Do you tweet? Do you post on Facebook? If so, you’re in good company. It seems like at least 70% of the RVers we know use these popular social networking sites to one extent or another. Some are regular users, making several posts a day, while others only log on occasionally. They have become a popular and easy way to keep abreast of what our traveling friends are up to.
While I have both Twitter and Facebook accounts, I find that I use Facebook a lot more often. When I post a new Bad Nick Blog, or what I consider to be a particularly interesting RV blog, I post a link on both websites. That’s about the only time I use Twitter, however I usually make at least one post on Facebook every day, sometimes more, and often I make comments on friends’ posts.
I know some fulltime RVers, snowbirds, and weekend campers who seem to be addicted to the websites, at times taking it to extremes, with dozens of posts in a day. I mean, really, I don’t need to know that you are stopping at Denny’s for lunch, or that you’re back on the road, that you just crossed into Texas, that you stopped at a rest area for a potty break, and on and on. Does anybody really need to know all that?
Of course, I don’t have to read all of those posts, and many times I just skip over them. I don’t play any of the many games offered on Facebook, because I just don’t have the time or the interest. I also don’t join causes, accept invitations, re-post blurbs about having a cancer survivor, a service member, a nurse, or whatever in my family, or repost blurbs about how much I love my wife, daughter, father, or iguana. I figure that if I can’t get that sentiment across in person, a virtual message probably isn’t going to mean a heck of a lot to anybody.
There has been a lot of criticism about Facebook stealing your personal information, or accounts being hacked, but I really think that just comes down to basic internet common sense. Don’t put anything out there that you don’t want the world to know, don’t open links from anybody you don’t know and trust, and always use good spam and spyware software.
I have no idea how many friends I have on Facebook, but I suspect it’s probably quite a few more than I have in real life. For a while, early on, I was accepting every friend request that came along, but I’ve tightened up on that, and now if I don’t know who somebody is, or if they don’t send a message telling me who they are, I just click ignore. I think some people just collect friends, to be able to boast of how many they have.
One drawback I’ve seen with social networking sites is that a lot of people who used to post regularly to their RV travel blogs now just throw something up on Facebook or Twitter. I miss reading those blog posts, which are more in depth and often include photographs of the places they’ve gone and the things they’ve seen.
How about you? How many of you use Facebook or Twitter, and how often do you post? If you have, or had, an RV blog, do you find that you now neglect it in favor of quick posts on Facebook and Twitter?
I’d like to have a seminar on social network sites at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally in Yuma next month, if I could find somebody to present it. Do I have any volunteers out there?
Thought For The Day – I used to have many faults, now I have only two – everything I say and everything I do.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
We Twitter a little and Facebook more often, but we do not allow either of them to take away from blogging. We love sharing our photos and stories about our travels. Writing and photography is my passion, the little blurbs on FB is just to gear folks to our blog.
Facefool and Twitter,I’m not on either and have no desire to join them. Time is to valuable to waste that way. I’m on the computer to much the way it is. Need to be out walking and getting exercise. Just my opinion.
I use Facebook. I check it off and one thru the day. I keep kids at my home for a living, so it is my link to the “adult” world LOL. I don’t collect friends though. I only add friends that I really know or have a connection with.
I have a presence on Facebook because it’s a way for me to contact long lost cousins and friends I have not heard from in years. I don’t go on every day or every week. I just check once in a while.
I am more addicted to my blog. It is not open to the public but just a few friends. The blog is more of my personal diary of what Peter and I have been doing. I post pictures and post about twice a week to keep me reminded of what I have been doing and where I have been.
My real love is Picassa. I am in the middle of scanning all my genealogy and family (1 brother and 3 sisters) photos. I will be making a DVD of all those photos neatly arranged in folders and labeled and sending it to members of my family. Hopefully I can complete this the first half of this year.
