Deactivating From #Facebook
Friday, October 1, 2010 at 11:12AM#TalkNerdyToMeLover’s @morganglory
I'm Leslie (waves HELLO!) I had the pleasure to interview the one and only Jen Friel for a blog I write for called http://www.idesignyoureyes.com, which is attached to Zoic Studios. For anyone not familiar with Zoic they do all the visual effects for such shows as MAD MEN, FRINGE, V, CSI as well as they work with Joss Whedon on pretty much everything (they did all the effects for Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Serenity and that little known web sensation Dr. Horrible). The blog goes beyond the visual effects world and explores film, gaming, social media, and technology. I interviewed Jen as one of my social media experts on what it would mean to deactivate from Facebook. I tried and failed to deactivate my account for 30 days... #Facebook Fail
You can read about why above, BUT during my 6 days without Facevook (YES I ONLY lasted 6 days!) I got to talk to some pretty rad social media experts including Jen so with her permission I am cross posting the article here! Thanks everyone for reading and feel free to follow the blog on twitter @idesignyoureyes #nerdsunite
During my failed attempt to disconnect from Facebook for thirty days, I had the opportunity to speak with three individuals who utilize social media in both their personal and professional lives. Currently more people are spending time on Facebook than they are on Google, Mashable article.
The time people spend on Facebook is bound to keep growing. I wanted to get an experts opinion on how people are utilizing Facebook. The first social media expert I spoke with is Jen Friel who created and runs the site http://www.talknerdytomelover.com. Friel began working in the social media space several years ago working with the Co-Founder of Myspace Brad Greenspan on his LiveVideo.com site and now is a web 2.0 and social media consultant with major brands all over the country. Next is Brian Rodda who owns his own social media consulting company and finally Jason Leigh, Consumer Insights Practice Lead for Razorfish, a marketing and design agency with offices worldwide. Each of these leaders in the social media space has a very distinct opinion of Facebook and whether to engage or disengage.
Jason Leigh is the Group Vice President of the Consumer Insight Group for Razorfish. Leigh has used Facebook, Twitter and blogging for the last two years and recently decided to deactivate his Facebook account. “A lot of the content I ended up contributing to Facebook I was also contributing to Twitter so I figured what was the point in doing it in both places?” Leigh prefers to be less connected and less personal when using social media, “I like the less personal feeling of Twitter. It’s more limited and I find that appealing for my personality type.” In Leigh’s opinion Facebook and Twitter services two different types of people. “The folks that want to develop deeper relationships, social farmers, those that want to be more deeply involved in people’s day to day activities would be more prone to be attracted to Facebook. Those that use Twitter are looking more for new content, a new thought, and allow you to have more random connections.”
Leigh had about four hundred friends on Facebook and only two people seemed to mind when he decided to deactivate his account. “When I deactivated my account I only got two people who reached out one of whom was a work colleague that was concerned that something was wrong with my mental health like I was preparing to jump off a cliff or something. I assured them that wasn’t the case.” All in all Leigh’s deactivation didn’t have a great deal of impact on his life.
For Jen Friel, she has utilized Facebook as a way to broadcast her life through social media. “Where I end and my brand begins, there is no such thing. I write about everything from my sexual escapades to telling people what hand cream to use for stress related injuries from using your Mouse too often.” Friel is an open book when it comes to her use of Facebook, “There is no privacy setting on my life, everything on my Facebook page is public. For me there is no other option. I am building a brand and I can’t just stop. I have been doing this for ten and half months straight, literally and have not gone more than twenty-four hours without being connected in some way. I was gone once for seventeen hours and people were freaking out. I gave up literally everything for this adventure and it’s been liberating saying this is who I am and getting validation via the analytics, Facebook comments, tweets etc. No matter where I am in the world I am never alone and there is a level of camaraderie that comes with that.”
Want to read more click below!
Deactivating from Facebook
