can permit yourself to weed out the friend requests you've accepted because they had 20+ mutual friends of yours. But you know what? If you don't know who the heck they are and don't even want to wish them a happy birthday when you get the reminder? You're probably not meant to be Facebook friends. It'll be no sweat off either of your backs, I promise.

And then when you finally whittle down the groups you want and a handful that you're holding onto for the sake of future use or for relaxed connections and less stressful interactions, you'll find that Facebook lets you move your favorites and gives you a chance to access them quickly by moving them up on your sidebar.

And once you've got it all organized you'll find that managing your page or pages will be so much simpler. And to do that - you've got to pay attention to this part.

Use the scheduling tool.

Yes. I'm serious.

I'm not a big fan of scheduling things. Not posts. Not tweets. Not FB, either.

Generally speaking.

But if you're looking for more engagement on your Facebook page - and who isn't, right? - you might want to consider this.

And if you're looking to share posts that friends have written? The scheduling option is perfect for that. And if you're not looking to share posts that your friends have written? You need to be. Check out a post I wrote for SITS a while back that explains why supporting other bloggers is good for you.

Now - so you know what I'm talking about I've created a little graphic for you to check out.

And once I share that I have to stop. Because it's 9pm and I'm tired. And yes, I know, it's early, but I'm tired. So it's time to stop writing.

It's pretty self-explanatory, but if you need more details just let me know. I'm happy to help clarify what I am talking about.

Since sometimes I finish the conversation in my head. And if I do that, well, you're not going to hear the other half, are you?

And on that note I'm going to head up. Not to sleep - but to be offline and to read and to whatever else. Or - who am I kidding? To check Facebook. See ya there!

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