Facebook: a follow up

I thought I had better add some comments on things I've found about Facebook since my previous post.

Firstly, it can be easy to get swamped with posts that don't necessarily add much to the experience. Thankfully you can tweak your options so that some posts don't appear. I'm not trying to put any particular type of user down here, but there are some who seem to put up stuff almost for the sake of it, which is not so interesting to me.

My bigger concern though is how you can end up getting info on people you don't necessarily know, because one of your "friends" has commented on something. This can be good and bad. I surprised a work colleague recently when I got to see photos of his new baby. His partner had posted them on her wall, and one of my friends had commented on them, so I got to see the photos as well. The good was that I got to see the photos. The bad was that he was obviously surprised I could see them without being made officially his friend in Facebook.

Clearly it is a little too easy to have stuff you think only your friends will see on your wall, but it can inadvertently become visible to others if someone you know posts a comment, or even marks it as liked.

I have also been caught by surprise when others tag me in their photos. Thankfully they have only been daggy old school photos so far. Another reason to keep those awkward drunken party photos to yourself.

I'm glad I've seen what Facebook has to offer, and I'll be keeping my account open, but you certainly need to take the time to understand how it works, and what can end up out there...

Later.

Keeping your $^&# together when going through a tough patch.

I've posted bits and pieces around this topic before, particularly earlier this year when the issues around my mother's care became rather complicated, and then later when she passed away.

During my daily browse through my Google Reader subscriptions this morning, I came across this post on the often excellent Stepcase Lifehack web site.

I can't see much point in adding to this, I believe this covers the best approach for working through one of life's tough patches perfectly.

I'd like to say that I implemented this to perfection myself earlier this year, but that wouldn't be completely true. If I look back I can think of a couple of things I could have done a little better, but my family and I survived, and we can now get on with enjoying ourselves again.

I hope this can help you get through a difficult period, should you need to. Of course, it will be even better if you never need to think about this at all!

Later.