Facebook was a mistake and now I'm all a-Twitter!
What is all the fuss about social media? What preceded the hype about Facebook when it was first introduced in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskowitz and Chris Hughes? It was a lawsuit. Facebook was what happened after an attempt to encourage internet users to rate photos of others went horribly wrong.
The idea of a social network that provided the facility to share photos was originally called Facemash. Zuckerberg wrote the software for this in 2003 and started populating his site with images of students at Harvard. These were of course obtained illegally by him hacking into the security network of the university and retrieving ID images of the students.
It wasn't very long before the site was shutdown and Zuckerberg faced serious charges of theft and violation of copyrights and of privacy. Expulsion from Harvard was also threatened. Charges were subsequently dropped and not five months later he launched a new site called Thefacebook.
This too blew up in his face when he faced accusations of stealing an idea for social networking from Harvard seniors. The matter was settled out of court and in 2004, Zuckerberg and his three companions changed the name of the site to what is now known as Facebook. By 2009 it had established itself as the world's leading social networking service.
The "mistake" resulted in Zuckerberg becoming the youngest multi-billionaire in the world.
I only became aware of this background today when I was setting up my first Facebook account along with Pinterest, Google+ and Twitter. I've always been terrified of social networks. Too many people knowing too many things. It was always red-flagged as far as I was concerned. I'm still cautious and with good reason I believe.
Nevertheless, I've been tweeting on my Twitter and adding +1s with my Google. If you're also new to these social networks enter in lightly and don't overstay your welcome. I can see how they can so easily become a major distraction and divert your attention from what is actually the objective and that is to share, not to put down roots.
All the best to you,
Brian
Recent Comments
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Thanks for a great post, Brian. I, too, am cautious about social networking sites. I have very little on my profile on them. I know I will need to get on Twitter and others, but I'm in no hurry and will wait until the lesson that assigns that as a task in the training. Carol
That sounds sensible to me, Carol. I only signed up to these accounts because that was a requirement of the training thus far. Otherwise I would have given it a wide berth.
All the best,
Brian
Hi, Brian. I understand. I don't think much of them, either, but will comply with the lesson when I get there. Carol
Hello Carol, I understand what you're saying about social network sites, but at the same time, I feel it is a good place to sell yourself and give people the confidence they need, in a good way. The only problem is with these social networking sites, it is easy to blow yourself up in a very un-humble way, so I think we have to be honest and realistic about our profiles. Just a few thoughts.
Enjoy your day.
Roy
After I followed a few people on Google+, there was an awful lot of stuff on there, and I couldn't find my own posts. Obviously I don't know how to use the site yet! I agree it might be a good thing for people to get to know us so they trust our posts more. But I'm still not very much in favor of them. Will do what I have to for the training, but that's about all I plan to do with them.
My apologies for the late reply Carol, I missed your message. Jay has some training on Google+, here's the link: Getting Started: Google+ for Traffic I hope this helps.
Roy
I hear you well Brian, especially in the last paragraph, social media can take up a huge amount of time. I believe that most of that time would be better spent writing blog posts, I also think most of us underestimate the power of LinkedIn, which is probably the most professional network and oldest, I think?
Thank you for posting Brian.
Roy
Hi Roy. Now LinkedIn is a network that I haven't yet looked into so I'm glad you brought that up. I will investigate further as I believe that you have made a good point there.
Thanks for that.
Brian
Hi, Roy. I can see how it could be beneficial to my business, but I refused to sign up for LinkedIn because they said they wanted all my contacts.
I don't give my friends' personal information to anyone without their consent, so have refused several invitations for that reason. How did you get around that requirement? Carol
Hello Carol, thank you for your question, first of all are you signing up from a mobile phone or a laptop, I would definitely sign up from my laptop as often mobile devices seem to have limited features. Secondly, I'm sure that there is an option to skip this issue, often if I look at LinkedIn on my mobile phone, which isn't very often, it asked if I want to connect my contacts and I don't. It may be worth putting your questions into Google and seeing what people say, but I am sure there is an option.
Just for your information, I believe that LinkedIn has huge potential, but some reason Facebook seems to have all the publicity.
Enjoy your day.
Roy
Thank you for your reply Brian, I have just replied to Carol below about LinkedIn and I really think that LinkedIn is more powerful than most people care to believe. I know of someone who is now highly successful due to him using the power of LinkedIn. This particular person was unemployed and they just spent their time learning about LinkedIn and ended up writing a course on the power of LinkedIn, he is now highly successful. I believe we need to leverage the power from LinkedIn.
Enjoy your day.
Roy
Hi Roy and Carol,
I have joined LinkedIn. I wasn't asked to send contact information. The only option that was given about contacts was whether I would like to include my email contacts to see who was also on LinkedIn.
My new profile is linkedin.com/in/thelegitimateaffiliate
Let me know if you are able to add me to your following and send me your profile address. I don't if that is impolite to ask? Not sure with these social things. :)
Chat soon.
Brian
Thanks for the info, Roy. I am very low tech and do not even have a smart phone. I use an old desktop computer with Windows 7 because I hated Windows 10. Will consider it again if giving them my contacts isn't really a requirement to sign up. Maybe I over reacted when I saw them asking for them. I don't recall it having been put as a choice, though.
Carol
Good morning Brian, I didn't realise you came from South Africa, a very beautiful part of the world I believe?
I have sent you a connection request on LinkedIn, I am very pleased that you have joined, you probably know that you can upgrade to a paid version. I did try this a few years ago and I'm sure there are many benefits, I felt I needed more time to utilise the benefits. I'm currently using the free version of LinkedIn, but I may upgrade to the next level at some point when I have time to experiment.
Enjoy your day.
Roy
You got that right. It's a waste of time in my book, but will play along when I have to. Carol
Hi Jerry. Ironically these social networks have generated some of the most anti-social behavior ever witnessed before. Everybody is too busy in their own little world to even give somebody else the time of day.
Best to you.
Brian
BrianCh,
The way to get social to work for you is to ignore the negative and to concentrate on the positive. You have to find a way to get them and any other audience to think and act in a positive manner. That way you will end up with a larger audience than you thought. Your audience will be more likely to help you than most others would.
Thanks,
Jerry
I have allot to still learn about all these social media platforms so I'm going to take your advice and stick to that which is positive.
Thanks,
Brian
You are very welcome my dear , We are here to share our works and experiences.
have a great rtime my dear
Hi and thank you for sharing. I never knew the background about Facebook. I definitely agree that you can waste countless hours on social media.
I found it quite interesting myself. Social networks are wonderful tools but they need to be handled with care. :)
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Good post Brian and there is reason to stay cautious on social networks but still it is good to share. It is so easy to stay in touch with friends these days.
tom
There are definite benefits to social media but they have to be treated with caution.
All the best,
Brian