I enjoy dumb little comics about Facebook and Twitter. 
This one was in today’s paper.
Speedbump‘s 30 Day Calendar – Cartoon from 05/29
On Your Facebook Wall
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Tag Archives: Facebook
Represent Your Business BETTER on Facebook
Facebook Business Page Updates February 2011
Kena posted these messages on the Virtually Assisting You Facebook page last Friday:
- As an Admin on so many pages…this is awesome as well with the new Facebook upgrade –> Get notifications(email or instant) when fans interact with your page or posts!
- With the new upgrade on Facebook Pages. You can now make comments as your page on other pages.
I was so excited to checkout what Facebook was calling An Upgrade for Pages, but I didn’t have enough time to look into it until I just took the time today. I had to write about how EASY it is to do these things and more!
Click on any instructional image to enlarge it.
1. Use Facebook as Your Business Page
- Click on “Account”.
- Then click on the “Use Facebook as Page” option in the drop-down.
2. Your Facebook Page Profile Will Look Like Your Personal Profile
- See how many new people “Like” your business. This # shows up like your profile shows how many friend requests & suggestions you have.
- See how many interactions your page has had since you were there the last time!
3. Still Want to Communicate on Facebook as Yourself?
Don’t it look odd when you want to comment or like something on any page you are an admin on? It looks like you are “liking” your own stuff right? Well, Facebook fixed that too. (If it was fixed prior to this update, I didn’t realize it or I would’ve posted about it.)
We’d been waiting on this option for a long time.
1. Go to your Business Page on Facebook and click on the “Edit Info” button at the top.
2. Then click on “Your Settings” on the left.
3. Uncheck the top box about commenting on your page as your page. I’ve been waiting on that check box for a long time. Thanks Facebook!
It’s time to get out there and represent your business better on Facebook! If this was helpful, I love to hear that so let me know!
Have fun, Amber
Do you want all of your Facebook friends to have your cell number?
What about giving your phone numbers to all of your Facebook friends’ friends?
(Bryan Bliss told this to my Facebook friend Chris Brogan. When he posted it, I checked it out, and it’s true so now I’m telling you.)
In case, you’d prefer that all of your Facebook friends not have access to your private phone number read this article.
What happened?
Facebook just published your private cell number.
Two responses are very appropriate here.
Response #1: COOL! How do I see all of my friends phone numbers?
- Go to top right of your screen
- Click “Account”
- Then “Edit Friends”
- Go to left side of your screen…and click
“Phonebook”.
Everyone’s phone numbers are now being published unless they have adjusted their privacy settings to prevent this.
Please let your friends know this is happening so they can adjust their settings and stay in control of their privacy.
Response #2: HELP! How do I adjust my phone information privacy settings in Facebook?
- Go to top right of your screen
- Click “Account”
- Go click on “Privacy Settings”
- Click on the “Customize Settings”
- Then scroll down to see your settings and you can set this information what you click the down arrow next to the option you want to edit.
- Click on “Customize”
- You can set this information to be seen by “Only Me” and keep it completely private if you wish.
For this type of news and other social media advice “like” the Business Page on Facebook brought to you by Virtual IT Assistants.
Facebook Fan Page Tips for Local Business Owners
As the popularity continues to grow for Facebook Fan Pages, so does the local business’s need for creating one. But, what are you doing with it? Within the last two months, I’ve seen a huge number of local Facebook Fan Pages/Business pages being created and they are suggesting for all the locals join. Here’s the problem – they are updated consistently for about a week and then they pretty much “just sit there” with no updated content.
If you’re a local business owner and you’ve created a page you should be updating this page on a regular basis. Here are some ideas on how to do that.
- Create specials
- Create contests (this will help to add fans or people to like the page)
- Find interesting industry related articles (even if you didn’t write them)
- Start the mornings off with a motivational or inspirational quote
- Get a strategy
- Create a blog (to post to your fan page)
- Add content that will increase page interaction
If you are a gym or fitness club, posting interesting articles like this one Yoga could ward off certain diseases (if this is a service you offer) is a great way to keep fans interested and coming back for more. Posting intriguing & valuable information is why people are there – so give it to them. Here’s one for an auto mechanic – Best Ways to Keep Your Car Running.
