How to work around Facebook's lack of publishing tools.

[Que]

The obvious answer of course is to self-publish at Blogspot or better Wordpress (other suggestions) and link your blog posts to Facebook...

What if I don't wanna? Are there tools available somewhere that I am unaware of?

The architecture is SO woefully inadequate that if you had not reached critical mass when they did with the number of users they would ALREADY be relegated to the dustbin of history, I think.

It will let me hide my words from MY own timeline, but not from publishing it to the world in the newsfeed . Sure I can limit who sees what, but why should I have to opt everyone out to keep it off the feeds?. If I want to jot a note for ONLY myself or those who care to wander into MY space, where is that option?

They used to have "notes" let you have like 150 words, and if you delete from timeline it only exists in notes..hassle, but possible.

Where is the option to post an abbreviated post, with hyperlinks for people to follow if they want the in-depth version? I have to go outside of Inadequatebook to host that.

Morons.

I realize in modern times no one reads, much less puts pen to paper and authors anything of substance...but why not just make this space look like a dot matrix printer!!!

Where are fonts?

I can express myself conversationally with all the tools available as long as it is an upper or lower case character.

Why can I not BOLD a portion? Underline? Highlight? FRIGGIN ITALICIZE????.

To put it succinctly:

Facebook, You SUUUUUUCCKKK!!!!!!

Sincerely,

Anyone conversant with modern self-publishing.

 

[NightL]

There is a way to do this - requires an adventurous spirit or just a little web know-how.

I first suggest you create a Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/
or How Do I Create A Page
https://www.facebook.com/help/www/104002523024878

You can control who see this page and it can be set up so people don't track it back to your personal Facebook presence. You also can assign other people to admin the page if you wish.

Now if you want to post text of any length and have control over fonts this is where it gets a little more complex. You can actually display your Wordpress page (or a html page hosted elsewhere) within and Facebook Page tab - more on this soon.

You can have control over how people see this tab - in fact you can have two versions if you wish. One version for people who stumble or are linked to your Facebook Page (This is not your personal FB presence but the one you create if you follow the links above) - this can basically have a message of saying, "If you want to see the content 'LIKE' my page". Once LIKED they will have access to the full content.

This is where the following Facebook apps come to play
http://apps.facebook.com/static_html_plus/
I think this is the main product site
http://woobox.com/customtab
or
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Static-FBML-HTML-Estatico/172190119556238?sk=app_143278735766350

The wordpress page or html page will need to be hosted elsewhere. They get displayed within a Facebook Page tab via an iFrame (the apps linked above)

If you don't wish these external pages viewed outside of the Facebook Page tab, there is code that will force the pages to only open within the Facebook environment. Try to open the Wordpress page directly it will bounce straight to the Facebook Page tab.

Yes it can be done - follow the links I have provided - do a little reading - query, contact me if you run into trouble.

 

[Que]

Perfect, thanks.

That handles the who sees which part.

It kind of doesn't help though my main complaint which is that Facebook itself is crap and you have to do all of your work in some other Platform.

I used to use Blogger and whether I use that or WordPress if I go to all the trouble to do that I'll probably just stay away from Facebook. The few that are on Facebook with me who would want to read what I have to say would read it independently.

I just feel like I wasted time doing anything on Facebook in the first place. I only went there because of the kids and then the kids of course fled.

 

[silverwhisper]

query: i'm confused. why would you prefer to keep your intellectual property on facebook--who will claim ownership if push comes to shove--rather than on a proper blog? it isn't actually very difficult: if you can do what night described, you can also blog. give it some thought.

ed

 

[NightL]

basically what I suggested was creating a web page and hosting it outside of Facebook. This allows all the standard html mark-up for fonts and layout. It then gets displayed within a Facebook environment via an iFrame in a Facebook Page tab.

You can provide direct links to the tab - and you can force viewers to LIKE your page (if you choose) in order to see the full content.

This is standard practice for businesses - but you have the power to use it for your personal use.

 

[Que]

I think you're right Ed.... I think it's just time for me to go back to blogging its just that I wanted to be able to express myself in a more blogger like conversational style one occasionally have something slightly more in depth to say.

Who am I kidding I'm writing this using voice to text on my phone and it's even worse.

 

[NightL]

query: i'm confused. why would you prefer to keep your intellectual property on facebook--who will claim ownership if push comes to shove--rather than on a proper blog? it isn't actually very difficult: if you can do what night described, you can also blog. give it some thought.

ed

Your point is valid - however the approach I mentioned has the content hosted outside of Facebook yet displayed within. While there are guidelines and restrictions (not too much) Facebook has no ownership of these iFrame tabs

 

[Que]

Double the post for double your pleasure like the Doublemint twins.

 

[Que]

Theres this point...well more of a sliding scale that old men reach in their use of technology. I first noticed it with my dad. He was a quiet a bright man with a degree in Industrial Engineering but he also had most of a degree in electrical engineering in his background.

Ended up going back to what he preferred anyway which was sales. He won a annual prize in the sell to Eskimos contest for the National Ice Cube company. I think he was something like fourth runner-up...the prize for which was a brand new VCR. At that time it was a 1200 dollar unit I think you could buy a Chevy Monza for about 3,400. You know it was top loading, analog tuner built into the deck. A lot bigger than a breadbox. We were the envy of the neighborhood except for the Mcdonalds who had a full size pong machine in their basement.

So we set it up he did manage to get it plugged in and working properly but he never could figure out how to quit make it quick blinking at 12 o'clock.

