From Facebook to faces

Today I posted the following message on Facebook three times, with slight variations each time to keep from boring myself:

GM FB - I'm posting this 3-4 times today (Sunday 6/9) so that as many of my FB friends as possible will see it. In the last couple of days, I've concluded that I rely too much on FB, so I'm going pull WAY back in using it - during the remainder of June, you should only expect to see me post links to "Homewood Nation" or to "ReVisions," my personal blog. If you want to reach me online, please email elwin15208@gmail.com. Also this month, I will work at spending more time with people face to face - especially my neighbors in Homewood (we're in walking distance, for crying out loud). So, if you're in Homewood, and we know each other at all, expect a phone call. I want to get caught up.

I mentioned yesterday that I felt like I was starting to pay too much attention to pageviews and visits; but that was an understatement. What was really sinking in was the realization that Facebook was becoming my primary means of socializing - and that I was spending less time actually chatting with people than waiting for somebody to say something interesting, or browsing my news feed to see who has said something interesting, or worst of all - saying things and then waiting to see if anyone finds what I say interesting. And not just interesting, but interesting enough to reply to with an actual comment or question, rather than just a "Like."

(I don't like "Likes." In fact, I hate them. It amazes me that the term "social" is applied to a platform in which perhaps the majority of interaction may consist of people clicking "Like" and "Share" buttons without saying anything to each other. I consider that deeply unsocial.)

I realized yesterday that I was dying for conversation.

I spend enough time talking with people, but so much of that talk is so task-oriented and project-oriented that if I'm not careful I could have a loneliness attack right in the middle of it.

I find myself yearning for useless discourse - for jokes and stories, for memories and lies (that no one believes), for the kind of wide-ranging, freely-associative conversation that happens when friends hang out at night and they don't have to go to work in the morning. And if it becomes tutorial, because something comes up that is so interesting that I want to learn more about it right then, in that very moment, then so be it.

The conversations that I will seek from my neighbors when I call them this week will not be that free-ranging - part of what I mean by getting caught up is that I want to let them know what I am working on and to see if they want to be part of any of it in any way. After all, I would like for both Homewood Capital Partners and for Luminaria Productions to create some jobs by the end of the year. And I'd like to sign up some Legal Shield associates well before then.

But another part - and I want to make it the first part - is discovering more of what rests inside my fellow humans, within walking distance of my house. What dreams and what wisdom, what folly and what fears.

I think +Mani Saint Victor must have seen my Facebook post this morning; otherwise it is a striking coincidence that he recommended to me a Google+ community on "Conversation - as a skill, literacy, flow and art." I look forward to participating.

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This is kind of random; may as well record it here as anywhere: Good neighbors don't just mind their own business. They mind each other's, in good ways.

Building a Billion-Dollar Enterprise, 22: In search of "ne plus infra"

Today (Friday, 6/7) was weird; it seemed to be all distraction.

I woke up late, cancelled a meeting. Went to lunch with Andrew Butcher (of GTECH). Had a hard time focusing this afternoon, until the repeated appearance of a particular video in my Facebook news feed led me to write this blog post about it.

The evening was actually a little scary. I think I'm paying too much attention, or the wrong kind of attention, to pageviews and visits. I'm feeling too much.

As the evening wound later, I kept thinking that I needed to do something Luminaria-related, because I want a chronicle of doing something Luminaria-related every single day (shades of "Julie and Julia"). But my motivation and focus were shot.

"Any little thing," I told myself. "What's the smallest thing you can think of to do?"

Draw a sketch of what I want Luminaria's office to look like? Do some research reading? Compose a musical motto? Email a graphic artist about ideas for new products on which we could collaborate?

Everything seemed like too much. I wanted the ne plus infra of action - the opposite of ne plus ultra, or the thing which nothing could go beyond. I wanted the thing which nothing could go below, the smallest possible action.

Finally, I thought of something that seemed like the smallest possible thing I could do. The thing that I can always do. The thing that may be the biggest thing I can do.

I prayed.

"Lord, please grant me wisdom to build the Luminaria the way You want it to be. Or take away the desire for it."

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Only after beginning this post did I remember that I had promised Greg O. last night (see the comments section) that tonight, I would explain why I am sending out links to these posts via LinkedIn.

Here's why:

1. I have more than 600 1st-degree contacts on LinkedIn. That's more direct contacts than I have on Facebook, Twitter, G+, or any of my email lists.
2. LinkedIn is more business-oriented than the other networks. Over time, I want this chronicle to provide greatest value to people who are most interested in business, as a learning tool.
3. When I am ready to begin hiring people, people who have followed the development of the business may constitute the best hiring pool.
4. When I need to partner with someone, people who have followed the development of the business may make the best potential partners.

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I want to continue reporting daily stats, even as I learn to avoid attaching emotion to then. I've learned that I need to wait a day for complete information. So here are the final numbers from Wed., June 6:

ReVisions pageviews: 55

Homewood Nation visitors: 64, average time 1:34

I am nowhere close to being in a position say whether any of those numbers are good or bad. For me, now, they simply are. And are subject to improvement.

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Today, for the first time, I thought seriously, if only briefly, about creating a nonprofit to publish a neighborhood newsletter. Or more precisely, revamping a nonprofit that I formed years ago but never used. The newsletter and "Homewood Nation" could feed each other material, and the newsletter and its nonprofit could attract funding that for-profit Luminaria could not.

