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Send Me A Birthday Smile

Jul 22nd, 2011

I’m going to take a wild guess and suggest that while you may be kind enough to wish me a happy 48th birthday today, you’re unlikely to rush off to my Amazon Wish List to buy me everything my heart desires.

That’s why I’m going to make it easy on you and ask you to do a few things that will make my one day a year very special, while costing you ….. nothing. Well, maybe a little time but these ideas won’t put a dent in your wallet.

Like Me On Facebook

First of all, I’d love to connect with a lot more people on Facebook. I have a public Facebook page that makes that really easy. It’s what Facebook calls a ‘fan page’ but I’m not that much of an egotist that I want you to declare yourself as my ‘fan’. It’s simply just an easy way to share stuff on Facebook. Just head to my Facebook page and click ‘like’.

Share My Posts

Whenever you drop in to my blog, please, please, please feel free to use the little buttons at the bottom of each post to share my posts via Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg or Reddit. Hey, you can even click the email button to send a copy to your friends. When you share my posts in any, or all, of these wats, more people visit my blog and I smile a lot. Really I do. If you use StumbleUpon I would especially love you to Stumble my posts. You’re more than welcome to spend a few minutes going back over my recent posts and sharing a few.

Comment On My Posts

Don’t just think it …. say it. I love it when people leave comments on my posts. Your comments make me smile big time.

Thank You

So there you are. If you’d like to, and only if you’d like to, you can make me extra happy by folowing a few of the ideas above. Of course I won’t complain if you’d simply prefer to buy me everything on my Amazon Wish List but we both know that’s never going to happen.

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Find Me On Facebook

Jun 28th, 2011

by Rodney Olsen.

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Today I’m revisiting a post I wrote some months ago. The following is the post I published to explain why I created a ‘Facebook Fan Page’.I thought I’d throw it out there again for anyone who missed it the first time around.

How do I explain this without sounding arrogant. Well maybe I don’t. Not that I want to sound arrogant but when you set up your own Facebook ‘fan page’ it does seem somewhat cheesey and self serving. I get that, but that’s not what it’s about. I’m not looking for fans. I’m simply wanting to stay connected with a wider group of friends.

So why would an ordinary bloke ask people to click the link that says they ‘like’ him? Over inflated ego? Umm … no. A deep cry for acceptance? No again.

The truth is that I jumped on board with Facebook some time ago and have built up quite a number of Facebook friends. Some are family, some are close friends, some acquaintances, some are old school friends, while others are those I’ve ‘met’ online.

I’ve been torn between wanting to accept every friend request I receive and keeping Facebook for those I know personally. Having a wider group of friends means I sometimes can’t share as much as I like, while keeping a very closed Facebook page means I can’t share stuff with as many people as I’d like.

While it’s not a perfect solution I’ve decided to set up a new Facebook page that’s completely open to everyone. You don’t even have to make a friendship request, just click the button and add yourself as a friend.

I don’t really know how this will all work. I may only end up with a handful of friends at the new page but I’m hoping that it’ll get a little busier than that.

If you’re already a Facebook friend and you feel you’d fit better with the new page, feel free to ‘unfriend’ me and join the new page. You’re also welcome to stay connected through both pages.

I’ll still be posting a lot of the same content on both pages but the ability to share things a little differently will allow me to protect my privacy and especially my family’s privacy a little better.

Thanks for your understanding. I hope to see you at my new Facebook page soon.

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Facebook Makes Changes to ‘Pages’

Feb 11th, 2011

by Rodney Olsen.

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Great to see that Facebook has made some changes to their ‘pages’.

They regularly upgrade the standard profiles, causing cheering from some and jeering from others, but they’ve now added some extra functions to what they call ‘fan pages’. (I still have issues about calling them fan pages but more of that in a moment.)

What have they added?

Notifications when other Facebook users interact with your page or posts.
A place to showcase photos along the top of your page.
A news feed for your page.
The ability to Like and post on other pages as your page.

Great news for those of us who have such pages as it allows us to interact more naturally with those who’ve ‘liked’ our pages.

I still feel a little odd having something titled as a ‘fan page’. When you set up your own Facebook ‘fan page’ it does seem somewhat cheesey and self serving. I get that, but that’s not what it’s about. I’m not looking for fans. I’m simply wanting to stay connected with a wider group of friends.

So why would an ordinary bloke ask people to click the link that says they ‘like’ him? Overinflated ego? Umm … no. A deep cry for acceptance? No again.

While it’s not a perfect solution I decided to set up a new Facebook page that’s completely open to everyone. You don’t even have to make a friendship request, just click the button and add yourself as a friend.

I post a lot of the same content on both pages but the ability to share things a little differently allows me to protect my privacy and especially my family’s privacy a little better.

I hope to see you at my new Facebook page soon.

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700 Billion Minutes

Nov 23rd, 2010

by Rodney Olsen.

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So think about this one. Four years ago most of us did not use Facebook at all. And today we are using it compulsively.

Tim Challies has written a fairly confronting article for those of us who use Facebook titled 700 Billion Minutes. It focusses on the time we spend on Facebook and highlights some alarming statistics.

While I was away last week I did manage to ‘stay connected’ with various online sites to a limited degree but I must admit that it was rather freeing to be somewhat disconnected while making real life connections with other members on our cycling team.

I certainly thought about my involvement online and about achieving a better balance in that area of life. I’m not going for a knee jerk reaction and closing down accounts all over the web but I do want to use my time wisely. I think the thing that most hit me while I was cycling last week is how our time can be so consumed with things that didn’t even exist a decade ago. Tim’s article brings that out very clearly.

For the majority of us, Facebook is a new thing. Those 700 billion minutes are not minutes that we’ve taken away from other online pursuits. They are minutes that we’ve taken away from real life. Studies show that time spent interacting online comes at the expense of face-to-face relationships and about at a 2:1 ratio. So every hour we spend on Facebook comes at the expense of 30 minutes talking to a person face-to-face.

Do you think you need to step back and look at your time priorities? Have you noticed your online life robbing you of ‘real life’ relationships? Are you taking time away from your family and close friends to interact with those you’ve never met?

If you want some great food for thought I encourage you to read through 700 Billion Minutes and then consider your own plan of action.