05 August 2011

I use Facebook, quite a lot actually. But over time I’ve changed how I use it.

I used to friend anyone who asked. So I had a lot of friends (probably close to a couple thousand). Most of whom I didn’t actually know.

Of course if you actually use FB, you post things about family, friends, politics, religion, etc. Things you might not want to share with prospective customers, vendors, or random strangers.

So a while ago I created two public pages:

• http://www.facebook.com/RockfordLhotka – a page you can “Like” if you want periodic updates on my professional activities and my editorial thoughts on the software development industry
• http://www.facebook.com/CslaNet – a page you can “Like” if you want periodic updates on CSLA .NET, and related things like ebooks and videos

After creating those pages, I went through and removed lots of “friends” from my personal FB page. If I didn’t look at a name and immediately know who the person was, I removed that person. This means I’m still friended to a lot of pretty casual friends – more like acquaintances – but at least I’m not friends with total strangers.

This arrangement is much better. Now I can post about professional stuff on my professional pages. And I can post about non-professional stuff in a venue visible to people who (presumably) care about my favorite foods, the lives of my children, etc.

If you are one of the scores of people who’ve requested that I friend you – and you are wondering why I ignored the request – now you know   Please go “Like” one or both of the professional pages listed above to keep in touch – thanks!

(as an aside, I do sometimes use twitter at http://twitter.com/RockyLhotka – and that’s a total mix of personal and professional babble – exactly what twitter is meant for I think)