Facebook frustrations

Rosemary

So, the reason I joined Facebook at all was that many of my actual friends are actually on it. It’s a quick way to see what they’re up to — sort of a digital version of running into them as your going about your chores in town or at the mall.

It’s as if all your friends lived in the same small town; you wouldn’t have long deep conversations each time you pass on the street. It’d be: “Hey, how you doing?” “Aw, my cat threw up on my best bedspread!” “Not the blue one you got last year?” “Yeah, that one.” “Well, gotta go.” “See ya!”

There’s much to be said for this sort of conversation. It’s not so much an actual conversation as a continuance of contact. At some point you’ll get together for coffee or a glass of wine, or something and talk deeply and from the heart. But the intermittent “Hey, hi!” prevents the distance from growing too great to bridge.

However, I’m a writer, and tend to, um, write. Casual conversation, not so much.

Even face-to-face, I don’t generally say things like, “My cat threw up on my bedspread.” (Which she did. Bet you didn’t know that! Ooh, I’m such a secretive, mysterious person!)

I’ve found that I like blogging; Facebook posting, less so. Blogging is more like that one-on-one conversation you have with a friend over that cup of coffee, or wine.

But I figured I needed to be on Facebook… So I could see my friends waving at me from across the street, if nothing else.

But hey! Facebook has a feature whereby you can tell it to take an external blog, and post it directly into Facebook! What could be finer? I can write my posts here, and those of my friends who don’t (for inexplicable reasons) read blogs, will still see what I’m up to, what I’m thinking about, and what I feel worth saying lately.

Plus, I can have a “fan” page on Facebook, open to anyone and everyone, and do the same thing. Piece of cake!

Yeah. Except.

Four days after my last post, it still has not been posted on Facebook. And this has been the pattern. Facebook claims it takes three hours; I’ve never seen it take less than two days.

In other words, once it reaches Facebook, it’s old news.

I can post a link by hand, but that’s duplicating effort. Which I did, in the case of “13 Ways”, because I didn’t want the idea to go stale before people saw it.

I’ve complained to Facebook about this. Got an auto-response.

Ha. They’re probably bogged down with people complaining to them about that whole new privacy outrage that’s been going on.

So, I haven’t decided yet what to do… is it worth staying on Facebook?

And meanwhile, if you do follow me on Facebook, and don’t hear anything for a long time.. sometimes it’s me, and sometimes it’s Facebook.


4 Responses to “Facebook frustrations”

  • Tucker Says:

    is it worth staying on Facebook?

    The publicity types will probably say “Heck yes!” It’s another publicity outlet, and a free one at that. And Facebook is a Big Deal right now. And it means that people can have “Rosemary Kirstein — writer” in their list of fan pages, and in theory someone might stumble across it that way.

    In practice, I dunno. Marketing and publicity and such all involve reaching larger numbers of people than I’m comfortable admitting even exist.

    I’d say it’s certainly worth staying but I have no idea whether it’s worth putting any effort into it. (Beyond posting there specifically when a new book / story / song is coming out, of course.) I read your blog mostly via RSS feed; I’m a “Fan” (or whatever the new term is for one who Likes) to show support and not really because I get any benefit from it that I don’t get elsewhere. But then my FB usage is relatively low anyway.

    tl;dr: Maybe. But as long as you keep writing here in between writing other things, I’m happy. 🙂

    • Rosemary Says:

      Tucker —

      I definitely prefer blogging over Facebook… but it’s a good place to see what my far-flung acquaintances are doing.

      And if a person were, say, looking for Rosemary Kirstein, and they happened to already belong to Facebook, it would be natural for them to check there first. After which, I hope they’d find the blog, come here!

  • Ute Says:

    I don’t like facebook at all. Everybody will know something about me – a bad thing in Germany. But I like to have a look into your live.

    • Rosemary Says:

      Ute —

      In Facebook, the only people who see what you post in your own account are the people who you accept as “friends”. So, that’s where you have some control. But if you leave a comment on what someone else has said, then everyone who is that person’s friend can see it. And that’s where you have no control.