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Facebook: Friend or Associate?

Thursday, May 28, 2009

More and more, people are beginning to realize the benefit of using Facebook as a networking and marketing tool for their business.  But many people also want to use this social media tool to be, well, social with family and friends.  So how can you effectively utilize Facebook for both personal and professional use?  The answer is quite simple:  filters.

When Facebook redesigned the look and feel of the site in March 2009, more user-control over various elements came with it.  The ability to granularly decide who sees what was finally possible. 

So how can you take advantage of this?  To start, you must first have your friends arranged into lists.  Then, to control the content those groups see, you need to change the privacy setting for each Facebook application.  Likewise, you can filter whose statuses you see.

Friend Lists

I have six different lists:  Following, Friends, Family, Professional, Genealogy, and Writing.  Three of these categorize my friends by type, while two are reserved for friends that share special interests; the “Following” list I will explain later.  You might start out with the basic three (friends, family, and professional) as you can always add more lists later.

To create a Friend list:

  1. Click on the Friends button in the top navigation bar.
  2. Click the Create New List button.
  3. Enter a name for the list.
  4. Choose the friends to include in that list.

Tip:  When adding a friend or accepting a request, place them in the appropriate lists.

addlist

Application Privacy Settings

Privacy settings for applications differ from that of your overall account.  Essentially, you can dictate per application who can see what.  For example, let’s say you use Notes to share personal information that perhaps you wouldn’t want your professional contacts to see.  In this case, you would set the Notes settings to allow only friends and family to view your notes.

To change application settings:

  1. Go to the Applications menu in the bottom toolbar.
  2. Choose Edit Applications.
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  3. Change the Privacy Settings for each of the applications you want to control.
    1. Click the Edit Settings link.
    2. Under the Profile tab, change Privacy Settings to Customize.
    3. Choose Some Friends.
    4. Enter the list name(s) of those you want to give permission to.

Filter Who You See

When you have a lot of Facebook friends, it can be cumbersome to keep up on everything.  This is where the friend lists become even more invaluable.

As I mentioned earlier, I have a list called Following.  In that list, I place the people that I really want to keep track of.  It’s a mixture of family, friends, and professional contacts.  Instead of the default News Feed, I choose this list to display when I come to my Facebook home page.  Now when I come to Facebook, it only shows me statuses for the people in that list particular list.  I can check out the statuses of other friends by clicking on another list in the menu on the left.

You can change your home page to display a list of your choosing by placing the desired list at the top.

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Tip:  You can also filter out certain applications.  If you don’t want to see who’s Superpokin’ who, hover over the top-right corner of the status and chose the appropriate action from the Hide menu that appears.

There you have it.  A way to keep your personal and professional life separate on Facebook and to see only what you want to see when you want to see it.

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SnagIt: Using File Properties

Monday, May 18, 2009

Want to know where you got a screen capture from, or perhaps when you created it?  In SnagIT, it’s a simple as “right-click.”

Simply locate the thumbnail in either the Library or the Capture Tray, right-click on it, and select Properties.

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The Details window shows you the application of where the capture originated, the file name, and file type.  But the neat thing is that it displays when it was created and modified, the website you obtained it from, and where you stored it.  Clicking on the Websites link will take you directly to the source, while clicking on the Location link will open the folder of where it’s stored locally.

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Mediabistro Circus

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

“Extraordinary Impact:  Where Media Meets Technology”

Mediabistro Circus: Extraordinary Impact explores the convergence of digital and traditional media, why it matters, and how it affects the work you do. It’s two days of inspired programming designed to bring together hundreds of top-level professionals from across the media disciplines.

The Mediabistro Circus will be held on June 2-3 at the Times Center in New York.  Early-bird registration ends today (5/13), but you can still register.  In between jobs?  There’s an unemployment rate.  A student?  There’s a student rate.

Anyone who is in the following fields should plan to attend this event:

  • Journalism
  • Publishing
  • Graphic design
  • Writing/editing
  • Marketing/advertising
  • Public relations
  • New media

Head on over and sign up today!

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Last Chance for Early-Bird Rate

The Social Media Success Summit 2009 will be held from May 25th to June 17th. Thursday is your last chance to save 40% on the registration fee.

If you want to learn more about using social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, to complement your marketing strategy, this conference is for you. And the best part, it’s a virtual conference so no travel is involved.

From the comfort of your own computer, you can discover new and exciting ways to market yourself and/or your business using social media. You’ll hear from Mari Smith, an expert on using Facebook for business; Jason Alba, who knows the ins and outs of LinkedIn; and several other authorities on social media and marketing.

You can’t miss this event! Remember, sign up by Thursday (5/14) to receive 40% off the registration fee.

Hope to see you there!

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