I'll never forget a conversation I had a few years back with my then fabulous Managing Editor Jennafer Martin. I told her, "I don't get Facebook at all! Isn't that just something people use on the PC?" And she told me, "Cathy, you seriously need to get on Facebook now. You're completely missing out."
And so I did.
Over the past few years, I've seen the power of Facebook. I've also seen the time suck that it can be (oh, but it's a good kind of time suck!), and I love how it has let me connect to friends, family, blog readers and students.
However, my personal Facebook page has over 4,750 friends but I only know about 150 of them. As Facebook makes more changes to its format (I'm apparently one of the testees to get a new look and feel) it has removed my ability to create custom news feeds that let me keep track of my friends and family.
I have two Facebook pages, but I'm going to be shifting my present posting to my public page which can be found by clicking here. The best thing about the public page? There is no limit to the number of friends. On my personal page, the limit is 5,000, and I've got about 1,700 pending friend requests that I haven't added due to these limits. I want to include the these people as part of my Facebook community and the only way to open it up is to take advantage of my public page.
I want a way to continue to connect with my blog readers, students and former students, and people from the online scrapbooking community, but I also want to be able to keep track of my family and friends via my personal Facebook page.
I'm going to be paring down my list on my personal page to include family, friends and people I have online relationships with. This is not to cut anyone out of the action with ill intent. This is only to have my personal page be a page that truly reflects people I know and have relationships with. I will be posting to my public page beginning this week with much more regularity. It won't simply be a page where I post when one of my new templates goes on sale. I'll still let you know the same kinds of things I've been posting to my personal page. You know, the good stuff like: I have a headache, or, Cathy Zielske just ran like a mother yet again, or Mother Nature is knocking and I don't want to let her and her cramps in, or, I just ate my feelings in Goldfish.
Also, keep in mind that this blog is another way to connect with me. I read each and every comment posted, and try to reply to as many as possible.
I just wanted people to know if I stop showing up in their feeds, it's not that I don't like you anymore. It's just that I don't know you personally and my Mom keeps asking me why I'm not commenting about what she's posting.
Please come and join me at my public page to keep up with my always entertaining but often inane Facebook chatter: Cathy's Public Facebook page.
katie squires says
Oh Facebook…how I love you….I have reconnected with friends from back in high school that I would not have a relationship without FB…made new freinds….I love sharing my day with my FB peeps, and the encouragement that is shared is amazing. I widdled out the negative a long time ago and now it really is my happy place..and MY PROCRASTINATION place 🙂
baggsy says
Cathy, this is a sad day. You will be the first person to ever de-friend me. It’s going to hit me really hard. I hope you can live with that on your conscience! And I only have 62 friends too!
Seriously, I was honoured to have been one of the lucky 4,750 in the first place and I will hop over right now and join the public page. When I joined Facebook, I made a decision to only be friends with people I had met in real life and internationally awesome, clean and simple scrapbookers of course! That hot looking guy who tried to “friend” me from Brazil? Turned him down ; )
In the midst of all the fabulousness of this internet connected world we live in, we need to never lose sight of what’s going on in our own backyards. When our own mothers can’t get through then it’s time to make changes.
Will still be following from afar!
Kendra B says
Ohhh the life of a celebrity! And yep, Mom comes first 🙂 I didn’t get facebook at first either and made fun of people at work who farmed . . . next thing you know I was setting my alarm for midnight because I miscalculated my cooking time and had to get PRETEND pies out of the oven in my virtual cafe LOL!! I’m no longer addicted to the games, but love being able to connect with people . . . and the birthday reminder has come in VERY handy!!!
Cheri says
It’s funny that for family purposes I seriously HATE Facebook. It’s also funny (in an ironic and serendipitous kind of way) that you and Stacy Julian have both reached this point at roughly the same time. And believe me I get it. Neither of you may know me personally (although I’ve met both of you… Cathy – do you remember teaching Scraphic Design at CKU in Nashville TN years and years and years ago????)…but I feel like I am part of your family and know you almost as well as you know yourself! So, you can unfriend me on your personal page if and ONLY IF you promise and swear that your public page will continue to be the source of my daily morning chuckle! Seriously, I’m hooked. I need my daily fix. I don’t know what I’d do to start my morning without you.
Stephanie Howell says
it’s the best thing i did. don’t feel bad for a second…i’ve been so much happier since i did this!
Teresa Lynn Cotterman says
Good for you….go with your gut Cathy. It is usually the right thing to do. Have a great summer.
