The Age of Facebook
Whoever said nothing is impossible never tried to staple water to a tree. – Recent post on Facebook
As our publisher Greg mentions in his column this month on page 62, D.O.M. magazine recently hosted the first-ever virtual AMT Day celebration on May 24. We hosted the virtual event on our Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/DOMmagazine).
We have come a long way in a few years to be able to do this. To put it in perspective, the first AMT Day resolution drafted by Richard Dilbeck of the FAA’s Sacramento, Cal., FSDO was sponsored by Senator Pete Knight from Burbank on April 12, 2002. Mark Zuckerberg hadn’t even created Facebook at that time. (He was still in high school).
Now, it seems we are living in the age of Facebook. On April 24 of this year, Facebook had more than 900 million users — more than 157 million in the United States alone!
Out of those more than 900 million users, a large portion of them aren’t doing anything constructive — they are just making a lot of noise. “Just got out of bed.” “Need my cup of coffee!” “Going to the gym.” “On the way to work.”
But as we demonstrated on AMT Day, Facebook can have constructive uses. Marketing, education, staying plugged into the industry and keeping up with family and friends are all good reasons to use Facebook.
Keep in mind that Facebook is a “public” forum. Many people can access to your wall, photos and information that you post on Facebook. How you interact on Facebook says a lot about who you are as a person and as a professional. Do you want to be viewed as a professional? Here are a few tips to consider.
Don’t over post.There is no magic number to limit your posts to, but be considerate of your friends. Some people take posting to an extreme level, sharing links, photos, blogs, news stories and personal posts 20, 30 and more times daily. You’d think they are competing in the Facebook Olympics. I sometimes wonder how they manage to do all this while holding down a job. Maybe their coworkers are thinking the same thing? Don’t allow Facebook to control your free time, or worse — have it take away from the time you are supposed to be working.
Be careful what you post, “like” or comment on. The aviation maintenance industry is small. People pay attention to what you post. There is no excuse for using profanity or posting inappropriate photos or videos. I like to imagine my grandparents (who have all passed on) being my friends on Facebook. If they wouldn’t approve of my posting, I shouldn’t post it.
Be social. It amazes me how un-social “social” networks can be. If you wouldn’t do it in a real social environment, don’t do it on Facebook. Would you go to an event and purposely offend someone to their face? Probably not, yet many people make rude comments on others’ Facebook status updates.
You have probably heard the saying, “Don’t talk politics or religion at a social gathering.” If you bring up either topic, you will end up getting into a heated discussion with someone. When religion or politics are discussed, the parties involved are typically set in their ways. You won’t change anyone’s mind. Instead, you will end up affirming the beliefs of those that agree with you and annoying or even upsetting those that don’t agree with you.
Step away from the computer.I have never seen a job description for a DOM position that required the candidate to have excellent Facebook skills. Although Facebook provides an opportunity to expand your networking opportunities, it can be easy to waste a lot of time on the site. Instead of sitting like a zombie in front of the computer screen for hours on end, consider spending quality time with your friends and family. You can attend industry events. You can join a group like Toastmasters to become a better speaker. Some might not believe it, but there IS life beyond Facebook.
When you do find yourself logged in to Facebook, be sure to stop by our page (www.Facebook.com/dommagazine) on occasion and say “hi.” Be sure to “like” us while you are there to stay up to date on the latest information relevant to aviation maintenance management.
Now back to your regularly-scheduled Facebook time.
Thanks for reading!
Joe Escobar