Selling My Soul To The Devil

You ought to be ashamed of yourselves; sending a poor, defenseless innocent over to the dark side of Facebook. (Okay, I'm not that innocent, but you catch my drift.) :grin:

I'm in. But I have no idea what I'm supposed to do next. Can I feed my blog into Facebook, or do I simply update it like I would Twitter?

If you follow me here, go ahead and friend me there. And if you have ANY suggestions on what to do next, (and I do mean, any) please don't hesitate to give me advice.

I was a little put off by Facebook constantly trying to find me friends. It felt pushy and a little too big brother-ish. The privacy settings was one labyrinth leading into another. I think I set most of them to Friends Only--at least until I know what I'm doing.

I can't help feeling I sold my soul to the devil. Boy, is he going to be sorry.

I was going to post this tomorrow (my regular blog day) but people are friending me left and right and I'm not sure if I'm clicking the right buttons.

For now, here I am. Lost in a Facebook sea of questions and trepidation.

Once you friend me, am I automatically a friend on your page? Or do I have to invite you too?

And what do I do if someone sends me a friend request, but I don't think I know them? Is it rude not to accept?

What about mutual friends? Facebook keeps listing all these friends of friends. Obviously, my friends are very popular. Am I supposed to invite them as friends too?

head:desk

Right now my biggest fear is that when I see people on FB, I can't be sure if these are my friends or just someone with the same name. The profile photos can be ambiguous. I'd hate to friend someone by accident and then have them turn out to be people I don't even know.

While I was setting this up (in secret), two people I know friended me. And just now, two more. I am stunned! How did you guys find me?

We'll do this for a little while and see how it goes. As long as I don't see an increase in spam we'll be cool.

For now, be gentle with me and don't assume I know what I'm doing. Please don't be offended if I fail at some Facebook protocol. You're dealing with a real FB virgin here.

Can you give me suggestions on how to use Facebook? Is there anything I should watch out for?

I should carry a sign. Facebook noob.

***
Blog posts of interest

Two blog posts caught my eye recently and I wanted to direct you to them.

The first was from Liane Spicer blogging over at Novel Spaces where she offers the best advice ever on How to Help a Starving Author. If you love books, Liane gives brilliant suggestions on how to support the author--tips that don't necessarily require cash. I highly recommend this post.

The second great find was JA Konrath's blog where he reported that Publishers Weekly is offering to place self-published titles into a quarterly list for the cool sum of $149. That's $149 to be on a list. I'll let you decide whether you think that's smart money.

Comments

Dru said…
Once you friend someone, you don't have to friend them.

If I get a friend request and I don't know you, I first check mutual and see who we have in common. In most cases, I don't accept if I haven't seen you elsewhere.

Because you're an author, you'll probably get a lot of readers.
Maria Zannini said…
Dru:

Ref:
Because you're an author, you'll probably get a lot of readers.

LOL! Well, we'll see about that. :)
Linda Leszczuk said…
Aw, come on, Maria, it's not that bad.
KA said…
I never got into Twitter, but yes, you can import one blog into FB. It's ever so convenient. You'll get readers there who don't read your blog otherwise.
KA said…
If you go to Notes, you'll find something like edit import settings. That's where you set it up to import your blog.
Maria Zannini said…
Linda: You're like that devil on my shoulder. Go ahead, Maria. Eat that piece of cake. It won't go to your thighs.

LOL.

Thanks for helping me navigate.
Maria Zannini said…
Kaylie:

Ref: notes

Okay, I see Notes. But not the import link. I'll keep looking.

Thanks!
Anonymous said…
Maria, you can link your new blog posts to appear on Facebook and Twitter simultaneously, after you post. Don't ask me to remember how I did it though. I think it was through the Facebook Application settings.
Maria Zannini said…
I think I found it. --Or at least it's showing up on my page.

Thanks! And thanks for adding me to your friends' list.
Amanda said…
That's all very helpful. I made a facebook account to play games and advertise my blog.
Maria Zannini said…
Amanda: What Kaylie said made a lot of sense. There's the potential of reaching FB-only fans that I wouldn't reach anywhere else.

I'll just take baby steps and see how it goes.
Unknown said…
I don't have much wisdom to give regarding FB beyond:

1. Keep your current city of residence, birthday, and all other personal info private.
2. Do not even get started on playing the games - they're beyond addicting. Turn down every single play request received and you'll be golden.
3. Yes - as soon as you accept a friend request (or vice versa) your updates show up on the other person's page & vice versa.
4. 90 - 95% of the friends people have on FB are folks they don't actually know.
4a. If you're uncomfortable accepting requests from strangers, you can always set up an Official Fan Page & direct those folks there.
5. You can link a whole bunch of other accounts (Twitter, Blogspot, Goodreads, etc.) to FB so when your page is automatically updated as you make new posts at those accounts.

