3 Reasons You Shouldn't use your Personal Facebook Page for Business

At work I was speaking to a client the other day who told me that he had a Facebook account already and was just planning on using that to market his business services. "OK," was my reply, "but let me send you some sample pages from Facebook for you to take a look at, just so you can see the range of what's out there." I emailed over some links and pondered how best to address this with him.

Then later today I was in a discussion group online and saw a thread that was asking the question about using a "personal" Facebook for "business. Since it seems to be in the zeitgeist these days, I thought I'd share my ideas here.

It is my belief that if you use your "personal" Facebook page for "business", you limit yourself in some crucial ways.

First of all, Facebook sets a finite number of friends you can have (5,000) as an individual.

Secondly, one cannot "like" a personal Facebook page so you will have to consistently generate content (i.e.: work harder) in order to show up in your "friend's" news feed. If someone has "liked" your page they will see your content automatically.

Finally, there are so many fantastic third party apps for Facebook "business" pages that are not available for "personal" pages. I have clients who have tabs linking to their newsletters, YouTube or any number of resources that further relate to their business. These tools are readily available, easy to implement and cost nothing but the time it takes to set up - often just a few minutes.

If you remain unconvinced as to why you should have a business page on Facebook, consider this: do you really want the public, clients and people you do business with making assumptions about you based on the content that gets shared on your wall by your kids, personal friends, college roommates and others?

Just because you know that red plastic cup you're holding in a picture has soda in it, doesn't mean someone else looking at the photo will assume that. Yes, there are some sharing controls on Facebook, but they can be difficult to locate and therefore implement.

Why risk the potential pitfalls when you can readily set up a "Business" page on Facebook which can be managed by using the Use Facebook as Page switch under the Account drop down menu?

You already have a built-in set of "fans" for your page in all of your personal friends. The "average user" has 130 of them. You can easily share your new page with your personal friends, asking them to "like" it - thereby getting you the 25 likes for the custom URL. You can have a page dedicated just for "business" - increasing your social media footprint, SEO and number of eyes on your product or service.

Some thoughts on the Knowledge Economy

In 1969 Peter Drucker popularized the phrase knowledge economy. The idea of a knowledge economy is that knowledge is viewed as a product versus knowledge as a tool. The knowledge economy is based on the economics of abundance. I touch on this in Open Source: The End of Scarcity Means More. Information and knowledge increase through the act of sharing. The more data/information shared, the more growth in knowledge results. Knowledge flows as water, it drips then becomes a steady stream or torrent where ever there is demand and few barriers. In the knowledge economy, wealth is based on ownership of knowledge and information.

Forty-two years later Drucker’s children are the knowledge workers – the Gen X and Yers, the Millennials and Digital Natives are established or entering the workplace. As suggested in my post, What If Work Were Fun?, the worker of the 21st century is becoming a knowledge worker. Schooled in new media, the brightest of them are capable of both convergent and divergent thinking, they can be collaborative, evaluate priorities, make connections, establish and nurture relationships, and be flexible enough to both create new paradigms as well as modify existing ones.

Social media has risen in importance and currently drives the knowledge economy because communication is a fundamental component to the stream of knowledge and information. Social media highlights the importance of relational capital – one based on interactions and relationships. The act of transforming information into knowledge is the creation of value.

Just a few years ago we did business differently. The rule was - I offered a product/commodity for sale, you bought it (or not), end of transaction. It was an even exchange, a closed system. But the knowledge economy has changed that. The open sourced, new way of doing business also values expertise and the concept of “know how”. Meshing social with business creates an emotional bond. It’s about more than just selling, these relationships foster an interactive and cooperative exchange.

The old way of doing business doesn’t work effectively anymore because more social effort needs to be invested to get people to listen. Business must engage and be present vis a vis their customers who now demand openness, flexibility and a willingness to embrace change.

I have an actor friend who used to believe that once he landed an agent, he could just sit back and the jobs would come rolling in. He believed that an agent would do the heavy lifting for him, bring him work so he wouldn’t have to hustle. This didn’t happen, so he fired the agent. But once my friend realized that he was his own best representative - his career started to take off because he was creating value for himself. He was giving to get. Now he’s got several agents chasing him.

“What you give is what you get.”

I used to talk about this concept a lot when I was a fundraising executive. We rallied our board members around the Give/Get principle because we expected them to create value for the institution.

It’s not really that different in business. By giving value for the people around you, you will get value in return. Value creates thought leadership, someone who people want to know and do business with. People want to give business to those who give them business. This is not a new idea, but it’s one worth being mindful of because emphasizes reciprocity, an exchange which creates a relationship.

