Tuesday 23 August 2011

There. I did it.

I set up a Facebook page. Not a personal account, but a "business" page (not that I have any "business" (yet)). Why I am thinking about setting up some sort of "business" (there, I can't even write it without the inverted commas), is something I will be writing about some time later, this week, or next.

But back to Facebook. I have resisted Facebook so far (which hasn't really been very hard) for 2 3 reasons:

  1. I simply felt, and still feel, very uncomfortable about sending my real name, my own real identity into the WorldWideWeb. I'm shy, you see. That's what I like about all the other things I'm using, my blog, Twitter, Flickr, you don't have to make your real name public if you don't want to.
  2. I find the design of Facebook utterly unattractive. I'm a visual person, I've even been called an aesthete once, and the design of Facebook just doesn't appeal to me. At all.
  3. I'm already spending a lot of time online with writing posts for my own blog, reading and commenting on other blogs, trying to keep up with Flickr, not keeping up with Twitter at all at the moment. Not to mention that I feel that I never have enough time for offline things, such as processing pictures, and most important of all, painting, drawing, sketching, creating...
So why have I now set up a page, after all? Well, it's all got to do with this e-course I've subscribed to (the thing I'll be writing about in another post, soon). There's a private Facebook group for the course, and apparently, there's a lot of discussion going on there in which I can't participate, because I'm not on Facebook.With that "project" I have in mind doing, I probably would have set up this Facebook page anyway, sooner or later, and as I would like to participate, well, I just had to set it up sooner, rather than later. Which I have done now.

And having registered, and set it up, I'm completely confused. I usually have no problems getting the hang of these things. I just try everything out and find my way through all the possibilities. But Facebook really just totally confuses me (maybe there's still that inner resistance). Also, I haven't created my profile yet. Because, as I said, I'm somehow completely reluctant to make my real name public on the web (everything you find by googling my real name is work related). But it seems that in order to connect with others, to really do something with that page, I have to create my profie. I have considered using a pseudonym (and I have come up with an adorable name (at least I think so), so much more 'me' than my real name), but I don't know really how much sense that makes. No one who knew me really would find me, and telling all my friends and family that I have an alias sounds rather impractical (they'd probably just laugh at me...). And also, I don't know if you can later change the name once you've put your profile up with a certain name.

So I haven't really come very far with my new Facebook page yet. I added a profile picture (which somehow I managed to upload twice, and I don't know where to delete it. (Where are the delete buttons/options???), and I've written a status message, or whatever it's called (I find the terminology there rather silly as well). And now I'm sort of stuck. I don't know what next to do (oh, I still so love my alias, and do I really want to write my real name?).

The only thing I really enjoyed was designing a kind of "logo" or button I'm using as my profile picture:


I'm sure I'll be making some alterations to it very soon (as with my blog header, which is a constant work in progress), but for the moment, I like it, a lot :). (And I think I'll have to add (digital) collage to my creative activities...).

And oh, as I mentioned, I didn't create a personal account, but a "business" account, registering as "artist", and feeling completely silly (and rather embarrassed) about it. Probably another reason why I feel so shy about daring to write my real name....

And just in case you're interested, here's the link to my Facebook page. Come and visit, and if you have any tips about how to get along with Facebook, I'd be more than grateful.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for stopping by my blog and admiring my baskets. I don't remember exactly how I did the FB badge but if you go to your account and click on "help" then put create badge or button in the search field it will walk you through everything. All I remember is that it was very easy to do. Love you blog, but I too keep tweeking it. I'm in the process of going with something entirely different in looks, but the same name.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ugh. facebook. i am with you. hate.
    i do have an account that i set up for the same reason as you--to keep up in conversations with a group of bloggers that i collaborate with on a project. i did not use my real name though. i have no desire for people to find me. (and they WILL find you :) good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  3. well, I totally relate to the whole FB thing. I don't particularly like it, and I find it VERY confusing and just down right not user-friendly. But, I'm there also. I've made a sort of peace with it, but don't use it for much other than the occasional status update. And the whole business page I don't get at all. So, sorry, I'm not much help at all. But I am glad to have found you there and your blog too. And I love your banner/badge thing. I found you when Holly 'liked' your page. So, perhaps it does work to connect people.
    Best of luck with your 'business'. I'm certain you'll do fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ha Ha! Sorry I have to laugh because several months ago I did a similar thing. Thought I would/should join Facebook, opened an account, then really had no idea what to do with it, or how! It didn't make much sense at all. After a few days I gave up and deleted the account. My mother uses it quite a lot though, and she's now in her 70's!

    So if you search my name now, you get a few Facebook people with the same name, but none of them is me, and I'm quite happy about that. I'm quite a private person in real life, but I don't mind people knowing my name. Almost any mention of me only links to something photographic (though not my current screen name strangely) which is good.

    I'm intrigued now by your "business", which I'm sure doesn't need inverted commas. The mystery of Ms KB. Sounds like an Agatha Christie novel. Anyway, I wish you well with that.

    PS. Do you know this old song?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvFPlWh1yQY

    Cheers!!

    ReplyDelete