Facebook – Trimming The Fat
The trend with Facebook for a while was to connect with as many people as possible. Boost your friend count by keeping up with networking connections, spying on past high school friends, and Facebook stalking random hotties you met at the bar. I first got my Facebook account in college, and at the time it was a great way to keep up with friends and acquaintances because lets be real, in college you never know when you’ll need a ride, find a friendly face in a new class, or a party connection for a Friday night out. But after graduating and joining the real world those needs change, along with the people you Facebook friend.
Recently I’ve trimmed the fat on my Facebook friend’s list. It started when I was closing in on 1,000 friends. I thought, “There’s no possible way I can remember all of these people.” So I started to delete the ones that I couldn’t. This became a once of month, when I’m bored kind of adventure. That is until I posted the following status:
“As I add new friends to Facebook… I feel it justified to delete old ones as it’s almost impossible for one to keep up with 800+ people at one time. Please don’t hate me if you find yourself removed…”
18 comments and 6 likes later, I had been challenged to trim my Facebook friend’s list to 333 people. I received comments that it was inspiring… that it would be liberating… friends encouraged me. But I don’t think most people thought I’d actually accomplish it.
So the epic adventure of unfriending 500+ people within a week began. In three hours I had removed 100 friends, which I posted about on my Facebook wall. This resulted in 17 comments of friends rejoicing that they had made the cut. The first cut wasn’t too hard, I just removed old friends that I had lost touch with, no biggie. The next day, I managed to get down to 564 friends. With each success I had friends begin to take the challenge themselves. By that night I was down to 483, which I had reached after going through all my high school connections and past college friends who I no longer talk to. That’s when it really became tough.
Some may think… who really needs to keep up with 500 people? But I have a lot of friends, coworkers, networking connections, a big family, and all of them are important! Right? I had to sit down on multiple occasions and focus on what friends I’d probably never speak to again. Some people had friend status because I hoped we’d reconnect one day, but the likelihood of that happening was slim to none, so they were removed. Then I focused on my coworkers… do I really want to be friends with my current coworkers? I decided I preferred to keep the relationships professional and they were all removed. I did however, keeppast coworkers as they served as networking connections. Networking connections were prioritized based on what types of jobs I’d like in the future and which connections were in that field. If you weren’t where I was headed…. You were removed. Then I looked at family. Only close family members who I actually spoke to were saved. Random long lost cousins, aunts I’d never met, and people who claimed we were family because we shared the same last name… all unfriended. Hey… if you’re really family, you can figure out another way to get in touch with me.
Alas, I only had another 100 more friends to remove in order to reach my goal. Nobody was safe. Some friends started to offer bribes for safety from the impending removal and I began sweating the next cuts. It took a couple more days but after combing through my remaining friends I somehow managed to cut my list down to 382 friends. I was so close to my goal that I forced myself to make some hard decisions… and cut people who most likely would realize they’d been cut over the next couple weeks in which bitterness will ensue (And it did.) But after all the nail biting, the following status was posted to my Facebook account:
“Take that (friend who challenged me)!!! Not only did I delete enough people to reach the 333 goal… I got it down to 330 Facebook friends!!! For all of you who can read this… You are the cream of the crop. I don’t know why… either you’re a good friend, have funny photos, post things that make me laugh, or are an intellectual equal. But congratulations for making the HUGE cut from almost 1,000 friends to the ELITE 330!”
21 likes and 16 comments from friends breathing a sigh of relief as they realized their spots on my friends list were secure. Other friends were well on their way to reaching the 333 goal for their own Facebook friends list. And I was basking in the glory of my triumph!
So what did I learn from all of this? Manage your resources. Sure it’s great to have 1,000 connections. But hoarding isn’t just keeping random junk in your house until it’s unlivable, it can also be keeping random friends on Facebook until you realize you don’t even remember who half of them are anymore. I don’t miss being friends with many of the people I’ve deleted yet. And if I really need to find some missing link, I can look them up again later on Facebook or Linked-in. A couple people have been asked to be added back, some are taking things personally even though we hadn’t spoke in a year, and I’ve addressed each of them as they come. No incredibly hard feelings yet. You may wonder how I’ll keep my list at 333 as I meet new people. The answer to that was posted in response on my Facebook wall:
“I will issue personalized “You’ve been cut” messages to those who must be unfriended in order to keep the 333 alive.”
