One week without Facebook

It’s been a week since I logged into my personal Facebook account. One week in which I haven’t “liked” anything or found out what my “friends” are busy doing in their lives.  And guess what? It’s been OK.

I decided to avoid Facebook this week because frankly, I am sick of the site.  Between the false feeling of connection to the inspirational quotes, location check-ins and general braggadocio, I am not sure which irritates me the most. And it is definitely not the point to be annoyed when you are on a website.

This week I have been on Twitter and LinkedIn. On these social networks I generally learn more than I ever do on Facebook. Twitter provides me with up-to-the-minute news, links to information I may have not seen and a way to chat with people in real-time. LinkedIn lets me see what people are doing professionally.

This leads me to social media marketing. If you are relying on just one social network like Facebook to do all your marketing communications, you may be putting all the proverbial eggs in one basket.  You should diversify. Yes, Facebook has a HUGE audience. But it is a POTENTIAL audience, not a measured, constant audience. People do not yet HAVE to go to Facebook every day. They may choose to, but they don’t need to go there to check mail or get their news.

I would still counsel you to use Facebook as part of your marketing mix. Because it is opt-in for people, you are communicating with those who are receptive to your message. That is truly valuable. Just don’t share inspirational quotes or you will lose me!

Your thoughts? How do you feel about Facebook?