Pros and Cons, My first month at Facebook
FB was driving me nuts
Only after 2 days from signing up, I was on the verge of leaving again.
Facebook Emoji, Photo Pixabay
Wealthy Affiliate is great
Do you realize how nice we have it here at Wealthy Affiliate? The "tranquil" layout, no moving and interrupting things? Dear me, on my small screen is was soooo busy and I nearly quit.
To tell you why I decided to join FB I have to go back in time. I started my 2 websites in early 2017. For me that was a gigantic step, leaving me kind of exhausted as I was overwhelmed by all the technical stuff. I had no thought in my mind of joining any social media, my fork was full.
Starting on Pinterest
Luckily you learn and advance so then came the time I tackled Pinterest. I started in February 2018 and after an initial time of being confused (this is normal for me with new systems), I started liking it. I made 12 boards and Michael made nice pins with private photos. I posted my published posts and some of them were very successful, like the one on sugar which got some 45k impressions, and the other one on Kombucha tea.
Funny thing is that in the beginning I had mainly a female audience but that has changed over time, now it is more male, as the things I write about are often more science orientated, etc.
It is now a couple of months ago that I went back to an old post of Paul, many of you will remember him. I used the link he provided in that post to assess my posts rank and I was dismayed as my website could actually rate quite nicely but social media was lacking, Pinterest does not seem to count, the total points were not making me happy. Here is Paul's post.
I have great friends
I have a nice and helpful group of friends here who said I should not worry as they would share my posts on FB. I needed to install those icons and all would be fine. I did put those icons but as I was not on FB with an account those icons did not help. I realized there was no way around it anymore. If I wanted to improve my website ranking I had to join.
I made the leap
As I said at the beginning of my post, FB drove me nuts. It started already with the signup as you need a telephone number. I do not use a mobile. The one I have is more than 20 years old, is switched off in my handbag and will probably be used a maximum of 3 times a year. In the end, Michael had to let me use his cell number because using my landline number for the sign-up, did not function.
Completely lost
Well, I went there and got completely lost in the sea of messages. I have a small laptop and if you then get various pop-ups while you are doing/reading something it can get very confusing. My inbox suddenly had like 200 friends requests. I made the mistake to click ok, without knowing what I was doing, thinking it is OK when they are friends of people I know.
It soon became a never-ending story of friends of friends and again friends. I completely lost the line, so I stopped. My advice for those who want to join FB, never accept a friend request before looking at the person's profile. There is no guaranty you might like this person even if they are friends of friends etc, I suppose you get what I mean.
People join FB for multiple reasons, I did to promote my websites and have a look at what my friends are doing. Here at Wealthy Affiliate, most people have the same goal in mind so we are all looking in the same direction so to speak. I can tell you that Wealthy Affiliate is an oasis compared to FB. Thank God that Kyle and Carson have one very important rule. No religion or politics on our platform, very peaceful and good. FB, on the other hand, is an eye-opener as here people do not hold back at all. You will discover aspects of your friends you had no clue about or only lightly.
I did not know how FB functions and it took a while to learn. Slowly but surely, I started to understand it. There were some technical hiccups but that always happens when I do something new. When people would call me on the phone I say sorry, I am here for my websites and not to socialize, especially not to flirt.
Hey, all this flirting back and forth, little hearts and flowers sent takes up a lot of time which I do not want to spend on that activity. My Michael was sitting with a longish face in the background but he knows he can trust me. One man found on the internet is enough for me.
Some strange things are happening
I became friends with a young lady, a friend of friends you know, who wrote in her profile she worked at the FB office. Well, I suppose there are many offices worldwide so I had no alarm bell ringing, yet.
After a few days, she sent me a message: Hi, how are you? On this I answered: Still getting used to FB, I find it rather confusing.
She said: You will get used to it after a little while. Have you heard about the promotion......? I said: I have not yet.