Why don’t you take the challenge and trim your friend list down to 333?
Image Credit: Geekosystem
Safety and the Check-In Feature on Social Media
Don’t get me wrong; I play my part in the social media check-in craze. I enjoy the occasional restaurant or venue display linked to my Facebook and Twitter accounts, even more so when I score a deal or promotion. However, when you become a serial “check-in” user, not only are you bombarding our mini-feeds, you’re broadcasting your every move via Foursquare or Facebook Places [Ed. Note - Facebook recently changed their location-based tagging.] for the entire social networking world to see. Not only are these social media overloads exhausting to watch, they are extremely unsafe for those participating.
Checking in and out of places allows a large audience of people – some you may or may not know – to not only figure out your physical location, but also learn your every day routine. Patterns can allow for an easy crime target. Since the launch of these types of networks, there have been a number of reported burglaries associated with the information victims projected into the social media atmosphere.
For instance, John tweeting about his upcoming vacation and then checking in at his local airport, allows every follower he has to know exactly when he has left his home. Those checking into other people’s houses could also put their friends and family at risk. A simple click on your Foursquare app sends out a detailed map of exactly where “Mom’s House” is, allowing her to potentially fall victim as well.
So, the next time you’re mentioning your next moves, keep in mind the risks associated. Privacy settings can only restrict so much – do you really know those 1,423 friends? For information on Foursquare privacy loopholes, check out an article from ZDNet.com.
A PR Lesson Learned
We pride ourselves on trying to always do the right thing for our clients and for the agency. That means being smart, strategic and ethical. And, I am proud to say, we have nothing to be ashamed about.
With that said, it has been very interesting to read about how one of the largest and respected public relations agency’s in the world, Burson-Marsteller, made some very poor choices in an effort to meet its client’s goals and objectives of fighting Google. According to USA Today, Burson consultants “approached top-tier media companies and high-profile technologists, on behalf of an unnamed client, to seed largely unfounded allegations about privacy shortcomings in Google’s Social Circle service.”
But the word got out, and one blogger posted his email exchanges with Burson asking him to put his byline on an op-ed that the agency had ghost written.
And, most recently, Burson’s unnamed client was revealed — Facebook. Now spokespeople from Google, Facebook and Burson are in the news along with any one else connected to this PR effort gone bad.
There will be many discussions about this incident and what can be learned…as there should be. We will certainly talk about it here at our agency. What do you think?
Earthquakes, Revolutions and Social Media
In a world where social media is becoming second nature, it makes sense that sites we use to keep up with friends and family prove useful for organization and support in a time of crisis.
After the most recent earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office launched an English-language twitter account (@JPN_PMO) to update the world about the earthquake and its horrifying aftermath. The account duplicates the Japanese-language disaster information account (@Kantei_Saigai) but is translated into English. In only eight hours, the account had close to 9,000 followers.
Social media was also recently used to inspire organization in countries experiencing political turmoil. Throughout the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, activists turned to social media to organize protests, and many credit social media for the success of the revolution. According to an article on Miller-McCune.com, a protester in Cairo commented on the phenomenon stating, “We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world”.
By providing new ways to communicate, social media has changed our approach to civic action in a dramatic way and its role will continue to increase as future events occur.
Happy Holidays from Mr. Peanut
If you’re like me, you think it’s way too early to start thinking about the holidays. However, since we’ve never heard the Planters spokesman spokespeanut speak in 94 years, I’m willing to make an exception. Robert Downey Jr. is the voice of Mr. Peanut in two new holiday-themed commercials. The first spot, called “My Remarkable Holiday Party,” was unveiled a few days ago on Mr. Peanut’s Facebook page:
The second spot is called “Mr. Peanut Greeting Card”:
Both commercials will air on CBS Wednesday night during Criminal Minds.
What do you think of the new spots – is Mr. Peanut a more likeable figure now that he has a voice?
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More Growth in Social Media
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