Stupid Question 125: Should tech community contributors have a Facebook page?

[To celebrate my first year of programming I will ask a ‘stupid’ questions daily on my blog for a year, to make sure I learn at least 365 new things during my second year as a developer]

Should tech community contributors have a Facebook page?

You are active in the community, and more and more people want to get in contact with you. How do you separate between professional and personal life, and do you?

I’ve noticed a few of my friends have Facebook pages where people that are interested in getting in touch or staying up to date with shared information and the latest contributions and attended events can do so without being added as friends on the personal profile.

Some have these pages also so they can freely share blogs posts, articles and what not without annoying non-tech friends and family.
But it still seems for me a bit odd to have a page with my name that people can like. At the same time I cannot, and will not, add people on Facebook unless I actually know them.

Should tech community contributors have a Facebook page?

After many discussions, some of them on Facebook, I decided to ask on Twitter. Here is the result of the poll:

The majority of the people, mainly developers, responded (by about 70%) that no, tech community contributors should not have a Facebook page.

Here are some comments (just a small sample)

Against

NAY - Were it a senior citizens or a music fan community, Facebook would make sense. Tech has a large anti-Facebook contingent.

Well, you have to think about your channels. You got the blog, twitter, linked in and facebook. What would each add? A facebook page could be good if you want followers that can “like” you and follow some stuff. But separated audiences and “subscribe” have the same effect. SO basically NAY

Nope, you subscribe to the WHOLE person.

Nay. Unless you’re Mark Russinovich.

I tend to pursue a moderately integrated approach to work and personal life. I try to think that there’s only one “me.”. However, boundaries do exist, which means Facebook is more for the personal stuff, and Twitter more professional. Which is my long way of saying “Nay.” But hey, your call. :)

Personally, nay. As a consumer, it feels weird…but I use FB for family/friends & Twitter for interests so… #grainofsalt

Nay … but because I wouldn’t connect on Facebook that way, I’d use something else (google+, linkedin, etc)

I agree with Scott. Besides, FB is for people I know well and/or met face to face. I use Twitter and the blog for the others.

Nay

For:
I prefer both profile and page, but there should always be a page whether you post on profile or not.

Yay, my non technical friends says

Yay… Because many of my friends on Facebook don’t share the same passion for technology. So I have a page specifically for tech related posts. I also don’t want anyone friending me on FB, so the Tech page is perfect for anyone to like while my personal FB profile is for friends only.

YAY. There needs to be a line there.

It’s already been done - Google+.

Depends:
depends how popular

facebook nay. Diaspora yay

Comments

Somehow I must have missed this discussion on twitter. However I'll just add my two cents. I think I am pretty new to that business and at the very beginning of such a 'career'. Nonetheless I think I can bring in my personal view.

I use Facebook only for personal contacts like relatives, friends and people I met in real life more than once a year. When I spot some interesting blogs or read a great answer on SO and want to get in touch with such called a community leader, I follow that person on twitter. I use twitter only for professional purposes since its not very often used by non-tech persons.

I think both very weird. Adding a tech guru on Facebook, but also following my neighbor or my girl friend on twitter.

Just my opinion from the view of a follower. 

As the first person quoted in the "against" section, I am honored. I am also part of the anti-Facebook contingent I mentioned, and believe the "you must be on Facebook to see/respond" hinders the reach of those who use Facebook for their community. I quickly lose respect for an organization or individual trying to reach the masses with a link that ends in a Facebook login page rather than information because they have let the popularity of Facebook distract from the dissemination of information. 

I think Facebook is the wrong audience for interacting with the tech community. There are three typical types of pages/profiles on Facebook:

1. Real life connections. These are good friends, acquaintances, and people you have crushes on.
2. Entertainment. Pages that post funny cat pictures, Pinterest-type photos, and image macros. It's like Reddit for people who don't use Reddit.
3. Celebrities. I can "like" a band or celebrity's page and follow what they post, but even if I comment on those posts I don't feel like I'm actually interacting with them. It's mostly used just like Twitter except there's a built in option for commenting on posts.

Google+, on the other hand, is a great place for tech contributors. Aside from the fact that tons of tech bloggers are already posting on Google+, I've found that most of them actually reply to comments. You can even tag your posts with #tech or some other related tag so that readers know which posts of yours are tech related and which aren't. 

Last modified on 2013-01-11