Facebook for Poets

A long time ago, I wrote a post called “9 Effective and Slightly Badass Ways to Use Facebook.”

You can read that article, and I’ll summarize here.

  1. Add a photo: Let people see who you are. That’s the point of Facebook. If you’re John Smith, people want to know if you’re the John Smith from the Peabody Prep School they attended back in 1980. Let them know, so they can friend you (or avoid you).
  2. Don’t write on your own wall: Facebookers will think you’re strange if you write on your own wall. It’s not IM.
  3. Write on other walls: When people post new photos to their albums (or profiles), take a moment to let them know you like them (if you really do).
  4. Incorporate your RSS feed if you’re a blogger: You can add your feed to your profile page.
  5. Incorporate your Twitter feed if you Twitter: This is easy to do and keeps people updated on your meanderings.
  6. Create a page if you run a magazine: I’ve become fans of a lot of literary journals. Steve Schroeder of Anti- makes great use of Facebook to promote his magazine. I always get a notice about new poems on the website and often go to read the new issue. Hey, join the 32 Poems Facebook page! Become our 311th fan today. =-)
  7. Be careful: Read the TOS (terms of service) for Facebook and make sure you follow the rules. I’ve seen organizations sign up as people instead of creating a page for their organization. If you are an organization, you need to get your employees to create profile. Then, they can create a page for your organization. (I can explain this more if anyone is interested.)

What Facebook advice do you all have to share? What did I miss?