Facebook

            Facebook is a public relations and marketing departments dream.  It is the greatest way to gather information on a mass amount of people at one time.  The creation of the 2-way conversation with the consumer has allowed a booming growth in these fields.  “Social Media and PR,” touches on the idea of using this form of communication to grow a business’s connection to its publics. 

            Many of the ideas around Public Relations and social media, in general, are about creating a personality of a business and a long-term story of the business.  You will find that with time, people will know not only about a person’s life, but how a business has grown and become something much bigger than when it began. 

            Running my own photography business, I have done a majority of my marketing through Facebook and other social media sites.  I have found that it is a wonderful way to have conversations with my public and also show my own growth as a photographer.  Using Facebook to help my presence stronger to the people around me.  I am able to present images from recent shoots or show people where I am work and how I have set up a photo shoot that day.  Some days, I share websites or videos from the Internet to get discussions from my followers and hopefully a few new fans.  Facebook can be key to someone who is running a business today.

           

            On a personal level, Facebook has become something of a problem for many people.  This revolutionary tool has been known to cause people more trouble than it is worth.  Today, teenagers are known to make post and take pictures of them doing something that they shouldn’t be.  Many of these kids are now getting caught not only by the police or parents, but by their schools too.  It has been reported that many schools are now using Facebook as a way to keep an eye on their student’s activities, in and out of classes. 

            From my old high school, I heard a story about the girls cheerleading squad taking an inappropriate picture of the group at a party.  After the weekend, they were brought to the main office, where they were punished for their actions, by not allowing them to compete in the cheer competition the upcoming week.  Though some might say that this was out of line for the school, it was the schools belief that it would be a representation for the school and for the athletes to show up to a competition with an image like that floating around on the Internet.

            It’s not just teenagers that are getting into trouble with Facebook post though. Today, many employers are using Facebook to evaluate candidates for jobs and current employees.  Many employers now believe that how a person acts on Facebook, will directly affect their performance in the work force.

            My personal Facebook page has been kept clean for this very reason.  I have learned to keep specific subjects offline, because of who might be viewing this page.  I feel that Facebook is to open when it comes to my life and though I love to share many of the events that are going on in my life, most things I don’t feel need to be shared with everyone.  Compared to most people who use Facebook, My presents are very meek.

           

            For my Web & Social Media class, our instructor asked us to create a new Facebook presence. I believe the major reason for this is for us all to keep our personal lives private from the others in the class.  Though some of us may add each other freely to one another’s Facebook page, we might choose not to allow specific people to have access to our personal lives.  Creating a new account allows us to continue with the project of creating fan pages and events, without the conflict of using our personal accounts as part of the overall project.  Many problems occurred, when signing up for a new account, because of the security on Facebook, but when we were able to work thought the majority of it, this made it easy for us to keep our personal and school life as separate as we wish.

            What I find funny is that until I created my alternate Facebook, I never had an awkward moment on Facebook.  When I made may new account, about a week after, I was talking with my girlfriend and she asked if that was mine.  Though she knew that it was part of a class project, she wanted to still ask about the page.  Since then, many of the people who know me have attempted add me as a friend to their Facebook.  This seems to be the most awkward moment to my Facebook.

            My final note about Facebook is to always be safe with whatever you are doing on there. This webpage is both something to be excited about and to fear.