Me...

I find Facebook to be very entertaining, and also informative.

Only about 10% of my 'friends' are actual friends. The rest are artists from all parts of the world. The neat thing for me is, they (me too) post our work in the albums, and it has been tremendously valuable for me to see what other people are doing. Because I'm researching the art market, I check out galleries, listen to conversations around that issue, and learn quite a lot. I would never have known some of these artists existed, if it not for fb.

Yes, generally speaking most people don't post for critique, but it has been done, and done well. I've asked questions, and have always gotten generous and kind responses.

Basically, I use it for work. And to check on my kids:)

And yes, it can be addicting.

I see a lot of my friends advertising their businesses on FB, and I'll admit to having an album of recent paintings but I don't honestly expect to get any work from it. I also get kind of annoyed when I get invited to join a bunch of friend's groups for their products that I have never and will never buy. I mean, I love my friends and all, but . . .

I only use it for the most part because my daughter is deaf and FB is a great way to network with other deaf people. Can't call them all on the phone to invite them to a party, you know!

So in the end, Facebook is used more for my private social life, while LinkedIn is more of a career-oriented, work site. I don't see any harm in either but for painters I really don't think it's the best way to advertise. Either or both typically work better for products aimed for the masses. When your clientele are upper-middle and higher class individuals, the chances of them seeing your art while surfing FB is very low.

Well I reluctantly joined Facebook because many of the other forums and comment sections on blogs have started requiring a Facebook account to post. But I rally have not done much on it. I don't have much good to say about the user interface of Facebook but that is about it.

On google search: Well unless you use other modifiers besides just my name you will get a lot of other Michael Fourniers.. If you include Art or Portraits then you will find my site in the first 3 links but just too many Michael Fournier/s out there on the internet to just find me by goggling my name alone even if you include middle names.

The problem with Facebook, for me, is that I spend too much time wading through posts of pictures of people's pets and reports of the trivial details of so many of my friends' everyday lives in search of a few truly meaningful or interesting posts that are actually worth reading. I could also do without the political preaching of some of my friends as well, since I have my own ideas about political issues, and the good manners to refrain from imposing them on anyone else, out of respect for their own views on the subject.

Though I continue to go to Facebook every day, I try to be considerate enough of my friends to limit my posts to the bare minimum, and spare them the tedium of reading every thought that pops into my head or reports of every unimportant event that occurs in my daily life, with the perhaps unrealistic hope that I will thereby inspire others to follow my sterling example.

Virgil Elliott

Amen! Add to that religious preaching, photos of the stitches you got, etc. When I first became a grandmother in May, I did not know I could specify who saw what I posted. Since then, I have my postings of my granddaughter set up so only family and close friends can see them.

I see you can also you can select what things you subscribe to with each friend.