Then she came with: CEO Mark Zuckerberg has given me permission to contact you......... and then suddenly she started to talk about $500.000. I was more than surprised so I answered: ???
I did not hear back from her. I contacted FB help center, they answered the next day. From my private messages what I had said was still visible but her part was taken away. The photo of her profile had also disappeared, reason: this account is being checked. I have not seen her back.
The second incident is quite a story. In this case, a man sent me a Hi, how are you. I again said: Still finding out how everything functions on FB. The answer was a drawing of a kissing couple. I did not react to this and shortly afterward I received a sex photo to be followed by a sex GIF. For those who do not know what a sex GIF is it is a moving sex photo.
I contacted FB and they sent me an answer the next day. The owner of that account had been warned. It was quiet for some days and then it happened again, one sex GIF after the other, I have quite a nice collection by now. I contacted FB again. They answered and up till now that person has not molested me anymore but his account is still active.
Finding out about people from a new perspective
When you meet the people you have known from WA for quite a long time here on FB you might discover unknown things about them. On FB there is no restriction on religion or politics. I have seen some awkward and hateful things I am not happy with. I will not comment on it even if I "know" this person from WA. These people dare to show sides of them which were hidden before and sometimes are not pretty, to say the least.
I will leave it at this. By now I have become used to the system, the layout is still confusing sometimes and I would like to give you one tip. Be careful what you post. As little private information as possible. Before accepting somebody's friends request check their profile and look at what they post, you might be in for a surprise. I have not checked my ranking yet as I think I need a bit more time on FB. Ah, I nearly forgot, it is nice to see the likes growing on a post.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Recent Comments
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Good Evening Taetske.
I enjoyed reading your very interesting post and learning about your experience with FaceBook.
In addition to my personal FaceBook page, I have pages for my dog website and my affiliate site. However, I've not been productive with content this year so I don't gain benefit from those pages at present.
Your post reminded me of when I was scammed on FaceBook by a man who promoted himself as a high-ranking Amy personal. I can't remember what rank he claimed fame to, but it was impressive, in the short term. This was quite a story and he told me he was coming to New Zealand to visit me. At that stage, it became very scary and I ignored him. He then started begging me to keep in contact. That became ridiculous. Why would a high ranking Army personnel need my company!. With the help of my daughter, I realized this was a scam. Since then, I've experienced other scams, although not on Facebook. These types of experiences have caused me to question so many things.
Thanks very much for the link to Paul's post. On my mobile phone, earlier today, I entered the url of my niche site. So much information appeared which looked very valuable. I couldn't use any of it at that time due to other duties requiring my attention. I've now lost it off my phone. I will use that process again, but from my computer. Paul used to share some great 'tricks' and I missed him when he vanished from the Top 200. He did stay with WA for a while. Maybe he is still a member!
With best wishes _ Valerie
Good Morning Valerie,
Well, the Army has not knocked on my door yet but in the past, it did happen. When I started to talk to Michael on Skype these type of people suddenly popped up.
With Pinterest, it was the same thing.
When you click on Pauls profile you will see his account is still active. When you scroll down a bit you will see messages from a couple of us. You will see who was in contact with Paul and gave us some news but that is 1 year ago.
You will find me on FB under Taetske Guillaume.
I am going to send you a PM now.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Thank you, Taetske,
Yes, I did find that Paul is still with WA. He must be a very busy man, which is great, of course.
I'll open your PM now.
Best wishes _Valerie
hey hi Taetske --- enjoyed reading your post here and did give me the giggles in a few places --- gawd -- commentary on the human condition -- (head shake) ... well, well, guess that's why i'm not enamoured with 'social media' (misnomer if you ask me) ... anyway, keep safe during your travels along FB ---
thanks for sharing your experience with us on it ....
keep well & keep happy! ... all the best, cheerio ... :)
*(back to reading my books -- it's cozy curled up with them!)
