Category: Social Media and the Web

Social media presents huge opportunities to engage with all your stakeholders: customers, owners, and the larger community.

Some video work today

Carl Setzer

I spent some time this morning trimming this video out of Trinity’s service last Sunday. A local choir, the Evergreen Ensemble, performed with us; their music was stunning. As I was watching (I was running media that service), I thought “I want to pull this out and post it on our socials”. So, I whipped open Premier Pro and made this little piece to share (posted on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok).

I am always pleased when I get to create fun projects, even small ones like this. Though I’m no master of Adobe stuff, I enjoy getting in with this stuff. For a bit of creative diversity I used Canva to create the thumbnail. I’ve come to deeply appreciate Canva’s simplicity. It makes creating something like this fast and clean.

I do love creating content and managing websites and social media. I find this work delightful and fulfilling. I guess I should find ways to get more of this in my life.

Facebook Account Access Issues

Carl Setzer1 Comment
close up photography of smartphone icons

Over the years, I’ve helped a few people regain access to their Facebook accounts. Most all of those times were relatively easy since they were simply forgotten passwords. One was more complicated where a former social media consultant basically vanished and ghosted the business owners. The main challenge for me entailed getting copies of the business license and then a letter from the business owner. The hardest part (for me) was the waiting. It took me a fair bit of googling to track down a way to make the request, and then I had to wait for Facebook to respond. A few minutes of work that took weeks to complete due to slow communications.

So, now, I am working with someone whose account was compromised/taken over by someone else. Facebook’s knowledge base was a series of loops that accomplished nada. Frustrating. I then reached out to a friend who worked at Meta, who let me know that they’d risk termination if they tried to route me outside of the “normal channels”. So, as I value my friend, I opted to not push it. But, man, it’s frustrating. All of this to state that my experience with troubleshooting Meta issues has gone from clunky to infuriating.

So, when I read this article on Engadget, “How small claims court became Meta’s customer service hotline“, I groaned in recognition. I can see why people are using law suits to push Meta to act. I expect that they hope that this level of agrevation will deter people from seeking help and they just give up. However, I doubt that’s really going to be the case. Besides, I would expect that Customer Service Reps are much cheaper than attorneys. This seems to be the most expensive way to navigate this situation.

Since this article is posted on a major blog, I wonder if more people will seek Meta customer service via small claims court. Perhaps it will become painful enough for Meta to finally staff their customer service department adequately. Perhaps…

This strikes me as an element of Cory Doctrow’s “Enshittification”. In particular, the notion of “too big to care“. For so many folks, Facebook is an 800 pound gorilla. And they know it and are hard pressed to care.

A new (to me) Facebook Phishing Scam

Carl Setzer3 Comments
scam alert letting text on black background

So, one of the accounts I manage got this message today:

A quick search of the message language confirmed to me that it’s a scam. The biggest clue was the “bio.site” link. Very phishy. The clunky sentence “Your Facebook page is scheduled for permanent deletion due to a post that has infringed upon our trademark rights” was another clue.

This article was pretty high up on the Google SERP and is pretty solid on it’s analysis and advice.

If you get one of these, first and foremost: don’t click the link! If you’re at all concerned, reach out to Facebook directly.

So, I filed it as spam and reported this account. My contempt for scammers is rich and deep, so I hope for some consequences. However, I recognize these folks will simply open another account when/if their accounts get locked. It is a rather annoying game of whack-a-mole. One that will probably continue to be a focus of mine for the foreseeable future.

A few thoughts on Twitter, and it’s latest kerfuffle

Carl Setzer2 Comments

This morning I read “Elon Musk Backs Off Legacy Checkmark Purge“. As a long time Twitter user, and someone who held Musk in high regard, I’ve been following the acquisition by Musk with a personal interest. This particular situation has been…fascinating.

Ultimately, Musk fails to understand the value of verification. Yes, it provides some value to the user, but far more value comes to Twitter. Knowing that this person posting REALLY is Steven King, Will Shatner, etc, brings value to Twitter since we KNOW who we’re interacting with. By building that direct connection between fans and creators, Twitter gains.