Tons of information regarding your industry can be found online to use for posting and updates.
These are just a few ideas to populate your page and add fans/likes. Keep your content fresh & updated daily. There are plenty of third party applications to help you schedule content if you can’t be right there to do it daily.
- Ping
These are just some ideas, but there are more sites available as well. However, if you do need to schedule post, it’s very important that you interact with your fans as well. If you’re constantly scheduling updates with no follow-up your fans are going to lose interest and un-like your page.
Another good marketing tool when having a fan page is to tag some of your friends that are not fans yet. Let them know you appreciate them stopping by today or that it was nice seeing them at the grocery store while you were picking up supplies or whatever it may be that you were doing.
How’s that for a start for you local fan page owners? Now get out there and start using your fan page to Market and GROW!
Add a Facebook Like Button to Your Website or Blog
This is a beginner’s tutorial and does not include information on how to add/edit your meta data in the html head tags. Adding the meta tags are not a necessity to add the like plug in to your website. – If that makes no sense to you, then you are in the right place!
This post will show you how to get the custom code for your site and how you may want to put it on your site. There are two ways to create the code for your website:
The Code Generator (recommended)
1. Go to Facebook “Like” Button Reference Page.
2. Skip right to the bottom of this page and you will see a form that looks like this and you will fill in your information like I have done for Virtual IT Assistants.
3. The get code will generate code like this:
Write the Code by Hand (simplest form possible)
1. Copy the following code
<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/widgets/like.php?href=http://www.Your-Website-Address.com" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; width:230px; height:80px"></iframe>
2. Replace the www.Your-Website-Address.com with your real website or blog site address.
How to Get it on Your Website or Blog
Blogger: In a blogger blog, go to “edit layout”, click on “add a gadget”, choose the gadget for adding HTML/JavaScript, and then paste your code there and save.
HTML: Once you have copied the code, paste your code into your website’s html pages within the body of your page. It’s probably best to start with your homepage index.html or index.php. Always open a page in a browser before uploading to your live website.
WordPress: This works best on self-hosted websites: Go to widgets and create a new text widget and paste the code, and then save. Another option is to go to your homepage and view it in your wordpress site’s html view and paste your custom code. Preview the changes if you edit a page or post.
Notice that the code for the Facebook “Like” button starts with an “iframe”. This means you will not be able to use this code on a wordpress.com blog. I am still working on a simple way to add the like option if your blog is hosted here so stay tuned.
The Dark Side of Social Media
Look at these faces. Aren’t they beautiful? You can’t help but wonder, “What could a young, attractive teen like you have to be sad about?” The following photos are those of real teens who committed suicide after struggling with a vicious epidemic called cyber-bullying.
Megan Meier, age 13
Died: October 17, 2006
betrayed & verbally abused by a friend’s parent who got on MySpace pretending to be a 16 year old boy?!
If social media is so powerful that it is affecting our youth on such a deep level, then we must see to it that these powers start getting used for good.
This is sadly becoming a common issue. It could easily become even more common if children are left wading through the masses of social networking sites without a firm grasp on reality and heavy dose of self-assurance. Adolescent socializing is hard enough without adding the global factor of public confrontations. Education and the freedom to be open with a parent or other grown up support system when they are unsure of how to handle certain situations alone will save kids like Ryan, Megan, Phoebe, and Alexis.
Restriction is not the answer.
Many parents and teachers are concerned about sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter providing too much information to and by our youth. Some believe that denying children (including teens) access to social networking sites will protect them from harm. It’s time to get real. Kids will find ways to set up online profiles at their friends’ houses, at school, or even at the local libraries. Electronic harassment is also happening via text messaging, instant messaging, and email.
Re-purposing social networking is the only answer.
