STATUS UPDATES
A couple days ago I was in a meeting where a person said, ” I just don’t see the value of Facebook. I mean, seriously. I don’t care that someone ‘is waking up with a cup of coffee’ or is ‘slowly recovering from yesterday’s surgery.’ What a waste of time.” He then grabbed someone’s iPhone with the Facebook app running and started reading off the updates. I must admit, some of them did sound silly. But let me give you a simple example of how something so mundane and initially inconsequential can help.
Photo by paulcole on Flickr
Every year our church likes to book a camping area for everyone to go camping together. It just so happened that I was flying in that Friday night and was going to make it just in time to leave with the family. But the last leg of my flight was delayed. I called my wife and let her know, then I jumped on Facebook and updated my status: “Flight is delayed. Can’t wait to see the fam after two weeks away and go camping. Hopefully I will be there in time to meet them.”
When my wife arrived at the campsite she suddenly had a number of people helping her out to set up the tent and get everything ready for her and the seven kids. Why? They saw the update, knew I would not be there with them and pitched in to help. She kept hearing, “I heard Kevin will be late.” How was that, my non-Facebook using wife thought? Did he call everyone? No, it was the Facebook status.
The other day I found out that my friend’ wife was coming home from the hospital after delivering a baby. Since we now live 2500 apart , I had not heard about the birth, and probably would not have until his wife was somewhat back to normal. But I found out early, thankfully!
Then, last week, I had an business acquaintance message me through LinkedIn. We have talked numerous times and had lunch together once. He is a great guy and I have been impressed with his work. Unfortunately, work is something he didn’t have any more and he let me know through LinkedIn. Now, I can have my eyes open for him.
Can the updates be abused? Sure, and some people are better at doing that than others. But other times, those small, seemingly insignificant updates can make a big difference.
GROUPS
Facebook and LinkedIn both have GROUPS which you can join (without giving away private information about yourself). Once in, there is usually a discussion on that topic. The Groups can be organized around causes, ideas, conspiracy theories, music artists, professional initiatives or goofy topics. Just about whatever you can think of, personal or professional, there will be a group for you to join. Some groups are VERY useful – sharing information and asking/answering questions. It becomes another set of people who have common passions to collaborate and connect with.
TO DO – Join some groups (Difficulty Level: EASY – Time: 15- minutes total)
- Go to both Facebook and LinkedIn and search groups for your favorite causes and professional interests.
- Join them and jump in on the conversations!
