Monday, April 15, 2013

open table discussion: blogs on FB

Today we're going to have an open table discussion. Sound good? This is a not-terribly-important topic that I've been thinking about the last few days and I figured that you folks-- fellow bloggers and readers-of-blogs--would be a pretty good crowd to seek advice and opinions from. So here we go!

Today's topic regards posting links to your blog on Facebook. I know a lot of people (a lot of you, a lot of my other FB friends) do this. You have it set so that when you post a new blog, it automatically posts a link on your FB wall. For some reason, I've never personally done this. But not because I dislike it or think it's stupid-- I don't really have any good reason for why I don't engage in this. That's why I want to discuss.

I do have a link to my blog listed under my 'contact information' on my 'About' page. So it's not like my blog is a big FB secret-- my opinion has always been that if you wanted to find my blog via FB, you could. But I guess if you're not looking for it, you may never notice it-- as opposed to if I were putting links to new posts on my wall a few times a week. On the rare occasion that someone else shares a link to my blog on their own wall (and tags me in it), I inevitably get a bunch of emails/comments like "OMG I didn't know you had a blog, why didn't you tell me??!"...like...umm...was I supposed to personally notify everyone I knew back in 2008 when I started my blog? The greater question is why don't you adequately stalk people on FB, my friend? Exactly.

So personally, I rather like when people post a link to their blog (when there's a new post). Once. Or maybe twice, if there's a long period of time in between. I don't enjoy 5 FB posts and 3 tweets all about the same post, especially if I'm already a subscriber and have already read the post-- that's just overkill. But whatever. So let's assume we're talking about a tasteful single FB post. I'm a fan. A lot of times, for blogs I already subscribe to and read regularly, it's unnecessary, but sometimes a handy reminder (like if I read the post on my phone but didn't comment, I'll see the FB post and remember to go back and comment). For people whose blogs I don't read regularly or subscribe to, I like to see the link because if it sounds interesting, I may want to go check it out. And I mean, let's face it: My FB newsfeed is so junked up with stuff I don't care about (ads, politics, game updates, stupid memes)...I can easily ignore the stuff that doesn't interest me...so if it happens to be a blog I'm not interested in, it's no biggie to ignore it. It doesn't hurt my eyes to see a link.

So then I'm like, well, why don't I set my own blog to post on FB? And then I get this weird feeling in my stomach. I don't know why. Because I like when other people do it. But I feel weird about doing it myself. Anyone care to psychoanalyze that conundrum?

So here's where I need you to weigh in. If you currently have your own blog set to post on FB-- do you like it? Do you get more random (well, I guess not THAT random, since they're your FB friends) readers? Do you feel weird about it? If you don't blog or don't post your blog to FB-- how do you feel about it in general? Do you think it's annoying when people do that? Do you like it? Do you think I should do it? Would you roll your eyes at me if I did that? Could you care less one way or the other and wish I would shut up about this? Feel free to share. Ha. Remember, it's an Open Table Discussion, so...go!

PS. To be clear, I'm referring to my personal FB page-- not a 'fan page' for my blog. I don't have one of those. That will have to be a separate discussion for a later date, so hold your breath. 

PPS. I am not even close to considering a blog 'fan page' on FB. Just to be clear about the first PS. You will probably be holding your breath for a long time.

22 comments:

  1. I don't do it. I have friends that post their link every.single.day and I'm not a fan. I only post with big things like Giveaways or recipes that I think people would love, but I probably don't post about 85% of my posts onto FB. Like you, I feel like reminding people it's out there once and a while is good enough. I actually keep FB and instagram somewhat closed down to only good friends and family. The blog is for the world and all my blogging buddies, but I like to keep the other two private. :)

    Oh... and I'm not doing a fan page of my blog on FB either. Unless you have like 80 thousand followers, I think it's pointless. :)

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  2. I'm probably one of the only people on the planet who doesn't have Facebook (Gasp! I know!). But, I used to have it and if I still did, I would not post links to my posts on FB. This is 100% because my blog is about my infertility, for the most part. So many of my Facebook friends were people who weren't real, true friends. Most were acquaintances or people who I was friends with, but who I'm not really friends with anymore. My close family and friends know about my infertility (everyone else probably assumes it by now), and right now, I'm just not ready to come out with my infertility to more people than those in my life who already know.

