How do we stay informed about current art news without going under?
We want to stay tuned to what's happening in our areas of interest, although how to filter what's coming in is becoming a challenge for all of us, especially when we'd rather spend our time in creative endeavors. In this era of information inundation news feeds are great. I use the free app Feedly although there are others to choose from. Download the app of your choice to your digital device. Follow the instructions to connect with websites and blogs you want to follow. You'll receive a daily or weekly compilation of the blogs and news you enjoy. You can read what you choose when you are ready to kick back and catch up.
Is it only me or is Facebook getting crazy?
We want the potential Facebook offers for our business yet we don't want an incursion of information we're not aligned with. We have a desire to stay connected with family and old friends even though they may have differing views on issues important to us. For starters, keep your personal Facebook page and your business Facebook page separate.
To reduce the tension associated with some FB posts we can create lists to edit out information we don't want to see regularly. Then we decide when it's convenient to update with people we care about or pages we follow.
How?
On your Facebook timeline page, choose "Friends." The list of friends shows with a box to the right. Click on the friends box. When you agree to friend someone, the pulldown gives you the option to assign the person to a list, for example, "close friends” or "acquaintances" and offers you the opportunity to create your own category. You also have the choice to opt out of their "notifications."
These categories show up on the left sidebar of your FB homepage when you open your news feed. Under EXPLORE click "Friend Lists." Your categories will pop up in a list format and you see only posts associated with the list you've chosen. I have a "family" list for the times I want to connect with people I love yet don't want to wade through the newsfeed to catch up. There is a list for art friends and a list for business acquaintances. Yes, we can always go to their timelines to see what’s up, however, that feels more than a bit intrusive to me.
Taking charge of Facebook allows us to keep the relationships we've valued over time and yet distance ourselves from posts disrupting to our peace.
If you want to take your exploration a step further, on a scale of 1-10, ten being worst ever, note the level of disruption to your sense of truth and personal agitation after you make a run through Facebook. Take the challenge. Unplug for a week. Focus the time instead on hearing your own soul, trusting your heart. What is the right next step for you? At the end of the week, note from 1- 10 how you feel. Is there a difference? May be a clue to limit personal Facebook contact to close family and trusted friends, set a goal to post business info once a week ~ or unplug all together.