A More Sensible Approach to Facebook

By Laurel Miltner | Posted May 31, 2010 | 2 Comment(s) | Filed in: Social Media

Nearly 25,000 (update: more than 30,000) people are quitting Facebook today. These individuals are concerned about the control they have over their information, and have decided to abandon Facebook after feeling that the company does not respect its “customers” (quotes intended; Facebook is a free service) or their concerns about what they share online, and who is able to access that data.

Announcements made by Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg at last month’s F8 conference rocked the Internet world, largely due to the introduction of the Open Graph. This concept of increased connectivity across the web — along with programming to bring concept to reality — has major implications for every Internet user, and brings us one step closer to the semantic web.

The Open Graph and associated social plugins have the potential to change the way we share and process information, interact with others (both those close to us as well as extended networks) and do business. The downside? It also spreads our personal information across the web in new, rather lax ways; privacy as we know it is being seriously challenged, and Facebook is quickly becoming the closest thing we’ve seen to Orwell’s Big Brother.

So should you, like so many others, send a message to Zuckerberg and Co. by quitting Facebook? Before making any rash decisions, I think the best first step is to assess your reasons for using Facebook. Then, update your account accordingly.

I understand that for many, Facebook is nothing more than a place to connect with friends in a virtual environment, an outlet to share personal stories and anecdotes. If you’re on Facebook for this reason, see yourself as a private person, and don’t see the site as your one key connection to a large group of people, then perhaps deleting your account may be in your best interest. 

However, for the millions of people that see Facebook as something more — business professionals looking to build their personal brands and establish thought leadership in their industry or areas of expertise — I’d argue that Facebook is one of the most powerful marketing tools available.

That being said, there are ways you can (and, in my opinion, should) update your account to enable different kinds of connections across your personal network, as well as increase your ability to be found on the web.

Update Your Profile.

When is the last time you reviewed and edited your Facebook profile? With the increased connections being enabled, now is the prime time to go through your profile, remove overly personal information, update anything that is outdated, and really think about what your bio says about you to people that may find you online. Think about SEO at this point, and use keywords that best describe you — both personally and professionally — and use your profile to give others a really good understanding of who you are and what you’re interested in.

Edit Application Settings.

Under “Account,” “Application Settings" in the top-right navigation, scroll through all the applications you’ve enabled over the years, and remove or update any that are outdated, or in some cases, just plain weird.

Update Friends.

Exes from high school, random connections from college, people you just accepted because it was easier or nicer than ignoring the request… whatever the case may be, get those old connections out of there.

This also includes removing any removing random pages that you liked at one time or another for comedic value. For example, in going through my “friends list” I came across …

 Yes please!

Create Friends Lists.

You can do this in two ways: 1) Click on “Friends” in the left-hand navigation, then the “Create a List” button at the top of the page. 2) Click “Account,” “Edit Friends” in the top-right navigation, then “Create new List.” From here, you can scroll through your friends list, including pages you like, and click on anyone you want to put in the group. You can also search for individual people/companies to speed up the process.

By grouping your friends into lists that make sense for you, you can customize their experience with you on Facebook through the updates you give them access to.

For example, I have about a dozen groups, for things like colleagues, business contacts, close friends, family, fan pages, etc. If I want to post an update about something business-related that my friends could care less about, I may customize the people that can view this update for only colleagues and business contacts.

Alternatively, if I’m posting something about where I’m going that night or a silly personal anecdote, I may customize just for close friends and family; or disallow a certain group from seeing it.

You can also use lists to more easily browse through your friends’ most recent activity and updates — making things like catching up on your news feed much more convenient, especially if you're only interested in a particular kind of information, such as new news articles, or what’s going on with your family members, or what local restaurants are having specials on that day. To view updates from individual lists, just click on “Friends” and the list you want to view from underneath it, in your left-hand navigation column.

Tip: When you add a new friend or connection, put them in the appropriate list(s) right away to save yourself from an overhaul in the future.

One noticeable downside to these features: they may not be available on mobile devices. I definitely can’t customize updates or scroll through individual friends lists on my iPhone, for example. UPDATE 10/21/10: You can customize updates via the Facebok iPhone app.

UPDATE 10/21/10: Another option for organizing friends is to use Facebook's new Groups Feature.

Update Your Privacy Settings.

Under “Account” in the top-right navigation, click on “Privacy Settings,” where you’ll see options to control who has access to information in the following categories:

• Personal Information and Posts
• Contact Information
• Friends, Tags and Connections
• Search
• Applications and Websites
• Block List

Though Facebook is in the process of rolling out more streamlined privacy controls, not all users have access to this yet. In addition, I rather like the granular controls, which are quite in-depth, and actually give you detailed control over who can see what information about you.

A few things (that may seem counter-intuitive) that that I’d recommend for accounts built for establishing your personal brand are:

• In “Personal Information and Posts,” make your Bio and Comments on Posts available to everyone. This way, new people can find you and connect — especially if you also give everyone access to find you through the Search area.
• In “Contact Information,” let everyone see your Website, Add Me as a Friend and Send Me a Message.
• In “Friends, Tags and Connections,” let everyone see information you’re comfortable with regarding your Current City, Hometown, Education and Work, Activities, Interests and Things I Like.
• In “Search,” give everyone access to Facebook Search Results, and allow Public Search Results.
• “Applications and Websites” are a beast of their own, and this is where the Open Graph really comes into play — particularly in the Instant Personalization Pilot Program area. This is the section that enables you to let third-party sites and applications access your data. Think hard about what you want to let others access here, and what you’re sharing on other sites, before updating any of these settings. Personally, I block a lot of applications, but do allow instant personalization because I think it’s pretty slick, and allows for more open connections with friends, as well as a more personalized experience on other sites.
• In the “Block List” area, you can block any individuals that you do not want to be able to access your information. Though likely not strong enough for very serious situations, this could be a helpful feature for some.

Now, for someone who started on Facebook for fun and to connect with friends, I know that these settings may feel a bit strange, but for personal branding, these settings will help people find and recognize you, so that you establish yourself and expand your thought leadership. By using broader settings for non-sensitive information, and thinking about search marketing when creating your bio and making updates, you’re giving people the ability to find you, learn more about you and connect.

That’s It… For Now.

I’m not going to lie to you — it’s likely that this process will take you some time. (As in, probably a few hours.) However, I think it’s time well spent in order to improve your online representation and ongoing reputation, and have a little more control over your online privacy.

When working with your Facebook account, my best advice is to simply consider that anything you post online is public information by nature. No matter what privacy settings you put in place, or how well you organize things, it’s simply not a good idea to post information online that you don’t want to share. Really think about this when using Facebook (or any social network) and you’ll be just fine.

Ongoing Management and Maintenance.

• Every day or two: Check out your Facebook wall to make sure that the mix of information appearing represents you well. Also, review newly tagged photos of yourself and remove the tag on any that don't present you in a way you're comfortable with.
• Every few weeks: Log out and run a search for yourself on Google, and see what shows up for Facebook.
• Every month or two: Go back through your profile, friends and settings, and make any necessary tweaks.

One last word of advice: Think about your Facebook profile like your home. If you straighten up on a regular basis, you can largely avoid the need for major clean-up sessions.

Laurel Miltner is a consultant at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter @laurelmackenzie, or connect on Facebook at Facebook.com/laurelmiltner.

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