WOW! Facebook has become a hopping place. (By the way, my profile is here, should you want to connect.) It went from being a school thing to being a place for professionals to connect in a much more multi-faceted way than, say, LinkedIN or even Twitter. And there are lots of really fascinating people. I should know. I spent the last hour plus requesting to add them.
Who Can/Should You Connect With?
For a guy with lots of connections, I have two schools of thought. I say yes to every request, even if I’m not sure I know you. It’s just not in my nature to turn people down, and I have no incentive to do so.
On the flipside, I try my hardest to find a connection between me and the person I’m trying to connect. We’ve met at a conference. We know lots of the same friends. I’ll stretch it to as far as “I’ve read your blog for years, and love your work.” But I don’t just add names I have NO connection to at all. No reason to do so.
Don’t feel shy. People can deny you. No skin off anyone’s back to do that. So there’s no harm in asking. Someone I know recently connected to Seth Godin without any weirdness.
I’m There. Now What?
So far, I’ve enjoy the contact book for Facebook. I’ve enjoyed the Groups feature. I like that I can port my Upcoming calendar there, as well as several other apps. I like that you can leave messages for people, write on their “wall,” or join groups and write back and forth via forums.
There are full fledged applications that can add to your experience, including things like Zoho Office and Socialight and Flickr and Twitter, etc.
Stupid Apps
There are LOTS of opportunities to do silly things on Facebook. I don’t play along, but that’s just me. There are applications with zombies, food fights, super poking, and whatever else. Fine if you like them. I don’t bother. I’m not passing judgment beyond calling them stupid apps. You have fun with that.
Then What?
I recently built a group called Grasshoppers. The idea is to build something where we can friendsource, and be helpful. I invited every single person I had on Facebook. So far, over 140 people have joined in the few hours that the group has been alive. Through this group, I can message a lot of people at one shot. I can mobilize people to help other people. I can reach out and build community on a different scale altogether.
You can use Facebook as a very powerful social network.
For Business
I’ve found AMAZING business contacts on here that are pertinent to my day job. You might, too. For instance, Ray Ozzie of Microsoft is on there. So is Vint Cerf. Funny but so was Reid Hoffman (LinkedIN) and Marc Canter (People Aggregator). So is pretty much everybody doing anything on the Internet, to name a few, but also some not-so-Internetty types.
There are ways to make this a business tool. And an outreach tool. And a cause tool. It’s a fairly open platform.
The Privacy Thing
There are some rumblings in the blogosphere about all the various apps grabbing all your personal data. I am not fighting this. Instead, I’m offering that if you’ve already loaded Facebook up with all your pertinent personal data, it’s pretty much gone. Maybe I should be more up in arms? I’m not. You can fight that one.
Further Reading
By the way, Robert Scoble has a great post on why Facebook, why now that’s worth reading, too!
So, what do you think? Are you on there? How have you found the experience?