I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook and I think that is the same for many people. I notice that from time to time people will take a break from Facebook and suddenly it is as if they have disappeared off the face of the planet. Others will be super vigilant with their Facebook settings and will have such high privacy barriers that all you see is their profile picture – and this is probably a good thing.
The fact is that Facebook is so dominant now in our society and so much of what we do, say, buy or feel can be linked to articles that we have read or shared on Facebook.
The reason for my current interest is that I just went through some Facebook training (yes there is such a thing and it does not revolve around how to post a selfie). The statistics were quite surprising. 62% of people use Facebook to check out local restaurants, small businesses and local events. Facebook users check their newsfeed an average of 11 times a day! Wow!
A recent conference I went to featured Facebook as a stress break for workers during the day. It’s like the new smoke break. Working on a tight timeline? Getting stressed out. Take a couple of minutes break to check Facebook and then return to that cost analysis feeling de-stressed and revived.
Hmmmm. Do you agree? Does that really work?
Being in the travel industry Facebook is very important to me. I follow Facebook pages of my various suppliers which are usually closed groups where they can advise us of special offers coming up and a forum to share problems and resolve issues with their representatives. It can sometimes be a quick and effective way to get something done – maybe quicker than a phone call. It is also an interesting platform to keep up to date with trends in the travel industry and see what people who are out there travelling really think of the tour / cruise / hotel. Just recently I read an interesting article of how Medellin in Colombia is re-inventing itself. It was on Facebook so it was a quick read and it was there – front and centre on my feed. I doubt if I would have picked up a magazine and read that. Private groups on Facebook are a great way of sharing advice with colleagues as well as having a shoulder to cry on when retail fatigue sets in.
So those are all the things I love about Facebook.
What about the thing I hate most about Facebook?
Those posts where you are expected to share it otherwise you are a bad person – usually prefaced by “I know 98% of my friends won’t post this to their facebook” …. Aaaargh – don’t do that to me.
Those posts about what level of Candy Crush you have reached.
And the fact that – yes – my innate sense of curiosity and noseyness means that I am one of those 11 times per day newsfeed checkers.
And I must admit – I also check how many people like my Travel Lady Facebook page and I am thrilled to see new likes – because it means that somebody out there is listening!
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