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  3. I think if you had a fan page than having every post post on Facebook would make sense. I only post links to my blog when it's a big deal or a post I think people would find funny (ie a video) -- so maybe three-four times a year. My blog is my blog and Facebook is Facebook and they serve two separate purposes, in my opinion. If people want to know what I've written on my blog then they can check it out on their own.

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  4. I don't post links to mine every day but I definitely don't mind people that do- I'm just too lazy to do it. I only put up links to posts every now and then, and yes, I definitely get a lot more hits/comments/readers on those days! So I say go for it- your FB friends that don't already know about it would appreciate it!

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  5. I shall try not to read other's comments on this post and take them personally, since this post isn't about me ;)

    Anywho, I used to have something automatically post mine to fb, but after way too many technical difficulties with that, I now manually post it every morning. As you know, I do it first thing in the morning (around 6:30am here in Texas)... which for some reason makes me feel like I am clogging up the newsfeed less since it's not in the middle of the day. I considered NOT doing it for awhile, but I swear to you, any time I don't post the link to facebook, I have a handful of (lazy?) friends who ask me if I didn't blog that day. From what I can tell, a decent of people want to read blogs, but are too lazy to go look it up themselves every day OR too technically challenged to figure out how to do that. So really, I have just kept up the habit as a favor to those peeps :) And like Amanda said, I get way more views/comments on the days I do post it to FB!

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  6. Personally, I don't post links to my blog on FB because I, like you, have the blog link listed in the About me section. My blog is mostly my baby book/family update.

    Your blog entries are truly hilarious so I think others would appreciate.

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  7. So, I post to FB if I think the post has lots of pictures (since I am too lazy to also post them on FB) or if James says I should. He's my editor, you know... I will say I have friends who always tell me they love the blog, but then seem shocked when they realize they can get to the blog on ther own (instead of going through the FB link.). Still, I don't every one - maybe I should!

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  8. I DO have a "page" for my blog and it's precisely because I didn't like junking up people's feed from my own Facebook. I figured if people want the updates, they'd "like" the page. Now I don't have to post updates to my own page, just my blog's page.... which I still have a minor problem with just because it feels like I'm "tooting my own horn."

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  9. For a long time I thought it was dumb when people would link their blogs, like they were being all "Hey, read my blog, I'm so cool!" and what not. But I've had people tell me it's a lot easier for some people to keep up on a blog when it's linked...like maybe they're not the types who subscribe to blogs so having it pop-up in their newsfeed is super handy. So now I am lame and link mine, but I've gotten LOTS of positive feedback from people who love the FB reminder when I post. And I get tons of FB comments, which is super duper fun. I think people like not having to prove their not a robot. Also, I am NOT a big FB poster, so almost the only time I post is when I post a blog. So it's not like people are overwhelmed by lots of annoying posts from me. I don't like to be annoying, that's for sure.

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  10. I rarely put my blog on facebook. I guess part of that is it's a personal type blog maybe? There have been a few times I have linked a post (maybe two) because I felt it was appropriate and that many of my friends would like to read it. I do get a lot more readers for that post- but it still makes me uncomfortable in a way. I think it's annoying if it's done all the time, but for a few special posts I think it's fine. That's my two sense!

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  11. I have lots of opinions on this!

    So first of all, I used to manually post my blogs on Facebook (the automatic post widget thingy gave me technical difficulties). I don't post every day or even every week, so it never felt like I was clogging up anyone's news feed (and when I did start to feel guilty, I justified this by reminding myself that people sometimes post song lyrics or pictures of pancakes).

    Before figuring out that Stirrup Queens will list your blog for free, I didn't have any other way to attract followers. So it was either get friends and acquaintances to follow through Facebook or post a bunch of stuff for myself and maybe one other person who found my blog randomly.

    Once I started my IVF cycle I posted a "farewell" post and warned everyone that I wouldn't post any more to Facebook until I got past the 12 week mark. As much as I feel ok about sharing the infertility journey, I didn't think a potential "miscarriage post" would be good for my emotional sanity. I did retain some Facebook followers even after I stopped posting to my news feed and I'm grateful for them.

    Wow, this is a long winded reply. I'm sorry. I love your blog and I think everyone should read it. My advice is to post to Facebook manually and just leave off the super serious, emotional posts. Your true followers will find those on their own.

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  12. I hardly ever link to my FB page. Many of my FB friends are hardly REAL friends which is sad to say. My real friends have my blog link. Every time I do post to FB, I have gotten a million page hits, but ZERO comments from those people, so it feels even more stalkerish that FB does!