'K - can't think of anything else at the moment, other than letting you know I put in my request too. Happy Facebooking. Welcome to the Dark Side. :) MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!
Stef Howerton said…
Ahh, welcome to the perilous world of Facebook, my dear, where everyone gets easily offended over absolutely nothing. hehe :)

I'm at work at the moment, and F-book is behind the firewall, so I'll friend you as soon as I get home! :)

Once again, welcome! It's not as bad as you think... ;)
Maria Zannini said…
Catie: That's very helpful. Thanks!

Evil and helpful. What a combo.

Looking forward to seeing you there.
Maria Zannini said…
Stef: Now you're getting me worried.

Do I need to work on offending people? I'm sure I'm up to the task. LOL
Sherri said…
brawhaha...welcome to the dark side *g*

Off to friend you!!!
Maria Zannini said…
Sherri: You guys make me feel like I'm in a den of iniquity.

I suppose the rum and whiskey will come next. Well...that's not so bad.
:o)
James Garcia Jr said…
Yay! Gotcha'!
It took me a few minutes, but I eventually found you. I had a FB window open, a Twitter window open, my blog open in another... I had the entire network hunting for you. Lol.
You'll see my note. I mentioned that I have the two FB pages and that you were free to "friend" either one as long as you did not bring me any of those scorpions.
I saw your tweet the other day. Wow! Have you calmed down yet?
Be careful, James.
Maria Zannini said…
Hey, Jimmy. I'm okay. Just went into Godzilla mode when I saw that scorpion.

You might have to direct me to your other page. I'm as lost as a headless chicken right now.

Thanks for finding me. (I didn't even know I was lost.)
Found you! I had to go by your picture.

I added my blog to Facebook through Networked Blogs.
Maria Zannini said…
Hey, Sandra! You wouldn't think Zannini would be that hard to find. LOL!

Ref: networked blogs
Is that different from the embedded link I used?

Where do you find that app?

Thanks for friending me!
J.L. Johnson said…
I just use FB for keeping in touch with friends and family, not as a networking tool. I'm going to friend youm, and I'll include a little note so you know it's me. I NEVER friend someone I don't know. I've gotten several requests from 'friends of friends', but I ignore them. I don't think it's rude at all.
Maria Zannini said…
Hi Jannette!

I'll probably only use mine for networking. I think my family is on FB, and if I'm lucky, they won't find me. :grin:

Thanks for friending me!
Reading through the comments, it looks like you have all the tips you need to play with Facebook. I hope you find it rewarding :)
Sue Guiney said…
Oh my....I went to befriend you on facebook and found at least 5 Maria Zannini's (sorry). Could you befriend me instead and I'll say yes? Actually, I don't like twitter much but do love fb. And when I've posted a blog, I put that as my fb status. I've also set up twitter so that when I tweet something it automatically also goes onto facebook. Don't know iof that's such a good idea, though....
Maria Zannini said…
Sue:

Who are all these imposters!

Unfortunately, there are at least five of 'you' on FB too.

I'm the one in the pink sweater and the very cute spotted puppy.
Jackie said…
I hope you "friend" me soon as have sent you a request to approve a little while ago.. Welcome to another time waster.... It is a good way to keep up with friends birthdays anyway....

jackie^_^
Maria Zannini said…
Got it! Thanks, Jackie!
Nicole said…
Hmmm I have a facebook acc but just use it to lead to my blog. I don't have that much free time on my hands *grin*

http://damselinadirtydress.blogspot.com
Maria Zannini said…
Nicole: That's pretty much all I plan for FB too.

For my first full day, it hasn't been too bad. I have survived.

PS Thanks for following me! I followed you back.
India Drummond said…
It does take a little while to get used to Facebook. It can seem overwhelming!

The most annoying thing can be application invites and application notices in your news feed. But! You can block these by app. Some apps are really bad, like Mafia Wars. In your feed, click a little [x] to the right side to delete it, and you have the option of hiding ALL posts by that application. Mafia Wars, Farmville... I have probably hidden 50+ apps.

Another thing that's useful is groups. I have a group I call 'real peeps' (no one else can see your groups and they won't know which group they're in). I add *real* friends (people I've met in person) and family to this group. This is the only group that can see my family photos.
Maria Zannini said…
India: Overwhelming is an understatement. LOL.

Thanks for the head's up on groups.

Ref: apps
Where do I find this "feed"? I'd like to block the games if I can.
Shelley Munro said…
To be honest I'm still trying to come to grips with both Twitter and Facebook. when I get busy they're both the first places I stop visiting.

One thing I can recommend is to join hootesuite.
www.hootesuite.com. With this you can read both your twitter posts and your Facebook posts in one place and there's a part that helps you send your blogs to both places automatically.
Maria Zannini said…
Ref: hootesuite

I've heard the name but didn't know what it did. Thanks, Shelley!
Marian Perera said…
Hey Maria,

It's a good thing you mentioned the pink sweater and the dog, because I was going through all the listings thinking, "she can't be the Maria Zannini who posts in Italian, she can't be the Maria Zannini with four children..."

Sent you a friend request. :)