Stephanie Howell says
i want to add more. i love all my online friends and feel like i know so many of them, though the fact is i don’t. since i pared down my list, i feel so much more of a connection with friends that i miss so dearly. 8 years of the army life has had us move 7 times…i miss people that i just wasn’t ever seeing on FB. i should have set boundaries from the beginning or put friends into groups as i made them. but i didnt. and i feel a little bad that i had to do it the way i did it. i never want to hurt anyone’s feelings! but i think having my blog page is a happy medium. i can interact with “scrapbooking peeps” so much easier without filling up my page with crafty stuff…which most of my IRL friends don’t care one lick about. HA!
Morti says
*applauds* Cathy, I totally get it and anyone who doesn’t either doesn’t get Facebook or quite frankly thinks that you are a “friend” rather than a public persona who we love and adore, true, but who does have a private life! You go girl! After all, you only know me through my er-herm titanic act of postal insanity…. hehehehe… but you don’t know me, and I don’t know you and I’ll be happy to switch to your public page cos you rock and are funny. But do I want to impinge on your family news sharing? No. Like I say at the start of this comment – I applaud you wholeheartedly!
cathy says
Steph, a handful of my friends in real life have unfriended me. They too arent so interested in the scrappy stuff. Which I TOTALLY get. : ) So Im hoping this strikes the balance!
cathy says
: ) And Katie, if it werent for Facebook, i would have not gotten to know you, or seen your awesome video that you posted!
cathy says
Cheri, of course I remember Scraphic Design. Sigh. And yes, i am essentially taking what i post now, which is NOT geared to friends and family at all, really, and putting it on my public page. : )
Seriously.
: )
Tamara Rodgers says
See, I was you about 6 months ago, but with Twitter. I got facebook. I just didn’t GET twitter. It’s, like, just facebook statuses huh? But shorter? Really? I talk a lot you know. A LOT. And you want me to do that in 140characters???? Hmmm. And people can just, like, follow me without me deciding if I like/know them enough to let them??????? Hmmm. Twitter is like an anaemic facebook, with no taste.
But then, I was told by someone I had previously respected a LOT that twitter was awesome. That it was her most valuable form of online PLN. And I was torn …. so gave that little blue bird another chance. And I’m a bit hooked now. Ok, a lot hooked.
So, this is basically my way of saying, I know what you mean. (And, given that it took me three paragraphs to get that out, you can see why 140characters was such a laughable concept to me!!)
Mary Jo says
I totally agree 100% and think it’s a smart thing to do! When Stephanie Howell did it, I remember thinking the same thing 🙂 I only have around 250 friends but am even feeling the need to cut back there. People that I don’t ever talk to or see! I think when Facebook started catching on, everybody I went to grade school with started requesting to be friends with each other. Even if we had never even hung out or spoken to each other. And being the kind of person I am, I couldn’t say no to anyone!
This internet business can be tricky and has definitely made privacy difficult in so many ways.
So no, I am not offended at all. In fact, I don’t request to be friends with anyone anymore unless I have a real connection with them 🙂
And since I am also a fan of your other page, and a blog reader, I’m not to worried about missing out on anything fun 🙂
But would love more LEGO stories if Cole is still working with them.
My son totally loves it when you post about Cole and Legos being the Lego addict that he is 🙂
Cathy says
Oh, Cole is still doing Legos. In fact, he recently recreated 2012, the movie, in Lego. I will do a post on Cole soon.
mark says
What are we supposed to wear over on the Public Page?
cathy says
Your smarty pants, of course.
kristen says
Good girl…simple is good, you know that!
I always feel awkward commenting on the ‘friend’ page because it seems like it should be your friends that are commenting. Would it take away the sting if I defriend you myself? 🙂
cathy says
: ) Just remember, Im going to use the public page the exact same way i have been using the Friend page. My friends have accused me of not posting anything that interests them! LOL! So, no sting needed!
teri says
sigh…it was just a matter of time before I became a “fan” and not a BFF … I mean friend, friend of course… Totally Get It, Cathy – the social media is such a terrific blessing and a curse and while maintaining all your “sites” will be extra fun, hopefully you’ll find a more rewarding experience in each on their own merit!
Thanks for always sharing so much of your life – I’ve followed your blog since 2004…(I was SHOCKED when I realized it’s now 2011!!) So I feel like I KNOW you and the fam…. thanks for staying in tune, no matter how you do it!! {hugs}
cathy says
Thanks so much, Teri. Again, Im going to use the public page the same way ive been using the personal one. 2004? Where is the time flying anyway?