I try to create value everyday because I appreciate the community I inhabit. For me, it makes for a full and fulfilled work life. Who doesn’t want that?

Photos from: Wikipedia, Teamsubmarine & Mr. Cheapstuff

Uh Oh! NaNoWriMo

Call me crazy, but I'm doing it.

There, I've said it so I **REALLY** have to do it now.

I'd planned to do this in September but then I went on holiday (Hello Europa) and then suddenly work fell into my lap (A BIG thank you CGW and the Universe...) and now I find myself yawning at 2:50 AM on a Friday after wrap and wondering WTF and am I nuts??

But yes, I guess I am. Nuts.

Because I am attempting to write a whole bunch of words and eventually create a hypertext web novella. In 30 days. With Scrivener.

Enough of my procrastination!

The story that I began writing 3 years ago and have kept going back to, the story inspired by a collaborative writing project a friend invited me to join, with characters inspired from a photograph by Jane Evelyn Atwood is what I am writing.

So even though I will still be shooting when NaNoWriMo starts on November 1st -- I'm gonna do it. The plan is to devote more time after we wrap and when I get back home on the 20th, so that in that last 10 days I write like a champion.

It'll be an exercise in self discipline. Like getting up for amrit vela, or the "ambrosial period". Early morning for me has traditionally been when my inspiration is at it's best because my mind is always at it's most open, empty and creative in the very early morning or upon first awakening.

Wish me luck!

What if work were fun?

This is something I think about often. In my previous jobs I had fun at work when I accomplished things that were difficult. I had fun when I rallied my crew together to make things happen, or when we were all just a little punchy on a Friday afternoon as we prepared for the week ahead. I had fun when I got to bring my dog in and she helped out by greeting everyone who came into my office with a tail wag. But this is not the norm. People just don't have fun at work.

Why not? How cool would it be to work in a place that lets you bring your well-behaved pooch to the office? Or feeds you lunch in a great cafeteria for free? Where you can have a treadmill desk or a take a spin class in the afternoons? A place to plug in your electric vehicle? On site daycare and preschool? A "quiet room" where you can just unplug for a few minutes? Yes, there is a small percentage of businesses that have cultivated a sense of fun in the work environment, usually in the name of team building and creative thinking due to some kind of expensive corporate consultancy coming in to boost productivity. It's rare that the fun concept is an everyday part of business culture. I'm not talking the recreational eating, once a month birthday cakewrecks in the break room that are served up to us as "fun". I'm talking about your job being one of the joys in a fulfilled life where your office is a place in which you and your colleagues do your best work ever. Every day.

I am betting that this is coming. I believe that more workplaces will add fun to their corporate culture. It's a way to draw in and retain good employees. People will be happier at work, therefore healthier and more productive, more creative and dedicated to the company's mission. Not just picking up a paycheck.

Employees are coming into the business world now who are digital natives. They are media literate, content savvy and are fully conversational in the new media technologies. Multi-modal discourse is the norm for them as is a sense of playfulness in the workplace. They are the people I want to work with.

Why is it important? Because as Douglas Rushkoff said at SXSW this year, it's program or be programmed. We need to be digitally literate if we are going to be relevant. We have to be able to know how to read and view the texts that are presented to us. Foundations and corporations are putting up hundreds of millions of dollars into creating curricula for education to teach this new media literacy which is needed now for our participatory culture in the workplace of fun.

This clip gives a really good explanation of what media literacy is all about:



Wishing you fun in your workplace, Happy Friday!

Producer's Lab -- begins September 26th!

I just got the email this morning announcing the line-up for the 2008 Producer's Lab to which I was accepted (along with 9 other producers) with a script written by my dear friend and colleague M. I'm thrilled to be able to participate in FIND's Talent Development program. Our lab will be taught by Anne Clements who produced the feature film Quinceañera, which went on to win numerous awards including the Sundance Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize, Humanitas Prize and the John Cassavetes Award for Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. The film was released by Sony Pictures Classics.

I'm eager to meet the other participants and spend the next 7 weeks immersed in thinking about, watching and discussing independent film as well as readying our script for production in 2009.

It kicks off with the Filmmaker Forum at the DGA next weekend and they're even hosting a reception for us on Sunday night. A few of my colleagues are attending the Forum so I'll get to see some familiar faces as well as meeting my fellow Lab mates and making loads of new contacts. A networking heaven!

