Up until last week, I’ve held a weekly “Facebook Fan Friday“, during which I made a post to the Ask Leo! Facebook page, and responded to every comment made on that post for an hour or so.
It was kind of an AMA, or “Ask Me Anything”, session.
My last session with Facebook Fan Friday was frustrating, at best, and I’ve elected to cancel it – or at least suspend it until further notice.
The question is, what to do instead?
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Facebook Fail
The problem is a simple one: the Ask Leo! fan page has about 7,500 “Likes”. In other words, 7,500 people have said that they like Ask Leo!, and are interested in seeing what I share on Facebook. (Thank you!)
Sounds great, in theory.
The problem is that Facebook simply doesn’t guarantee you’ll see all the posts from pages you “like”. Conversely, as a Facebook page owner, I have no way to actually reach all the folks who’ve “liked” the page – at least not without spending money.
Sadly, that means it’s not worth my time. It was a fine experiment, but it’s time to try something different.
Alternatives
That’s where you come in. I’m not sure what I should do in lieu of Facebook Fan Friday.
What appealed to me about it was that when it worked, it was a fine opportunity to ask and answer questions in almost real time. Sort of, but not quite, “Ask Leo! Live”.
Alternatives that come to mind include:
- Doing the same thing directly on Ask Leo!: create a post, put notifications out on social media (Facebook, Twitter and Google+), and simply try to respond to every comment, for a certain length of time.
- Answering questions in real time via the Ask Leo! Twitter account (@askleo). Great for short questions, but definitely not good for lengthy answers.
- Something on the Ask Leo! Google+ page. I haven’t spent a lot of time here, so I’m not exactly sure what’s possible.
- A Google Hangout “on air”. This would be a live video stream (well, sorta live – my initial experiment is that what you would see runs about 30 seconds behind actual “live”) during which I would take questions via an accompanying text chat. This intrigues me, but also means that I’d need to be present and talking the entire time. I think. With something less “live” I could research questions and answers “offline”, as well as fill my coffee cup as needed. On the other hand, webinars that I held some years ago were poorly attended, and this is very similar to that.
- Something else I haven’t thought of.
- Quit monkeying around and stick to writing posts, articles, and books alone.
Your thoughts?
What sounds useful? Are there other approaches to live, nearly-live, or sort-of live solutions – from text to audio to video – that I haven’t thought of that would be of interest to you?
Would you participate?
And while we’re changing things up, if you’re interested, what times would be best? I’ve hesitated to do a fixed day and time for a variety of reasons, but perhaps a regularly scheduled time, or a rotation of specific days and times, would work better?
As usual, leave a comment below; let me know what you think. I’m open to doing many different things, as long as whatever I choose turns out to actually be useful.
And ideally, something more closely under my control.
Unlike Facebook.
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John Tyler
How about a Webinar ? Send out invites then take questions via email or prerecord your answers so they can be played back later. Another method is to have people post questions during a specific time on a given date then post a You Tube video of those question that your Ask Leo! website doesn’t answer.
Joe L.
Is it uneconomical for you to pay for additional “reach”?
Leo
Yes.
Jim Guld
I like the idea of Google+ Hangouts On Air. You could schedule them the same time each week or as is convenient. I expect you would want someone to help, like a producer, or comment wrangler. HOAs can be watched either on Google+ or YouTube, and are automatically recorded. They could be edited and repurposed.
Thanks for all you do.
Squire
suggestion, how about creating a temp, skype account, ware you except text chats, for that hour only. u make it clear. any messages sent before that time, will be ignored;/not red.
You also could make it easier for your self by putting up donation buttens so that those who donates a little something, gets more garentee that there questions may be answered, (like mine?) smile
Dave N.
seems like the trend of late are podcasts…not familiar with what it takes to create, but maybe a monthly topic with phone in q & a’s. Then create a library of show links on your website for those who couldn’t attend live..
Pam
I’m also not familiar with the logistics with a youtube/podcast but a foodie blog I follow does this once or twice a week. She asks, on her blog and FB page, if you have questions you’d like answered then to email her and she’ll try to answer on her youtube video. Seems to work well for her and you get to hear and see the face behind the ‘business’ but I suppose it would depend on how many questions you end up getting. You might be swamped!! 🙂
Martin
Google hangouts would be a no-no for me, they seem to require you to install software, and I really am not convinced google aren’t the antichrist
Alerts through social media to something happening live on your own site would seem the best way
Luke Mayson
What if you made an article on your website soliciting questions for a later Q&A article? Taking, say, a week in between each one? Or a day, if you wanted to mimic the faster feedback you were getting on Facebook.
So the comments of the ‘Q’ article would then be answered in a later ‘A’ article, which would answer, in short form, the questions that to you seemed the most common, or interesting, or… you could try to answer all of them!
I personally would prefer this solution because it’s entirely on your site, and it would be much easier for me to read it and get information even if I didn’t happen to participate that day.