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  13. I'm like you, I don't post my blog to FB (well, I did once and I think my face turned red when I did it). I get a weird feeling about it as well. I feel like it might be letting people that know or knew me in too much. I prefer strangers :) That said, I have sent a link to friends/neighbors if it was something that they might be interested in.

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  14. Okay, I first read this while waiting for Dr. S, so I've thought about this for too long, but here goes:

    I do post to Facebook. Predominant reason being this: Very, very, very few (like two) of friends in real life blog. Weird, I know. I've had a few try it, but most gave it up after a season. Once, I started posting links to Facebook, so many friends started reading. For a lot of those people they are genuinely interested/nosy because my life's interesting/a train wreck, but they wouldn't otherwise hear about it because we're friends from way back when, or when we lived X, Y, or Z. For whatever reason, non-bloggers don't seem to grasp the ability to find/read/follow unless they are provided a link. They also don't understand comments… they email me or Facebook message their comments. Strange.

    I'm not in it for the numbers, but I can say if I don't post to Facebook, the numbers are 1/3-1/2, so you might be overwhelmed if you do since you're already super popular. : )

    I felt exceptionally strange about doing it when I first started, like I was self promoting. I finally took the plunge after the miscarriage when I actually WANTED my friends to know so that if there was someone else, I could say you're not alone. Friends from 10+ years ago came out of the woodwork, and yet none of them follow. FB is the only way they keep up.

    About the annoying factor- I figure my tiny little link is about the LEAST annoying thing on Facebook these days. I try to make it discreet… people who are interested will find it, those who aren't can skip right over!

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  15. I post a link every time I have a new blog post. I have family and friends that just don't know anything about blogging, or wouldn't think about looking up my webpage everyday, but they do get on Facebook everyday. I've never had any complaints.

    Plus I'm pretty sure that out of my 50 followers only about 7 of them actually read what I post, but after I post to Facebook my number of pages read jumps up to the 90's sometimes. (woohoo! I know that's measly compared to most of y'all, but I'm happy with it)

    I love what Amanda wrote at the end of her comment about her tiny link being the least annoying thing on Facebook these days, so true!!

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  16. Like you, my blog is in my "about me" section of FB. I only post a link to posts that I think my IRL friends might enjoy. (funny teaching stories or whatever.) I also do a lot of ignoring on my FB newsfeed. SO much junk!

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  17. I post by hand (I didn't realize that I could do it automatically?) But I don't like the fan pages.

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  18. I totally don't mind when people do it. But maybe less is more? I do it occasionally but mostly so family who don't use bookmarks but are Facebook stalkers can be clued in to something they might want to see. I'm like your blog's biggest fan though and think you should share because I want you to be blog famous and think that sharing on Facebook would help the cause.

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  19. Lots of good discussion and reasonings here... I don't post to FB. I really have no reason other than I'm lazy and I go through phases with FB where I'm really into it, and then a week or so goes by and I haven't looked at FB once. I do prefer a less is more approach when it comes to posting to FB but that is just me. But. . . I understand why lots of others do it regularly.

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  20. I don't have it automatically set up to post to Facebook. I pick and choose which ones I want to link up. Just depends on subject matter.

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  21. No... it doesn't bother me for others to do it (of course, maybe 5% of my FB friends are bloggers, so that might have something to do with it). I don't do it, though, b/c i get that same weird feeling you get. (At least, I assume it's the same weird feeling!) I'm not sure why. I have always felt the same way, that people could find my blog if they looking for it!

    I do occasionally post the link if i posted an amazing recipe or something else that i don't mind the world reading! But it's rare. Meaning, maybe 2x a month i will post a link to my blog.

    I have a weightloss blog, too, and that one i do not have listed in my about me section, but it is a public blog & i put the link to it in the blogroll of my regular blog. The people who find it are people who would be supportive anyway. But i don't feel like flaunting it on FB b/c i'm so afraid of being judged unfairly - and that's just the truth!

    P.S. I don't have a Blog Fan fb page either. Don't get that!

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  22. I post mine on facebook every time. But I'm the ultimate hypocrite, I'd probably be annoyed if someone else did. Most of my readers are family/friends who otherwise wouldn't go to my blog on a regular basis. Any suggestions for how to change that? Because if it weren't for posting my blog I would have deleted my facebook ages ago.

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