Luv2talk says
Ok, I’ll let my ignorance (and lack of 21st century skills) show…I DON”T HAVE A FB account. So, for the most part, I really don’t understand any of what you just said or how it will actually affect me.
Will my bookmark still bring me here? Will you still be here? Sigh….technology. It’s leaving me more and more behind every day.
Sally K says
While I can respect the need to separate personal and business, maybe you should have considered that more when you were trying to beat Donna to 5,000 friends.
Jen McGuire says
I won’t be hurt if you de-friend me. I am a former student and lover of the defunct Simple Scrapbooks. I think we became friends when you were judging your self-worth by the number of friends you had on Facebook.
cathy says
You are golden just as you are! : ) You have nothing to worry about. This blog is totally separate from Facebook. : )
cathy says
Yeah, that was a stupid move on my part. I blame it on my youth. ; )
StaceyB says
Gosh I am sure you spent a lot of time carefully crafting that message…but I would hope everyone gets it and doesn’t get their panties in a twist. Its tough when part of your product, part of your brand is YOU. I can’t imagine the weird overlap that causes being a scarp-celebrity.
Thanks for your voice online. Its great. And now I can friend your work fb page…because before that I wasn’t that big of a stalker but now hey look out!!
Stacey
Lee says
Public Cathy FB plus Private Cathy FB = Excellent!
I’m not a huge FB fan. But I know lots of folks who love it.
The whole definition of “friend” on FB is, to say the least, a little fluid!
This sounds like a perfect solution.
I love Twitter. But I follow over 150 people and organizations. So I keep Twitter lists and pull up my Peeps list when I just want to connect with my friends.
Now, just to add to your tech load, will you continue to “pin” over on Pinterest?
;o)
– Lee
breeoxd says
I totally get it. I feel like doing that very thing with my mafia wars and cafe world. Too much , too many, peeps. And it’s ok. I still get to be your daily mile friend, right? lol
Mandyb says
cut me…i can handle it!!!
buuuuuut i may tell TIM and NEIL FINN!!! (hee hee)!!!
go for it…..gosh if your family and friends are missing out!!!
xxxxx love ya work!!!
gypsy chaos says
My smarty pants don’t fit anymore. I think that’s why I was laid off. I hope regular dull jeans will be accepted. Or sweats. Yea, sweats. That’s what I often wear. And yes it is summer. AC makes me cold. Always.
Morti says
Hopefully to somewhere hot and sunny….. sigh
cathy says
Ha! Even Neil has to go! (Of course, I jest. He isnt even close to being a Facebook friend. One can dream though.)
Kay Gregory-Clark says
And to think I only recently checked out your fb page. I’m not a fan (of fb), so rarely logon. Mainly to see my family’s pix. As much as I luv ya, Cathy, I probably won’t visit you there. My concern is that you will neglect your blog in favor of the New Kid on the Block. Yeah, you say you love us now, but….
I’ll keep checking in here because I’ve come to love your humor and inspiration—and, I even get a great scrapbooking idea now and then. 🙂
k
cathy says
Pinterest has got me stumped. I think I posted one thing? I dont understand how it works, honestly. See, now I am the one behind the times! LOL!
cathy says
Oh Kay, how could you SAY that.; ) Believe me, my blog is the priority. Facebook is just another way to connect with readers, students and such. Plus, for a person who doesnt get out much, it makes me feel less alone. : )
Kim Lee-Own says
I got my first digital camera in 2002 and that began a wonderful world of photo taking and scrapbooking. I can’t believe how wonderful it is to be able to take pictures of my girls and document our family life.
Britiney @ Consider the Lilies says
Wait! Does this mean you’re unfriending me?!?
*giggle*
amykpond@gmail.com says
I can’t imagine why you might feel the need to have a private life! 😉 How dare you Cathy Zielske!
cathy says
ha! that made me smile!
Lee says
Hi Cathy –
You actually pinned two things – one of which I (and others) re-pinned!
Pinterest is fun.
You wander about the internet, see an image you like – clothes, text/type/prints, books, houses, interior design, technology – whatever, you “pin it”. Pinning is the equivalent of cutting the image out of a magazine and putting it in a scrapbook or up on a bulletin board for inspiration.
You can also pin things from you own blog.
Not to put any extra pressure on you, but you do have 1,496 followers on Pinterest – LOL!
;o)
– Lee