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With the Republican National Convention wrapping up tonight and the Democratic National Convention around the corner, it seems that everywhere we turn, we are inundated with people espousing their political point of view. As someone who has participated in the world of politics, both as someone who has held local elected office and as an observer of the political world, I do my best to respect all points of view. Sometimes that can be hard to do, especially when you feel passionately about an issue. I know I struggle to know how to frame my thoughts, whether in a conversation [...]

On Saturday I will be giving a presentation on Facebook Groups and Pages to club leaders from Toastmasters clubs in the Denver metro area. Besides demonstrating how to create and manage these entities, I will distribute a handout for people to take home. That’s what I have been working on tonight. As the saying goes – you learn what you teach. The folks at Facebook have provided easy to understand information on the process of creating and managing groups and pages at their Facebook Help Center at https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=260315770650470&ref=hcnav   Even though I have already created a Facebook page for my [...]

I have been thinking lately about how my cyberspace networking style is so similar to the one I have when meeting people face to face. My style is extremely open, as I practically make a hobby out of meeting new people. There is something about getting to know the story of someone’s life (or at least the high points) that fascinates me. Curiously, I am much more willing to reach out to new people I encounter on LinkedIn than I am on Facebook. When I am in a group with someone on LinkedIn and I find their comments to be [...]

Are you a sports fan? Do you follow your favorite sports team on Twitter or on Facebook? It is also fun to search YouTube if you want to see interviews with your favorite players or highlights from a key game. College and professional football fans are chomping at the bit for the football season to take off. Or perhaps you are still rooting for your favorite baseball team to win the World Series. Since my Colorado Rockies keep falling into a downward spiral, I am turning my attention to football, which is my very favorite sport anyway. As a lifelong [...]

Tonight I did something that some might find rather quaint. I wrote personal notes on birthday cards and anniversary cards and enclosed some photos. Tomorrow I will put these notes into the US mail. What’s the occasion you might wonder? The occasion is my niece’s wedding that took place just under a month ago. Seeing the pure joy on the face of my niece and her new husband during their wedding reminds me that family is all about celebrating and honoring the love that binds us together. While there I took photos on my smart phone, but the ones I [...]

Where do you volunteer?  What groups or clubs do you belong to? Where do you donate money? Perhaps you are involved with your church, your child’s school, your favorite charity, or maybe a service club or other organization. One way you can help the entities where you volunteer is participate on that entity’s Facebook Page.  For example, you could post on your church’s Facebook Page that the minister gave an especially powerful sermon. Or if your child’s parent teacher organization or your favorite charity is having a fundraiser, you can set that up as an event on the Facebook Page [...]

When I first got started on Facebook and on LinkedIn, I dove into a number of books to help me better understand these social media sites. The very first book I read was Facebook for Dummies by Carolyn Abram and Leah Pearlman. Written in easy to follow language and logically organized, this book was my Facebook “Bible” for some time. This year Carolyn Abram wrote Facebook for Dummies – Portable Edition. It reviews much of the basic information from the original book, plus it has sections on the newer iterations of Facebook, such as the Timeline. I especially like it [...]

When you got started with social media, was it your idea? Or did someone else drag you into being active in that site? How did you decide which site to start with? How do you decide now that you have at least some experience with social media? I remember when I got my first friend request for Facebook. It was from a fellow in my Toastmasters clubs who had decided not to renew his membership because he and his wife were expecting a baby in a few months. Oh yes, I should mention that Toastmasters is an organization that helps [...]

Recently I gave a talk about what I like about being on Facebook. To help craft my talk, I queried both my Facebook friends and my LinkedIn connections as to what they liked about their Facebook experience. Here is the gist of my talk: The main reason people join Facebook and stay on Facebook is to stay in touch with other people. Not only to stay in touch, but to strengthen the relationships with these people. Since the cave days, we as a species have been social creatures. Facebook simply enables us to be more social with people we rarely [...]