ThirstyBarbarian
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2013
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Facebook can be great, and it can be terrible.
I like keeping in touch with real-world friends and family on Facebook and seeing what they are up to. I’m not a person who calls or emails friends very often, so Facebook has been a great way to keep up with people, especially more casual acquaintances. And I’m a member of several groups that cater to interests, like rocketry and other things I enjoy. So that’s all good.
But I’ve also had some relationships damaged by interactions on Facebook, including some important real-world friendships. I’ve seen an ugly side to certain friends revealed on Facebook that I had not seen in a lifetime of real-world friendship. And I’m sure there are people who see me in a different light than they did before Facebook. So that’s not so great.
I have seen lots of examples of vendors using Facebook in ways that damage their business. Vendors make a huge mistake when they don’t maintain separate accounts for their business and their personal page or when they treat their business page like a personal page. In the past, I’ve accepted personal friend requests from people I’ve known only as vendors, and it has generally not gone well. Mostly they have been vendors with great products and excellent service who were very responsive and professional. Great vendors. But they have been terrible Facebook friends. I’ve had vendors who I really liked as vendors, but after I accepted their personal friend requests they came onto my personal page, got into arguments, posted obnoxious garbage, insulted me and my friends, and generally caused a mess that I then had to patch up with my real-world friends. That’s not just rude as a human being, it’s an extremely bad business practice. Those people are no longer Facebook friends, and I am no longer their customer.
I‘ve known other vendors who have done a great job on social media. They may have a personal page, but they don’t send out friend requests to people they only know as customers. They create professional pages for their business, and they don’t mix their personal politics, religion, beliefs, gripes, peeves, etc. into their business messaging. It’s a great platform for making business announcements and can be a good way to interact with customers in a professional way, but it shouldn’t be used to over share personal stuff with your customers or to discuss controversial topics with them.
I like keeping in touch with real-world friends and family on Facebook and seeing what they are up to. I’m not a person who calls or emails friends very often, so Facebook has been a great way to keep up with people, especially more casual acquaintances. And I’m a member of several groups that cater to interests, like rocketry and other things I enjoy. So that’s all good.
But I’ve also had some relationships damaged by interactions on Facebook, including some important real-world friendships. I’ve seen an ugly side to certain friends revealed on Facebook that I had not seen in a lifetime of real-world friendship. And I’m sure there are people who see me in a different light than they did before Facebook. So that’s not so great.
I have seen lots of examples of vendors using Facebook in ways that damage their business. Vendors make a huge mistake when they don’t maintain separate accounts for their business and their personal page or when they treat their business page like a personal page. In the past, I’ve accepted personal friend requests from people I’ve known only as vendors, and it has generally not gone well. Mostly they have been vendors with great products and excellent service who were very responsive and professional. Great vendors. But they have been terrible Facebook friends. I’ve had vendors who I really liked as vendors, but after I accepted their personal friend requests they came onto my personal page, got into arguments, posted obnoxious garbage, insulted me and my friends, and generally caused a mess that I then had to patch up with my real-world friends. That’s not just rude as a human being, it’s an extremely bad business practice. Those people are no longer Facebook friends, and I am no longer their customer.
I‘ve known other vendors who have done a great job on social media. They may have a personal page, but they don’t send out friend requests to people they only know as customers. They create professional pages for their business, and they don’t mix their personal politics, religion, beliefs, gripes, peeves, etc. into their business messaging. It’s a great platform for making business announcements and can be a good way to interact with customers in a professional way, but it shouldn’t be used to over share personal stuff with your customers or to discuss controversial topics with them.