29.9.11

Cutting ties with Facebook

I had over 700 people as friends on Facebook.

I actually knew maybe around 100.

I use facebook primarilly for "business" - to let people know about Studio Scratches and Deliberate.

With so many people and so many status updates of largely nothing important, we are getting overwhelmed.

Think about it like this:

I read / follow maybe 3 - 5 people at any one time. At the moment this is:

Leo Babauta (Zen Habits / Mnmlist)
Gwen Bell
Ev Bogue

I actively SEEK OUT their content (RSS and G+ follow stream)

When we really want something we seek it out.

If we like drinking Starbucks, we don't wait for a Starbucks to knock on our door. We go out and order one.

If we like listening to an artist we load it on our music devices. It involves action from US. It shouldn't be passive.

There are tools that make it easier to find updates to your favourite stuff, but these are just tools and not our master. We don't need to be slaves to passive updates.

I would rather people sign up to Studio Scratches and Deliberate or come and visit them intentionally if they find it valuable, rather than me posting stuff in my updates along with 1000s of other people. It devalues it. Opting in so to speak.

I hope the people that choose buy my products do so deliberately, free from marketing hype and trickery and that they are insanely useful. I work on this daily. This is the real work for me.

I cut my friend list down to around 70, reserved for people I have met in real life primarily and family.

Right now I have a facebook group running for the Studio Scratches heads and a Studio Scratches facebook page, but this may eventually become void.

The reason I kept the facebook group is that it is actually very supportive and people post info of value. It serves as a place of community.

I am interested to see if G+ can take over for this.