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I did do something else today for Luminaria Productions, come to think of it - if "for" is the appropriate word.

I talked about it. With Andrew. Not at any great length, but enough to make me realize that I need to talk about it more, to hear myself say out loud what is in my mind and in my heart - and sometimes, even, to discover what some of what is in my mind and in my heart by saying it out loud, like "Making Homewood a hub of Pittsburgh's film industry." That goes a bit beyond wanting to make a movie or two.

Maybe I should not only do something for Luminaria every day, and write about Luminaria every day; maybe I should talk about Luminaria every day, too.  

Building a billion-dollar enterprise, 21: a new media experiment

This evening's update on my work to build Luminaria Productions into a billion-dollar enterprise:

1. I promoted last night's BBDE post via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and G+.

2. I also promoted last night's Homewood Nation story about TechShop coming to Homewood Library, via Facebook and Twitter.

I did all of that by noon or so, on the belief that people might be more likely to browse social media then during lunch. I also used my new spreadsheet to keep track of what I had posted where.

According to Google, "ReVisions" had 3 pageviews today, after 77 on Monday, 59 on Tuesday, and 42 on Wednesay.

According to Clicky, Homewood Nation had 59 visitors today, with an average time per visit of 1 min, 31 secs. That would include people who visited to read about Shimira Williams...

3. I wrote a story about Shimira Williams creating and registering a new hashtag for people to share and find information about local youth activities - #youth 412.

The last gave me special pleasure, and I consider it especially important, because it was, as I said to Shimira, "a new media experiment."

We were chatting on Facebook, and at 2:45, I got the idea of doing a story about the hashtag. I asked if I could interview her, right there on Facebook, she agreed (with the caveat that she was multitasking), and we were off.

The chat itself served as notes, and I began writing while we spoke. At the end of our convo, she sent me a pic of herself to use.

At 4:35, I posted the first link to the completed article on Facebook, quickly following with posts on Twitter and G+.

It's not great journalism. But I'm certain that it is the fastest story I have ever done. And I think it is also serviceable, as opposed to being downright bad. It accomplishes the not-grand purpose of sharing a little bit of information that some people might find useful.

And it even has two - not one, but two - pictures.

I am downright proud of having reported, written and published a serviceable story in less than two hours. The better I get at producing serviceable stuff faster - the better.

This post marks the beginning of me tracking visitors/pageviews on a daily basis. First results don't look good for my use of LinkedIn to promote my content. Is the very title, "Building a billion dollar enterprise" off-putting for that audience? How can I make this more interesting and useful?

Thoughts for another day.

Two questions for my Facebook friends

I just posted the following on Facebook, and I'm sharing it here to enhance (I hope) the likelihood of getting responses:

Hi everyone - just curious... 

I created my Facebook account a couple of years ago because it was one of the hot new things that journalists were being encouraged to use (the other one was Twitter). I'm still here because so many other people are here, so it seems like it should be an effective way to share information.

But I don't like it.

I'm not saying that I hate it, although I might have said that at one time. Just that I don't like it. When I log in to Facebook, it is because it seems necessary, not because I enjoy it.

But the way that Facebook keeps growing tells me that I must be missing something. Maybe it's just the way that I use it that prevents me from enjoying it the way others do. Maybe other people see something - or lots of somethings - that I don't.

I'm willing to learn, so I'm asking:

What do you LIKE most about Facebook?
What do you DISLIKE most about Facebook?

 Thanks for any and all responses!

Part of my issue may be that I don't use Facebook the way some people (lots of people, apparently) do. At PsychCentral.com, senior news editor Rick Nauert writes about a study by Kevin Wise, an assistant professor of strategic communication at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, of "How People Use Facebook.":

Wise categorized participants’ actions into two different groups: social browsing and social searching. (italics mine)

He defines social browsing as navigating the site without a targeted goal in mind. Wise says people use social browsing when they survey the general landscape, such as their newsfeed or wall, without looking for specific information. 

Wise defines social searching as searching the social networking site with the goal of finding certain information about a specific person, group, or event.

Wow. I don't think I've ever used Facebook to find information, other than using it to find out whether or not someone is on Facebook. Otherwise, the idea of using Facebook to find information strikes me as bizarre.

Wise found that participants tended to spend much more time on social searching than social browsing. Not only did participants spend more time on social searching, but they seemed to enjoy it more as well.

“We found a more positive response from participants during social searching, or when they had homed in on a particular target,” Wise said.

“Ultimately, it appears that Facebook use is largely a series of transitions between browsing the environment, then focusing in on something interesting or relevant.”

So, maybe I will find Facebook more interesting if I learn to use it as a source - like the 48 percent of young Americans who find out about news through Facebook.

Meanwhile, I need to explore more of Facebook's features. Two features that I do not expect to find would make Facebook much more appealing to me.

1. I wish Facebook had chatrooms. I miss the dynamic of sharing a screen with a dozen or more people, friends and strangers alike, who share an interest in a given topic. I developed friendships with people that way. I just learned that Facebook has the ability to create chatrooms, through groups. Gotta try that out. 
2. I wish I could filter my feed(s) by topic. When I go online, I am generally not looking to see what people I know are doing; I am generally looking for topic-related information.

Maybe I'll drop a bug in Mark Zuckerberg's ear about those ideas. Does the Hacker Way include paying close attention to user feedback?