The APPle of my Eye -- Iphone 2.0

I finally upgraded my Iphone with the "new and improved" OS a few weeks ago. This is ALWAYS a little tricksy, upgrading anything on my Mac because it is so chock-full of pics, Itunes, all my show files, etc.

And well, I have to say, I'm very well pleased about the search function for my contacts. I still don't understand how I can search (or if I can) on a particular word. This is why I'm intrigued by Bento, Filemaker's newest database offering because I do NEED a database that is more functional than just a contact list and I can't seem to keep up with it in Excel anymore. And while I take umbrage at being labeled a "control freak" -- I prefer FlyLady's term "Born Organized" instead -- I am totally the demographic for Bento.

Once this show is over, I can get back to my purging of files and do a major electronics cleanse. At which point, I might actually have room on my machine for yet another program!

How has Iphone specifically helped me in production? Let me list a few of the ways:
Texting -- I was able to give my boss a secret heads up in a meeting about a shit storm he was going to walk into once he left said meeting.
Photos -- I proved that damage to a Japanese Tea House was preexisting and not caused by our stunt people (as Ninja) jumping on and off the railings with a photograph taken by the camera, saving my show $3600 in repairs.
Locations -- I've been helped out numerous times by the mapping and traffic reporting functions.

It's a great tool that more and more of us in the Hollywood trenches seem to have. Take note app developers...you have customers in Tinseltown!

Hoping my lucky streak continues. I've been working consistently since late January and I'm a finalist in the FIND Producer's Lab with a project I've been developing with M.

4 cents

Today I heard from a colleague who was told by their employer (one of the CSI franchise) to start looking for another job. So it looks like the small pool of jobs available is only going to get smaller. And right before the holidays too when it's already a slow time. Yay.

If there are no pilots, no series and no features, what are the alternatives?
1. Reality TV (I'd consider it)
2. Working abroad (Yes, I am available, passport in hand)
3. Leaving the business (No, I'm velcro'd in)
4. Teaching (Yes, I've done it before)
5. Temping (It's saved me more than once)
6. Commercials (I wouldn't know where to begin, but I'm game)

Then I came across this on YouTube...
Why we Fight

It's created by the WGA and illustrates their points pretty well. Some may call it propaganda but one person's propaganda is another's truth.

Strike

Or is it?

I've been trying to figure it out. Talking with friends in the Writer's Guild, reading posts on mailing lists I belong to. We'll know in a few days how this will all shake down.

What I do know is that if one guild goes, so too will the others. And this might eventually put the IATSE membership in the position of joining in a work stoppage.

And selfishly speaking, that is not a good thing. We need the work. We all have our bills to pay.

If you want to study this further; here's a few links that you might find helpful (thanks to Stephen Marinaccio for posting this to the LAProducer Yahoo group).

Here's where you can go to read more about what the WGA is asking for:
http://www.wga.org/subpage_member.aspx?id=2485

Here's where you can go to learn more about the AMPTP:
http://www.amptp.org/aboutus.html

Here's the AMPTP package offered to the WGA (pdf link)
http://www.amptp.org/files/comprehensive102507.pdf

Here are some FAQ's from the AMPTP regarding the strike:
http://www.amptp.org/wgastrikefaq.html

Compare the AMPTP to a PGA member, with the following site:
http://www.producersguild.org/pg/about_a/faq.asp

What's next?

Things seem very slow in town work-wise. Makes getting on a pilot look like a cake-walk. The TV shows seem to be staffed with everyone but PA's. I'm waiting to hear on a few features, but in the meantime the bills keep coming, so pragmatically speaking it looks like temping is in my imminent future.

Of course, there are the strike rumblings, but I don't think that it will actually happen. In 2001 we had the defacto strike simply because the threat was enough to panic the studios into stockpiling scripts. This trickled down and really hurt us wage slaves. I know I was out of work for a time as a result.

It may yet happen again, unless it has begun already. Or is it just part of the bell curve of the changing face of media? In 2001 the promise of TV on the internet had failed, now 6 years later we have YouTube and the Director's Guild is signing deals for internet broadcast webisodes.

Look at the Fall line-ups, so little scripted material in network TV. More reality and very few half hour comedies. More spin offs of hour long franchises. In my opinion, cable continues to stand out as the superior product generator. Maybe that's what's happening? It's been two camps, cable versus network -- each trying to eat the other. Only now there's the internet and it's gnawing at them both.

Will the internet eat the networks? Will cable eat the internet? Will the internet eat everyone and the phone companies too? And where does that leave us? The content creators and workers - those of us who actually do the things that get the stuff out there? If everyone can create content, where does that take us?