Not only is it possible to used to emotionally hurt people, but I believe that it could really save people too. Social networking services that allow continual access to new resources for education and other public services. Students could talk to tutors on MySpace when they are having trouble with a certain homework problem. Alcoholics could get on Facebook and talk to AA leaders and members, even on Friday nights when their buddies are texting them to come out to the bars. Could Twitter become a useful part of the emergency broadcast system by tweeting weather warnings and Amber alerts to everyone’s cell phone within a targeted demographic area?
Ignoring it won’t make it go away.
Social media is swiftly bringing our world into a new age whether we are ready to see the change or not. Before, it was all about information, now it is all about sharing information. Social media could be the answer to some of society’s problems or it could make them much worse. If we decide to look the other way and tell ourselves that it won’t happen to our family, then the problem will get worse. We don’t have to sit by miss this opportunity for growth. We just need to learn how to use it appropriately, then we must teach our children.
No death should be in vain.
Dedicated to: Rachel Burdine, my best friend in middle school committed suicide at age 13. You could have really done so many great things. I still miss you.
Learn more.
Slow the Information Overload on Facebook
There has been much talk lately among virtual assistants regarding “information overload” and many of us battle issues like adult ADD (attention deficit disorder). Nowadays, if we don’t write our articles and emails with enough bullet points and well structured headlines, our readers miss important details.
If you are like me and most of my Facebook friends, you do a lot of work and play on Facebook. This article should help you weed out some of the junk in your news feed that doesn’t interest you.
First, I must make a confession: “I heart Farmville.” The fact that it’s a game of “make-believe” that really and truly provides no real benefit should queue me in on the fact that it’s really not worth playing at all. However, I play it almost every night, and I play it with my mom and about 30 ladies I used to go to church with as a child. It’s a fun way for me to stay connected.
In case you have friends like me, you can easily hide “Farmville” or “My Daily Luck” updates from constantly popping up in your news feeds.
Here’s How to Hide Some Unwanted Info from Popping Up in Your News Feed
1. See an app update from your friend that you don’t care to see anymore.
2. Hover over your friend’s post on your news feed until you see the word “Hide” in the right corner of the feed.
3. Click on “Hide Farmville” or “Hide Cafe’ World” or whatever.
4. Make sure you don’t accidentally hide your friend’s feeds! You might miss pictures or links that interest you too.
Use these links in case you:
- accidentally blocked a Facebook app or
- blocked a Facebook friend click on the Edit Options at the very bottom of your news feed.
You may need to be logged in to Facebook for these links to work properly.
My point is to encourage the use of these features of Facebook. It’s not being rude or uncaring. They are here to help us make sure we are getting the information we do want and cutting out the information we don’t want.
Pleasantly Using Social Media
Upon logging into Facebook after my lunch break to check updates and read up on all my favorite pages, I noticed a very rude and nasty post on my profile page. Yes, on MY profile page! The post was not something I would want a client, let alone my mother or any other family member to see.
One thing I always try to do when using social networking sites and life in general is: BE PLEASANT! If I don’t agree with or like a post on Facebook or Twitter, I ignore it. Simply move on. I did, however, take the time to remove this post from my wall and then un-friended this person. I don’t want that kind of trash on my wall or anywhere else in my Social Media happenings. I’m not saying not to have fun, just use it pleasantly.
When marketing yourself as a business or business professional, remember people look you up on these sites to learn more about you and your business. Search engines are crawling all over Facebook. I can’t speak for you, but I do not want to be associated with anything like what was posted on my wall. If my sex life is going to be broadcasted, I’ll be calling the shots on that one 
I’m a “fan” of 240 pages on Facebook, and yes, I’m one of those Social Media geeks that actually takes the time to read ALL the updates from those 240 pages [most of the time ] I’m there to network and engage in decent conversations. Do you check out the profile of the person requesting to be your friend on Facebook? I do, and will pay even closer attention, especially now .
Thought I would just share this bit of information, especially to those who are on Facebook , to build awareness about your brand and your business. Here are a few tips when adding friends:
- View the info tab on their profile page
- See who their friends are – any in common?