In his rush to monetize everything (anything?) on the platform, he has lost focus on what makes Twitter interesting and valuable. Which is sad. Over the years, I’ve met amazing and wonderful people. People who’s friendship I value as deeply as anyone I’ve met In Real Life. I’ve learned a huge amount from them.

Fortunately, it’s not been too hard to tune out Musk’s antics. But the increase in hate speech and right wing rage making its way into my feed has deeply detracted from my experience. I still post, but much less often. And I spend far less time on it (which certainly is a net positive).

Will Twitter survive Musk? Possibly. Will it return to what it was before? No. But the platform has evolved considerably since its launch and will continue to. What it looks like next year is extremely hard to predict. We’ll see, I guess.

Being Strategic With Social Media

Carl Setzer
facebook application icon

I’ve known people whose business is dependent completely upon a single platform. YouTube is a huge one, but I also see people 100% dependent on Instagram, TikTok, or even Facebook, for their business. I’ve been thinking a lot about that recently.

A friend of mine, due to the LastPass hack, lost access to his YouTube channel. Then there’s the drama over at Twitter, with people being banned from the platform on the whim of Mr. Musk, and I can continue. So, I hope you’ll understand that I highly recommend that you DO NOT rely 100% upon a single platform where you have no control.

Social media sites are great tools for connection, but they’re best for directing people to a website. One you own, you control. Encourage folks to subscribe to a newsletter, or the website. Then, by combining your website with blog posts and newsletters, and you have a very powerful tool to stay connected with your audience even if you’re blocked from a key social channel. Also, if you have a website connected to your social platforms, your audience has a way to find and reconnect with you if you lose access to YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, whatever.

I particularly like sites built on WordPress, as it’s extremely portable. Wix, Squarespace, and the like are tied to a single provider, too. With WordPress, I can port my website to another hosting company with relative ease (related: make sure you back up your files somewhere other than on the hosting platform).

Be strategic with your digital portfolio. Be prepared for various calamities, as well as for the eventual falling out of whatever must-use platform the people abandon next. Technologies evolve. Audiences evolve. Platforms evolve. Business sustainability requires you to be thoughtful and strategic.

A Bit Of Internet History: Microsoft FrontPage

Carl Setzer1 Comment
silver imac displaying collage photos

Microsoft FrontPage: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

FrontPage was one of my early forays into web design. I started with cobbling together basic HTML, but my skills in the late 90s/early 2000s were pretty weak. I then discovered Netscape Navigator’s editor. I can’t remember if they stopped supporting the WYSIWYG tool, or if I outgrew it, but the next tool I used was FrontPage.

When I created the website for Christ Episcopal Church (in Seattle’s University District), this was the tool I used.  One of our members was on staff at Microsoft, so was able to donate a copy to us. And so I was able to bring the church into the 21st century.

I knew enough HTML to edit the code that FrontPage crafted, and I remember tweaking things from time-to-time. But I don’t really remember much in the way of detail. Reading this article taught me several FrontPage features that I was oblivious to, key amongst them: tasks. It’s pretty cool how the tool was built with a project management focus.

The article goes into the acquisition of Vermeer (the creators of FrontPage), and ensuing issues with hyper-proprietary technology. (Side note: I had no idea that FrontPage was created outside of Microsoft and then brought in by acquisition). And also looks at the other WYSIWG competing editors, and what all of them lack.

It was fun looking back at this clunky tool. It was almost great. That, and a Starbucks gift card, will get you a cup of coffee.

Exploring Canva Premium

Carl Setzer

I’ve fiddled with Canva for the past few months, mostly for editing images on my Samsung S9, but have mostly been an adherent to Photoshop for anything serious. I have some free time (good ol’ Covid19), so decided to experiment with the premium version. I have a 30 day free trial, and it looks easy enough to cancel it if I don’t want to keep it.

