Sometimes it can be just a little too much..

When I used Facebook, I realized that there is a great deal of hype about the business value of social networking. A lot of that hype is focused on by those who are trying to make money from it. One of the supposed benefits of social networking is that it can raise your visibility. If you’re more visible (among the right people), you can attract more business. That part is all good. But not all of the ways to gain visibility are the same. If you use Facebook to raise your visibility, it comes with a risk. I have learned that as you raise your visibility, you also increase your accessibility. If you have a Facebook page with a wall on it, then people can post comments on your wall. If you have a fan page, someone can “like” your fan page, post spam on your wall, and then “unlike” your fan page, and it is impossible to ban them from repeated abuse. You would just have to deal with it. The more visible you are on Facebook, the more people have access to interact with you in some way, whether it’s by sending you private messages, posting messages on your wall, or inviting you to events and groups. Beyond a certain point, this kind of contact becomes impractical to deal with in any meaningful way. I like that Facebook may have helped to increase my visibility by introducing me to people I may have never met or have gotten the chance to get to know better with it, but I am glad I deactivated it for my immersion project.  When I dropped Facebook, I breathed a major sigh of relief. In a way I’m still sighing, days later. It really is a great relief not to be so accessible anymore. The visibility gains that Facebook provides just aren’t worth the price. There are much easier and more effective ways to build visibility that don’t go along with such risks.