Good Morning Keisha,
Thank you for your visit. Right you are, the same as with the word health care, one could skip the care, oh well, till we all wake up....
Before I started with a computer in 2013 I used to read. I have been reading a lot all my life. Do you have a fireplace? I would love to read in front of it, a glass of red wine and some nice background music.
Today some house cleaning is on the program, not my favorite. Michael always helps a lot.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
... well, the temporary home i'm at has an outdoor patio fireplace with outdoor furniture ... i've learned that the best position to read for the body is to upside down prone and propped with pillows or cushions for correct alignment and book at the right angle ... sounds different, yes --- my fabulous physio taught me proper body mechanics ...
... always fun be a wee yogie ... can levitate anytime! ... lol ... cheerio ... :)
Proceed with caution.
Great Post.
Thank you, Teatski for sharing.
Regards from Southern Ontario, Canada.
Paul.
Good Morning Paul,
Yes, promise, I will be more careful from now on. I did not have time yet to go back and check all the profiles but now I am looking before accepting a new friend. It is quite amazing what one sees on this FB.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Aloha Taetske! Good morning!
Wonderful post! I can relate to so so many points you addressed! I'm still using fb very limited and have to learn many things. My goal is to use fb for my purposes and not getting used by it hehe...
Working on it!
Big hug to Costa del Sol!
Aloha from Hawaii!
Jenna
Good Morning Jenna,
Nice to see you. One should always try to remain the boss and not let these modern things take over, not always easy I must say.
I am very charmed by bUnited and as they have many languages we will show it here in the pueblo.
The concept of helping the planet and people at the same time I find very appealing.
Abrazos back from the south, Taetske
Yes, Taetske! ;-)
I absolutely agree with bUnited. I posted a very good and helpful review on my fb page. From my 20 invitations 0 response. Guess, people have some trouble to understand the idea.
Many hugs!
Sending Love and Light!
Aloha, Jenna
Good Morning Jenna,
Remember when CBD fever broke out on WA? I have done 5 MLMs in my life so know more than enough about it.
bUnited is not an MLM and very easy to understand. You help the planet and the people a great and innovative concept.
Did you see the widget Michael made? under my photo on the website sidebar.
I am still doing SiteComments so now, in my reply, I tell my commenters to have a look at the widget
As bUnited has so many languages we are going to talk to people in the village as Wednesday is our shopping day.
It will come, I am growing slowly but steadily. Anybody with a computer can do it.
Greetings from the south of Spain,Taetske
Good morning dear Taetske!
Yes! I never did MLM but I got the idea in a minute.
It is a great idea with the widget!!! Thank you! I will check out yours and do it!
:-))))))))
You are awesome, Taetske!!!
Many hugs to Costa del Sol!
With Aloha from Hawaii!
Jenna
Hi Taetske
I hated FB at first and am still not a big fan but it can give you access to so many groups that you can share with to encourage traffic.
I'm about to go on FB and search for groups that match my niche and like them and share my site or an article to them.
I have to fix my Pinterest and my Instagram today as they are not working so well.
I've also been suggested to join Linkedin...and will look at that today.
The easiest which I knew nothing about was twitter!
Anyway I hope you are warm and well in the south of Spain
Best wishes
Daisy
Good Morning Daisy,
Thank you for stopping by.
Pinterest and FB will be my absolute limit as on these 2 I am spending my evening hours.
I was asked to join some groups but think it is getting too much. I am in one and that will be it for the moment.
Thank God the African heatwave left after nearly 1 week pestering many European countries. Here it is ok, today 33C
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
I agree, it's time consuming, I see why some people hire people to help out not that I would but it must be helpful.
So good to hear the heat wave didn't last too.long.
Sounds just perfect at your place.
Great to hear from you
Daisy
I have FB and probably am active on there once every week for about 5 minutes. I should take advantage of it as it does seem to have a influence on the 'site' ranking. I post on the site, then 'pin' on Pinterest, I then 'tweet' my 'pin'. Finally I post the 'pin' on my FB page and then share it on my timeline.