I like it a lot for mobile editing. I think it creates fine images, especially for posting to Instagram or Facebook. Most of what I’ve done is put some of my haiku on some photos I’ve taken. I also have created some images for a real estate agent friend’s Instagram and Facebook pages. I’ll see what I like and don’t, then go from there. Right now, I do like the tool, the way the UX works, and the final products. But we’ll see as I try to be more deliberate with it and, perhaps, have a production sort of mindset.

If you’re interested in trying Canva out yourself, check it out here. Full disclosure: this is a rewards link. It gives me some Canva credits if you download and use the app. This page explains it more.

 

Week In Review: 3-29-2020

Carl Setzer

With covid-19 disrupting so very much of life, I thought I’d take a moment to rehash what I’m working on to keep busy. My family has been home due to school closures. I have been unemployed since the February 28th.

First, I’m signed up to study web application and cloud development at Edmonds Community College starting next quarter. There are still pieces to pull together, but I’m moving forward. Classes start on April 13, so it’s coming quickly. I also need to get my math skills back up to snuff. I struggled mightily on an assessment test and was pretty made at myself. Then it hit me: the last math class I took may have been calculus, but it’s been several decades since. One of the folks at the school connected me with a website to help that along, so I’ve been working on getting those skills back up to snuff.

Also, I’ve spent time refreshing some skills. I had purchased a CompTIA training bundle last summer that I haven’t had a chance to start with yet. And I have a Adobe Creative Suite bundle as well. I’ve been carving time for each of those as I can. I also discovered IronCAD, which apparently has a free download, so I might try and squeeze some more CAD work in as well. That’s one big thing I miss from my Eagle Country Construction days.

As for entertainment, I’ve been binging on “Traveling Robert“, a YouTuber traveling the US with his trailer. I really have enjoyed the show. There’s a genuineness that’s delightful. I discovered him via YouTube’s algorithm. It dished up his trip to Seattle this past summer, which I found nice.

 

There’s plenty of other things that I’ve been working on, too. Keeping several websites up to date, as well as a couple of email communication campaigns (about the covid-19 closures and such). And I’ve helped a few folks with their WordPress sites, and with setting up Facebook business pages and trying to pull together some kind of marketing plan in the midst of the pandemic. I mean, how do you market in such a way that you’re being, well, a decent human being.

A Blogger Blogging On Blogging

Carl Setzer

I easily get caught up trying to make things perfect. I know far too many folks with the same proclivity. I also know that writing is what I need to focus on. Get more posts out, I should create a podcast and vlog…and that conflicts with “perfection”. It gets in the way of my goals.

As a blogger, I need to blog (insert “duh” here). Losing focus on creation keeps me from this. I hate that. So, I am working on simply posting. Posting as often as I can, as best I can. Letting go of it needing to be perfect.

The same goes for design work. Get something done. Finished is better than perfect.

Lately, I found myself struggling with “focus”. Related, somewhat, to perfect, I guess. There’s a notion within blogging that you want your blog to have as narrow a focus as possible. And there’s validity to that. It makes the life of a reader much easier. But a blog is not a book. It’s not a magazine…blah, blah. There’s a personal element to a blog. I have a wide array of interests. It’s perfectly wonderful to explore them  all in one place, too.

A blog should be a unique expression, each one one-of-a-kind. They should reflect the writer’s personality. I also believe they should be informal.

What do you like about blogging? What do your favorite bloggers do? And do you discern a particular style of writing to label “blogging”?

Video, Shoots, and Real Estate: Thoughts on the Future

Carl Setzer

Did a video shoot today with the owner of the company I now work for. It was his first video with a videographer, so he had to work though nervousness and his desire for perfection. I was quite pleased with how things went. And that he came away with a ton of ideas of how we can make the next one better.

Preparing got today reminded me of the one below, where I am on camera. I’ve been behind the scenes many, many times. I do like being in front of the camera, I should do more of that. Maybe, once I have my real estate license back, I’ll go full on into being a YouTube agent. One of many possibilities to explore.

So, the video below is one I made with the C & K Real Estate Team. I really enjoyed making it and have thought, many times, it would be a blast to do more.

What do you think? So many options, do little time.