In the past my brother and sisters have not been interested in those photos or our family genealogy. So I collected all the photos no on else wanted. Now since our mother died recently and they looked at some of the photos while they were here, they all want a copy. But I enjoy Picasa and working on the photos. So this will be a nice gift to my siblings.
I suggest to all of you at least go through your photos and LABEL them. If you have time, scan them into your computer and send copies to everyone. It only takes a fire, flood, disaster of some kind to lose your families history.
Enjoying the Florida weather. I know Nick, you left and it got much better. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I find no use for either cyber world. I enjoy my real life and real friends way too much to pretend. I gave up my imaginary friends at 5 or 6 and see no need to regress to that stage of my life just because I can. My ego does not need stroking so badly that I must expound at length to no one in particular and everone in general
We have a Facebook account only because that’s where our granddaughter may post a picture of our great grandson, but we never think about going there to look. We ignore everything else on FB. We don’t won’t shall not do anything on Twitter, or any more on FB simply because they are empty blatherings (in my humble, and very limited, opinion). We have cut back on our blogs for two reasons — we aren’t doing much traveling, and we are busy living the rest of our life.
With a business called ‘Geeks on Tour’ I’m sure no one is surprised that we use Facebook! Both Jim and I have personal accounts – only real friends can see – and we have a business page that anyone can follow (www.facebook.com/geeksontour)
We’re developing our Facebook seminar right now and will be presenting it at FMCA in Perry in March. We’d be happy to offer it at the Ohio Gypsy Rally – can’t make it to Yuma.
I got talked into joining facebook. What a bore. An unbelievable amount of usless blather. But that’s just my view, obviously others disagree. I leave twitter for the twits. My daughter and grandkids have tried to get me into the endless texting cycle but I continue to resist. Instead of spending my time facebooking,tweeting, or texting, I’ll read books, excersize, build something (or more likely repair something), etc, etc…
There is one big concern I have with all of the above. That has to do with the many drivers in S Florida who think they have to answer a facebook post, tweet, or text as they are sailing down the road.
Here’s an observation. One day in a small town in N GA, I sat in the car while the wife was in a junk, er ah, I mean, antique store. I was parked right adjacent to an intersection controled by a traffic signal. In 30 minutes I came up with the following.
About 30% of the drivers passing thru the intersection were in some manner using a cell phone/ipod/blackberry, etc. That was 40 drivers out of the about 120 that passed by. Of those forty drivers, 75% were women. School was not out at that time of day so I did not get to see any teenagers passing by.
I use fb because it’s the preferred method my family wanted to use to stay in contact while we traveling around the country. I will make a post or comments on it here and there. I also use it while were traveling to let my family know where and about what time we were there so that if something were to happen they would have an idea of where i last posted while we are on the road. Then i got addicted to farmville and frontierville but i have given up the games and let my sister take them over for me. They require more time then i’m willing to put into them. Before fb it was text and i have to admit i like fb better then texting.
I also prefer the personal blogs with pictures and i try to keep my blog updated but there are time i don’t post as when we are on project there may not be much to post about.
I really hate FB, but I use it because a lot of friends and family use it. It is a really easy way to keep up with daily happenings, and where everyone is. I NEVER play the games FB offers, I NEVER repost things “for the cause”.
Since FB is on my phone now, I look in often, and post a lot more, but I still try to keep up with my blog (www.chasingthe70s2.blogspot.com). Although I have slowed way down on posting the pictures on my blog.
I use FB mostly, and twittered once or twice . . . found out quick I am too long winded for twittering. I originally got onto FB to reconnect with my dead brothers children who were kept from the family for over twenty years. Then I found most of my RV friends are on FB now. Since I cannot be there in person the next best thig is FB for me. It really is true once a boomer always a boomer. I also work for a non profit and we have a FB page that I am responsible for, so I get on it more often than if I didn’t have that responsability.
This is a good topic for your rally, I hope you find someone who can do it for you.
Nice article. We appear to share a lot of commonalities with this.
I Tweeted before I FBed. (After attending an IAAPA convention in Florida). But when FB took off and so many people joined, well I have to be in that social media for the exposure to our business. Eventually, I think it’ll almost put an end to interactve websites. Websites will stay more stangnent, and all the “personal interactions” will be via social media – like Facebook.
I enjoy FB more… its user friendly, and easy to use, post photos, etc. But you’re right, we ahve to “retrain” ourselves to not share too much. Even private pages (when you’re in business) aren’t private. They’re all public, and you need to carefully guard yourself to not post anything you wouldn’t want a customer to hear (or read) what you said!
FB is one way we can stay in touch with the kids and grandkids. I “chat” with one daughter esp when she NEEDs to talk out her problems. It also helps us keep in contact with our rving friends. We continue to do our blog and always will. It has become our diary of our travels and once a year we have a hardbound book made. Figure someday, when to old to travel and sitting in a nursing home without access to computers we can turn the pages and relive our lives.
Their are all different types of people in this world. Yesterday you thought watching football was a waste of time. Today I find myself thinking that Twitter & facebook are a waste of time. I guess it just depends on how you wish to waste your time.
I am on Facebook, but have little understanding of how to use it to the advantage that I read that others use it. I have all of my newsfeeds turned off, so to see what someone has to say, I have to ask individually for that person’s feed to be shown. Thus, I see very little at the site.
There is a way to post photos, and I have posted a few there, but always have to figure out how to do it because they seem to change the site between my visits, which are, admittedly, few and far between.
Businesses seem to tout their use of Facebook, but I have yet to figure out how they use it for advertising purposes.
Presume my dismay about how to use the site merely points up two things:
1) I am too old to care much about this technology;
2) I probably wouldn’t care much about it, even if I understood it better!
Judie Ashford
I never got around to producing a blog and would occassionally write a newsletter to friends and family who live our RVing lifestyle virtually. I use Yahoo groups to keep in touch with RVing friends and kept getting invitations to FB. Originally our daughter did not want us on FB to see her postings, but back in May she “consented” if I didn’t become Friends with HER Friends. Actually, she seldom posts, but now I can see postings about the grandkids. Since joining FB I have a few high school friends I have reconnected with but the majority are RVers. I don’t do games and block the game & apps postings of my friends. I will occassionally re-post something, but normally I don’t do causes, etcs. I find posting photo gallery links helps me narrow the number of photos I am tempted to post. I now send a link to the public FB Gallery page for friends not on FB. I can easily get addicted to techie things and having an aircard on my laptop allows me to be online throughout our travels. My new Droid Incredible smartphone is quickly replacing the laptop and I do get notified when I have new emails and FB postings. Because of “fat finger syndrom” I usually wait to reply until I have a full size keyboard.
Donna Huffer:
You are looking at the wrong nursing home if you can’t have a computer. My mother-in-law had an email connection in her room when she was in assisted living. She was 95. Just look for the right place when the time comes.
JC
As most everyone knows, I blog too much….LOL! I do use Facebook, I find it a great way to get a snapshot of everyone’s day. I’ve gotten back in touch with long lost cousins, gotten closer to my nieces, made contact with grandkids that were estranged from the family…then toss in all my motorcycle and RV friends.
I played the a few games the first year but gave that all up. I use Twitter for input, not output (although my blogs are automajically posted there). I follow things like woot.com, Amazon’s deals of the day and Groupon as well as some software companies that don’t have blogs.
I’d love to do the class for you Nick but as you know, we can’t be in Yuma this year. BIG SIGH…..
Howdy Nick,
I have both Facebook & Twitter, because my daughter put them on there… I don’t use either one, because I don’t know how… All of the grandkids post stuff for us
and we look at it, but thatz all..
We use my FB account. We post pictures and keep up with our kids and grandkids. It’s a quick and easy way to stay in touch…..the kids, grandkids and friends can all see pictures of all our travels. Hubby had his blog and I supplement his blog with the pictures on FB.
Thanks Nick….keep up the great work