The point is this technology advances you finally reached the point where you realize that the micro advancement was not worth the major pain in learning a new language or operating system or whatever it is that they're making you jump through hoops when you were perfectly content with an underwood typewriter. Although my case it would be an IBM Selectric.

Ok thats hyperbole but there was nothing wrong with word star or Lotus 123.

 

[Que]

Your point is valid - however the approach I mentioned has the content hosted outside of Facebook yet displayed within. While there are guidelines and restrictions (not too much) Facebook has no ownership of these iFrame tabs

I'm sure that's right because I have a general familiarity with as a consumer seeing such things from major and minor news outlets and the like. I just hadn't put much thought into how they go about creating it and nightL has put me in the right aisle of the bookstore.

I got a wild hair at one point and put of the idea for a while and then found some wild energy and put together a political blog and honestly I can't at the moment even think of the name much less how to get into it and passwords and what was its associated email account and so forth.

At one time in my past I was administrating and writing for four blogs with my characteristically wordy posts on each of them usually on at least a daily basis. Google rewards original content in the frequency of updates. I've noticed though these days I'm not sure that matters much as far as how you rank on Google. Time to time I could get a keyword to hit number one page on Google. These days though I don't think people look for things that way people serve from one hyperlink to the other hyperlink so I think associations And relationships with other content providers is probably more important.

So I am aware having been out of blogging for probably five years, that I am way behind the curve but I just wanted to start doing some writing and figured my existing Facebook account could just be the repository although that as we discussed its just not feasible and its not smart financially.

 

[NightL]

haha - I said it can be done - but can you be bothered to go through the learning curve?

Use your blog and remember it can be displayed within the facebook framework if you choose.

 

[NightL]

So I am aware having been out of blogging for probably five years

http://cdn.cnet.com.au/story_media/339292667/ford-model-t_14.jpg

Just kidding - kind of...

 

[Que]

So I'm turning this over in my mind thinking about the relationships between the actual words on a virtual page in one location and white one with link it to Facebook.

Suddenly occurred to me I'm looking at Facebook wrong and have been.

On my phone there's this function for a news feed that you can subscribe I gather to various places so that you can get updates whenever they change their content whether it be a blog or a new source or the like.

No I never bothered to set it up because well as far as I know nobody does. It was a good idea technologically speaking but why bother when you could use Facebook to get things in your news feed, and although its annoying how they're always suggesting this and that I have found a lot of interesting things to click into my newsfeed by simply clicking Like on them

So I decided that as was suggested I need to quit bothering to put any significant things that would be loosely consider intellectual property although intellectual for most of what I write is fairly a broad stretch. Into some place that I can control but more importantly where I can easily create. Why am i typing out Morse code on a prison wall when there are plenty of places with good Publishing tools.

So then I got to thinking about it in terms of distribution. & I thought about people that I know in various pursuits that are Using so called social media in order to network to exchange ideas people that are using it for the creative process and so on.

Most of them report to Twitter is more useful for them.

I am a wordy mother fucker. Does anyone seriously think that I'm going to be anything but frustrated with Twitter? I'm thinking though if I considered Twitter as more of a headline writer... maybe I could make that work too. Its not like I have anything but time on my hands. I think I shall nap and look at this in the light of day.

 

[NightL]

Can you please re-write that using only 140 charcters

 

[Que]

http://cdn.cnet.com.au/story_media/339292667/ford-model-t_14.jpg

Just kidding - kind of...

No you are absolutely right. And not just because of course interfaces change there are new techniques and tools and so on.

The biggest problem is there's been such a remarkable change and how the end-user receives and uses the creative product.

My wife and I were friendly with one of the most prolific bloggers of that time. I got to thinking about it the other day and went to see what she's writing these days I couldn't even find her.

I saw a an article recently I forget where Washington Post I think.

They were doing studies on the human brain and the ability to read and absorb information. Reading is thought to be a non evolve skills something that we've all decided to teach our brains how to do but our brains aren't idealky adapted to do so.

They're noticing the peoples concentration is becoming shorter and shorter and it is difficult for people to finish even one page of text given the rapid delivery they are getting a stimulus all day every day..

People are already moving away from facebook toward Twitter and Pinterest where there is virtually nothing to actually read.

My personal opinion is that the last election was won by internet memes. Cool pictures with three or four words on it. Basically choosing the leader of (well we're not really the free world anymore) with the equivalent of nothing but campaign buttons. Millions possibly billions of customized little campaign buttons stuck virtually all over everyone's screens. I like IKE

 

[NightL]

so does this work now?
http://www.veritas-wine.com/image/facts/30.jpg

change is a happening

some is good

some is not

some we have to accept

___________________

Oh - when was the last time you wrote a hand-written letter - folded - placed in envelope - stamped - walked to the the posting box (Fuck I am already exhausted) - and waited...

then if you did - did you email them asking if they had received the fucking letter yet. hehe

 

[silverwhisper]

you know, i don't think you need to lie down & accept the stereotype that the flashing 12:00 is inevitable. i know a few people my parents' age who are quite prolific on social media. hell, how old is george takei?

i don't buy it.

fwiw, i'm a fucking beast on twitter. and as you've seen from my posts, i'm also very opinionated, and have a tendency to go on and on and on and on. it requires a little discipline is all, like any other form of written expression that has rules (e.g., poetry).

look: if you're a blogger, you need to be on twitter. it's that simple. it's actually more egregious, in my mind, than not being on FB. ditto, google+ (no, seriously) and potentially pinterest. if the blog is professional in scope you absolutely must put it on linkedin--in fact, that should be the first place it goes.

if you have specific questions re: integrating a blog into social media, let me know.

ed