I should use it more, a necessary evil, as they say.
Good evening Twack,
I dedicate the evenings to Pinterest and now FB. I can see that Pinterest is suffering as it does not get all my attention anymore.
Oh, well, I am only one person and I cannot do more.
Now it is babies bedtime, I am cooked.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Taetske,
I agree that FB can be a mixed bag. I mostly dislike it in fact. I set up a personal account many years ago and its most redeeming feature was reminding me of a friend's birthday. My business FB page has over 4,000 "friends" and likes but I think the majority are people who are after me to return the favor. I honestly don't think it's made me a penny, despite doing a couple of paid promotions last year.
Luckily I haven't encountered anyone sending me lewd messages or sex GIFs lol.
Hope the weather's nice in the south of Spain. It's rainy and humid here in NY.
Erica
Good evening Erica.
Who would have thought I would be doing so many "strange" things when I started with a computer in 2013? Anyhow, it is ok, I kind of manage and try to keep cool.
Talking about cool, the big African heatwave has left kind of. it lasted nearly a week and many European countries became a victim of it. I live 8km away from the coast so It was ok with 30C but there were places in middle and the north of Spain which had up to 44C=111.2F France had the hottest day since these things are recorded.
Big fires in Spain and also Germany. It is predicted that by the year 2100 Portugal and Spain will be a desert. It does not look good.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
I really enjoyed your post! I once had a Facebook account and became sooo overwhelmed by it that I closed it...lots of craziness!
I recently started another account, but being very very careful and taking my time...haven't even did my profile yet.
Not looking forward to being part of Facebook at all, but your advice is great and honestly, I will only be on there for business and not so much for friendship.
Good evening Nubian and Mitch,
On FB I use this Gravatar picture, as background picture a beautiful sunset photo from my patio and I say: I live in the south of Spain and that is it. The people from WA know more about me as I have been here for a while. I give likes to my friends or write a little message but sorry, no hearts, flowers or other little twiddly things. I am not that type of person you know. Wishing you success. All the best.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
I have been on Facebook for many years. I joined back when it was only a social network. Long before people used it for advertising or trying to sell themselves as life coaches, their latest how to get rich course or personalized dog harnesses.
As a result, I only have about 600 friends. But, I literally know each and every one of them. The ones I haven't met have at least 30 friends in common with me, not just one or two.
The only time use Facebook to promote anything is if it's something that is really useful.
So, unless you know how or want to learn to use Facebook's paid ad strategy, it's best to just think of Facebook as a way to stay in touch with old friends.
This is only my opinion, if course. I'm sure there are some here who have had success using Facebook for marketing.
Good afternoon Hal,
My 2 websites are not product promoting sites. I write about things which might be considered useful information by some people. I do like to put an Amazon book which fits the topic I am talking about.
In 2 and a half years I have not sold anything=not earned a cent.
As my websites were "penalized" for not being on social media I felt I had to join. I will put my posts on FB and that is mainly it. I do hope to improve my ranking as then more people will read my posts. The news has to get out there as there are too many people who do not know what is happening in our world.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
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Hi Taetske, Thaks for sharing your Facebook experience, which sounds quite scary. It all seems pretty out of control to me, so maybe I need to learn more about it, or close out altogether, which I have considered, Best Alan
Good evening Alan,
Thank you for stopping by.
We, Wealthy Affiliaters are fearless right? Even I, after not having control, in the beginning, mastered the FB beast. If I can everybody can I assure you.
Just be careful with your private information. I know many people do but I will not post private photos on there and try to be cautious with my comments. I do admit sometimes I cannot help myself as the things you see are unimaginable but I try to close my eyes and quickly move on.
It depends why you want to join FB, as I said in my post I do it to promote my websites.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske