[This article was originally posted on Linkedin here https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-wrong-social-networking-uh-facebook-dan-gudema?trk=pulse_spock-articles. The reason I repost on my personal blog is Linkedin does not get indexed on Google it turns out!]
I and many of us have resisted social networking.
I have had a dozen or so people look at me with a smirk of “why are you asking that”, when I ask if they are on Facebook.
That’s because most of us understand what Facebook is.
It’s a way to chitchat with friends and family! It ends there. At least for me.
Yes, I hear the world is on Facebook. I hear it all the time. But they should know where there is a line to stop at on Facebook. There is a limit.
I don’t see Facebook as a way to market much of anything to me personally. That does not mean you can’t use it to sell. I am referring to Business to Business ads and connections. And I don’t see much of anything of interest to me, other than checking on my friend’s kids and their sports teams and who is still kicking out there. I don’t look at ads there. I don’t click on and learn about brands or products or services there. I don’t do my networking there to meet new people. I don’t go there to find people I have something in common to chat with them about.
That is not what Facebook is for!
And Snapchat and Instagram are to me just other forms of Facebook, for sharing mobile, faster and quicker. They are even more popularity driven among your friends. The day will come for many kids where none of these social networks will make sense and they will move on, because they know they can’t really talk about anything of substance and be taken seriously by their peers through these early social networks.
Almost all social networks are basically high school proms on steroids!
I know what you are thinking. I see several tech groups on Facebook I am a member of and they think it is just fine to be there. I don’t. I think it just opens up a big can of worms running groups there, because you are not going to be able to separate your personal life from your business persona. I don’t have anything to hide, but if I did, I would not want it on Facebook. That’s because you are vulnerable on Facebook to people posting pictures of you and if you have a secret they can release it there whether you want them to or even if they really understand they are doing it. Yes, you can hide photos or fix things, but essentially you are at your friends’ and relatives’ mercy so be good to them or beware!
So if you friend me on Facebook, what goes through my mind is what third cousin of mine are you related to or were you one time in my fraternity Tau Epsilon Phi at the University of Maryland 
(have to give a plug here, because we are oh so happy with the basketball team this year), or maybe you were in my AZA chapter in high school. Ok, that makes sense to me.
I don’t want people I don’t know seeing pictures of my kids and me jumping in the waves of the ocean (I am thinking about visiting the beach today so that is appropriate and today is nice and breezy out there).
I don’t want to be required to chat with you about business through your Facebook account because you only use that as your mechanism to communicate. (That’s apply to Mark L).
So, don’t friend me on Facebook unless you want to shout out about Maryland Basketball. (They are on tonight at 6pm!) That’s reasonable. It tells me that you just don’t know how to mix business with your personal life when you friend me there and you met me a business networking event. You are a bit confused. And you are probably making a vulnerable personal mistake now by combining the two. Protect your personal life! And keep your Facebook safe.
Ok, so why am I so excited about Seyopa.com
Seyopa is a website where you can join or create online communities about things you are passionate about. Unlike Facebook, you are not there to hook up with your high school sweetheart or see old prom pictures or pictures of your friend’s kids at the beach. There is a world outside of Facebook, the internet and all the wifi connected devices we have laying around the house. That is simply pursuing a non computer based activity, like going to museums and travel and the things we should be doing. I had to mention that because I am finding so little time to pursue anything outside of trying to pay the bills (trying is an ok word for this at best), getting my kids through school and just trying to put out the garbage on the right morning.
Use Seyopa.com to chat with like-minded people about subjects you are passionate about!
Seyopa is a place you go to discuss what you really would like to be doing or chatting about, instead of our normal work or personal family activities. It means talking about art, sports, food, travel, writing, life in general, politics, kids, parenting, diseases, photography or whatever else you want to discuss with people who are like-minded. It is about finding people to have that connection with. Because that is something I never got out of Facebook. In fact, I think if I chatted on Facebook about the things I really want to pursue in life, I would have some friends and relatives basically say “OK. why are you telling me this? Where are the pictures of your cute kids?” They would answer with, “Dan why don’t you just get a full-time job?” So, not putting my friends and relatives into the non-caring bucket, but they don’t care much about my passions or what I do for my career. And this is fine, because it does not matter to them or me. It is not a subject we need to discuss. We are already friends or related. I don’t have to sell them on joining Amway. Thank god I don’t…
So, if you have read this post this far god help you. You may have to go back to work right now, so I understand that.
Just to let you know I am biased. I have been an advisor to Seyopa, so you know why I am giving them a plug! But it is not just that I have to give Seyopa a plug. I actually sat with the founder and gave her my input and our team helped her with the direction of Seyopa. And honestly Seyopa is needed and really is different.
So, please go to http://seyopa.com and register. The site is not just a website with a simple idea, the founder is looking for feedback about how it should work and what should be the next direction. The site is looking for thought leaders in each area.
And please forward or invite your friends to Seyopa.com who think like I do. I think that is a majority of people out there!
By the way if you are introducing a startup and want to have me take a look at it and give you my input in a blog article like this one, let me know! If you are in South Florida on December 8, 2015 at 6pm, we are running the next tech startup pitch event. Here is a link : (120 RSVPS so far and counting for this event) http://www.meetup.com/Boca-Raton-Tech-Start-ups-Meetup/
Please contact me if you want to work with me!
Thanks and have a great day.
Dan Gudema
[email protected]