- Take a look at the Wall post and see what kind of posting/updates are there
- Get a general idea if you two are there for the same reasons (whatever that might be)
- As I always say: Be yourself and have fun with Social Media
Create Friend Lists in Facebook
This weekend, I just started putting my friends in friend lists on Facebook. (You may need to be logged into Facebook for some of these links to work.)
Why should you take advantage of Facebook friend lists?
Click Image to Enlarge
You have a lot of friends from a lot of places. The next time you want to share a link or a video, you can share with one specific group of your friends and not bother the others with info that doesn’t interest them. This especially helps for those of us who get a lot of our business on Facebook.
Once you get your lists in place, you can:
☑ Send out an email to all of your friends in a list
☑ Invite your list of friends to an event, group, or Facebook fan page. For a Facebook fan page, click on suggest to friends, then choose the filter to find the list you’d like to suggest to. See Picture. ->
☑ And be assured that more targeted sharing technology will be utilized in the future.
Familiarize yourself with this technology now!
How to Add Friends to a Facebook Friend List
- Login to www.facebook.com
- Go to “Accounts” in the top right corner
- Go down to “Edit Friends“
- Click on “Friends” under Lists
- Then you should see an alphabetical list of all of your friends in the middle section. It should look similar to the following:
- Click on the “Add to List” button and put them in a list!
I just added Jen and Kena to my “Virtual Assistants” and “Virtual Business Owners” lists.
What to Name Your Facebook Friend Lists
You can have up to 100 lists and up to 1000 people in a list. These are some examples of list names you may want to consider:
- Just Facebook Friends (Perhaps you’ve never met them IRL…yet.)
- Church Friends (If you’ve ever made friends with someone at church.)
- High School
- College
- Geeks not all of my friends are as excited about the new techie geeky stuff that I am. So it’s good to filter that stuff out for them.
- Virtual Assistants (If you have a lot of VA friends.)
- Farmville Friends (Yeah, on the weekends I am seriously a Farmville junkie and I am working it out so that not all my friends have to deal with my Farmville pop ups about how I found a lost cow and it needs to be adopted. LOL – only Farmville people will understand or appreciate that! It’s still a work in progress.)
If you are part of a club, list your friends who are part of it too. If you have had lots of different summer jobs, and kept in touch with friends you’ve made, remember where you met them, etc.
*Note: Don’t create a list called “annoying people” or “party animals” unless your friends are ok with being known as that. Your friends can see your lists and who is in them. You can hide your lists, but why risk losing friends because you created a Facebook friend list called: “losers”?
When to Start Grouping Friends
Even if you only have 10 friends so far, you can and should start creating lists right away. Start putting new friends in lists when you accept their friend request.
If you want to start your own virtual assistant list on Facebook, you can add the writers of this blog: Amber Whitener, Jennifer Gallaher, and Kena Roth.
I Have my Facebook Fanpage Setup, Now What?
Facebook is a busy place. There are over 250 million active users on Facebook, and more than 120 million of them log in every day. Those in-the-know are taking advantage of Facebook and promoting themselves and their products using Facebook’s platform through one of the actual business applications-the business fan page. I have seen quite a few of these pages popping up around companies that haven’t had a social media presence until someone decided to put the page together. A fan page is a facebook page, similar to a personal profile, centered on businesses, organizations and people that have fans, such as public figures, writers, artists, etc.
Making a fan page takes just a few minutes – add some information about your company, your URL, upload your logo and you’re done. Then, when someone becomes a fan of your fan page, everything you publish appears in their News feed for all their fans and friends to read (unless they have this feature turned off). It makes someone joining your fan page somewhat viral.
The goals you want to have in place when using Facebook for business are:
- To get found by people who are searching for your products or services.
- Connect and engage with current and potential customers.
- Create a community around your business.
- Promote positive content, including webinars, blog posts or other resources.
Ok, so now what? I suggest creating Google Alerts with industry related search terms. Posting these articles and blogs to your fanpage will help your fans become more aware of what you have to offer along with building your business and brand.