One Step You Must Take Before You Quit Facebook

While en route to earning the rank of Eagle Scout, I became indebted to Mr. Knight, my Scoutmaster. Whenever I needed an extra dose of encouragement, he was right there to push me toward the goal.  At times, many of us who each achieved the rank of Eagle under his guidance were not even aware that we needed a push.  Nonetheless, he was there.  Just in case I never said it, “Thank you, Mr. Knight!”

As an adult, I have long credited the path to Eagle as the single best leadership training have ever encountered.  I still list “Eagle Scout” on my resume’, include that fact in my speech introductions, and even have it listed in my LinkedIn profile.  Which brings me to the topic of this article.

I am bored with Facebook.

Recently, I downloaded my entire Facebook account and took a look at all of the information I have volunteered to Zuckerburg and Co. over the years.  Anything I have ever “Liked” since opening my account a decade or so ago, every photo I’ve uploaded, rant I’ve shared or update I have posted is all there.  I’ve told Facebook a lot about me….at least, the “me” of that particular moment in time.

Sure.  Maybe I “liked” a page to get entered into a contest.  Perhaps I thought a topic was interesting that day, and never gave it another thought afterwards.  Whatever the reason, it’s all there.  No harm, right?  Fast-forward to today.

• I no longer understand how in the world the world’s largest social media platform decides what I see or don’t see in my “News Feed” (or whatever it is called these days).
• Posts from people I don’t even know show up in my feeds because some algorithm seems to think I’d be interested.
• Chronology is merely a suggestion anymore.
• The ads….Oh, the ads. Sure, I know the platform doesn’t cost me any cash to use, but sometimes I feel like I might have sold my soul just to occasionally see an update from a high school acquaintance I haven’t actually seen or spoken to in over 20 years.
• My “business page”…I’m fairly convinced nobody has noticed I turned it off about a month ago.  It had simply become a distraction to me, and apparently nobody else seemed to notice.

My Facebook “Last Will” and “Testament”

I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be on Facebook.  I mean, I will probably cave somewhat to the unbelievable “social pressure” to simply be there, and occasionally use the simplicity of logging into some more useful site using my Facebook login credentials, but I’m really losing interest.  Except for one thing.  My connections.

Today I did what any well-meaning netizen would do in preparation for leaving this social media world…I went to Google and searched for ways to preserve my connections.  After all, it took me YEARS to track all of those people down.

After a quick search, viewing of a 3 1/2 minute video on how to import your Facebook connections into LinkedIn (a platform I MUCH prefer today – though many of it’s recent “enhancements” have it looking more like FB every day).

Here’s the video.  You should try it!

Just before noon I uploaded my FB connections into LinkedIn and walked away.  Now, just 4 hours later, I’ve added over 60 “new” connections to LinkedIn.

If you are going to spend time on social media sites, at least make some money doing it!

A great number of people, some of whom I don’t even know how or why we were connected on Facebook, immediately connected with me on LinkedIn.  Think about it.  What’s more valuable to your success?  Knowing what bar your buddy’s buddy visited with his rowdy college friends last weekend or where he/she works, their title, and business-related interests?  Besides, YOU WILL SPOT THE OPPORTUNITY TO FORGE A NEW CLIENT RELATIONSHIP with a new client long before your buddy from high school EVER will.  Why not go directly to the source, share an old story from the past about your common friend, and get some BUSINESS along the way?

If you have made it this far into this article, THANK YOU.  If you are here because you received some type of automated email from me, my strategy is working.  Oh, and when I call you with that story from the one time when our friend ____________________________….You had better have a great story about them in return, so I know I can trust you enough to do business with you!

WHO SAID BUSINESS COULDN’T BE SOCIAL, TOO?