Tag: Social Media

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.

20 Years With LinkedIn

Carl Setzer6 Comments
smartphone with linkedin app

I got this email last night:

Well, that’s…amazing? I started my account in 2004, hmm? Ah, the great conflicting thoughts I have! It both feels brand new and like LinkedIn has always existed.

Anyway, it’s interesting to think about the evolution of the platform. Launched in 2003, I first heard about it in 2004 when I started at Starbucks, where I was part of a group that talked a lot about careers and their management. So the site made a lot of sense to me.

I use it fairly often but really am not a power user of the platform. I like it better than most social channels and it’s more professionally focused, but political bloviation has made its way there, too.

I enjoy the interactions I’ve had, and maintaining connections with former colleagues. I post fairly often. I mean, I don’t want to be one of the people who ONLY logs in when I’m job hunting. But I know I don’t maximize the platform. I’ve been reading several bloggers’ strategies about powerfully leveraging LinkedIn, and I’m slowly building out my plans to do “better”. I see it as a powerful career management tool, one that I can improve upon.

Are you on LinkedIn? Do you find value in it? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

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.

Ah, spam, glorious spam!

Carl Setzer4 Comments
man wearing brown suit jacket mocking on white telephone

One of the things I do for a number of orgs is manage social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok). For the most part it’s pretty fun. However, there’s a group of folk I’m seeing more and more: spammers. This crew is bolder and more annoying. They’ll post their spam comment about being a YouTube expert, then keep replying (“did you read my note?”). Initially, I took them at face value and replied saying “thanks, no thanks”. Then I had the guy ping us how we could increase our YouTube engagement, for a client who has NO YouTube presence. I mean, come on, at least TRY with your time-wasting spam.

I have been taking modest delight in deleting these requests. Micro-empowerment, I guess. It is a Sisyphean process, so I take what wins I can.

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.

Social Media, Platforms and Control

Carl Setzer
Social Media

I’ve been kept in the loop about the different groups encompassing the #StopeHateForProfit initiative and their meeting with Facebook a few days ago (here’s a recap of the situation if you need it). Other folks have written about Facebook’s strategy and risks, so I really have nothing to add there. However, one element has given me pause. What happens if the site collapses?

No, I don’t think that Facebook is going to fail simply due to this issue. However, there are a huge number of challenges that Facebook faces, from privacy to a lack of public accountability.  All of that makes me wonder what the breaking point will be? Ultimately, I believe Facebook’s Waterloo will be a combination of all the issues facing it, along with the natural conservatism that comes with huge success and an IPO, and the creation of a challenger. And I have something of a fatalistic view: that the end will come for it. Not that it will suddenly vanish. It’s a well-run business. However, I expect it will simply fade from relevancy once the new thing appears (i.e.: MySpace).

For me, this speaks to the importance of having my own website, my own place on the interwebs. One where I control everything. My own personal brand, I guess. Mainly, though, where my presence is independent of decisions made by some random group of individuals.

I realize that, in many ways, this is a fantasy. This site is hosted by a company, built on WordPress…external factors that I don’t have much control over. However, I can move my site to another host. I can port my blog from WordPress to some other platform if need be. Everything on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc, will simply vanish if those sites end.

Now, maybe this makes sense as I’m currently studying web development and design. As I was told many years ago, “having your own domain is the height of being a nerd” (I own that with delight). So, I guess this might be my inner geek. But I see deep value in having my own site, using it as a hub to the rest of my internet presence. And I see the value for you, too.

Facebook Annoyances

Carl Setzer

I’ve been managing Facebook and Instagram posts for a friend of mine for a while now (she’s a real estate agent just north of Seattle, Sarosh Altaf…check her out). And if you’ve spent any time with me, you’ll know that I’ve been doing that sort of thing for years, for a number of people and organizations.

So, this morning I post an article from a local newspaper about an art contest (Puget Sound Bird Fest poster art contest announced). Fun, great content to share and connect with the community. However, something with the way I posted the article made something with the Facebook algorithm think it was a job post. I didn’t catch that until we had a few applications come through. So, pulled down the post and sent apology messages to the applicants. A bit awkward, but nothing too horrible. What’s doubly puzzling, though, is that when I went and posted it a second time, from the publishing tools window, using the same language, hoping to see whether I missed something, or if it’s some weird “autocorrect” type of thing. But, nope, nothing. It posted the article on the way like I thought I had the first time. Weird.

Have any of you come across something like this with the spawn of Zuckerberg?

A Quick Piece Of Blogging Advice

Carl Setzer

One of the blogs I follow will, often, post a flurry of posts in one burst. So my email becomes laden with a string of 8, 9, 10 posts.

I want you all to be aware of a feature within all blogging platforms I’m familiar with: “Scheduling Posts”.

Below is a screen capture of the current layout for WordPress.

Annotation 2019-09-20 091109

 

This helps in a couple ways.

  1. You don’t flood your readers with content.
  2. Regular postings are better for you, SEO-wise. Scheduling 10 posts to occur over 10 days is better for your site in the eyes of Google.

So, one fast bit of blogging advice. Cheers!