Sandy
I like that idea. 🙂
Steve Harris
I am fully aware of your practice of answering emails submitted by your loyal fans (you have answered several of mine) but I agree with this suggestion. A list of Q&A supplies a bunch of stuff that might not be all encompassing enough to get into your weekly newsletter but be good enough to be worth sharing on a list like this. Anything that requires attendance at a certain time/place, always ends up being the day someone else lays claim to my time. By being part of your site it allows connection whenever.
Mark Jacobs
A little known fact about Ask Leo! is that Leo actually answers most of the answerable questions submitted. Questions submitted by newsletter subscribers and book purchasers are nearly all answered providing Leo knows the answer. So in reality the main advantage is that the answers on Fan Friday were more or less instantaneous.
My suggestion to Leo is keep on doing what you’re doing and let people know that their chance of getting an answer is actually quite good.
And a hint: If you want to improve your odds at an answer, sign up for the newsletter, explain your problem clearly and with as much detail as possible. If Leo can answer it, he probably will.
Liz
Mark, this sounds good to me! Dumb question–I am a newsletter subscriber, but where are the questions answered that are submitted?
I actually had a question all lined up to ask on the day the last FB Friday session was cancelled. My problem with ‘real time’–and may be so for many others–is that the rest of my life/work has to come first, and I can’t always get away at the time the FB sessions were going on. I also don’t always remember and don’t necessarily see the notices in time (even though I already have notifications sent directly to me so I don’t miss any).
Mark Jacobs
At the end of every newsletter, in the Administration section, there is a link to ask a question and have it prioritized.
Liz
Thanks. What I actually asked, though, is where do we see the answers. 🙂
Mark Jacobs
If your question gets answered, you receive an email with the answer.
Leo
Many turn into articles here on Ask Leo!, so you’ll see them on the site and in newsletters – and as Mark pointed out, if you submit a question and it gets answered you’ll get an emailed response.
Ralph
I agree with Mark, the present format allows me to read Ask Leo at my leisure. If I have to set a time for a live telecast I would probably miss the program.
wilson
I enjoy reading your articles. So for me I would prefer reading your answers on your page. If you received questions on a specific day and answered as many as you could on a another day would seem like a fair approach for me anyway.
Thanks for the good work.
Lee B
Like and agree with this suggestion.
And also want to say thanks for all your efforts.
D. R. L.
I too like and agree with this suggestion. I am a member, have bought your books and enjoy the bonuses and videos. Good stuff!
Tom Campbell
I have been a subscriber to your newsletters since 2010 and I agree with Mark Jacobs – keep doing what you’re doing.
Things (for me, anyway) keep getting better and I don’t have enough superlatives to describe your latest videos! Many of my friends, like me, have benefitted greatly from your newsletters and videos. I am now a member of Ask Leo! and even ordered your books – they’re worth every penny. Whichever way you go, keep up the good work.
John Russell
I agree with Tom Campbell. Keep doing things the way you have been doing it. Thanks for all the great help you extend to us all.
ed gallardo
I agree with Campbell and Russell. You do enough with Ask Leo. No reason to kill yourself trying to be everywhere, answering everything, 24/7.
Glen
i agree with Tom. just keep doing it. ask people to share it word will get around and more people will see it. i know ask leo is best internet advice news letter i`ve ever found. in FB i get notifications whenever its posted. so i see them all.
Tim
I tend to not participate in things that require me to be present or do something at a specific time or place. I already have one job and one boss. I prefer the post/comment format because although it’s not “real time” it is the most convenient.
Perhaps you could have a section with this format but automatically close off commenting after ‘n’ days so it doesn’t take on a life of its own.
Alan
Couldn’t agree more with Tim. My chances of seeing the FB Fan Friday, especially here in the UK, are remote and reading your newsletter is by far the most convenient.
Leo, please keep up the good and helpful work. Thank you!
Sandy Coulter
I am with the last 4 commenters. Keep doing what you are doing with the newsletter and your own website. Facebook is a terrible venue for communication with your followers. I removed it from my phone a long time ago and I only go there when I am bored and have time on my hands.
Alaska Mike
Some thoughts off the top … while I haven’t attended it sounds like lots of folks would like to.
1. Stay with the Friday thing but reduce the frequency.
2. Use twitter to get questions and reply thru facebook.
3. Cycle days and times every week so more folks get a chance at you.
4. Whatever you do, get the Q&A out to the readers somehow.
5. Use live chat, would be one on one … then see 4 above.
6. Take a hiatus, if the issue has been waning attendance let folks stockpile questions.
Keep up the good work!
PFL
“Quit monkeying around and stick to writing posts, articles, and books alone.”
Batzion
Leo, there’s nobody out there like you. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Besides, I prefer to see your answers in print so that I can copy them for future reference if needed.
Sandy
Same here!
D. R. L.
Me too!
Greg Jackson
Ditto.
I keep away from Facebook as much as possible
Keep what has worked and save your time for your loved ones.
Karl
I really like the newsletters. I don’t read them all, but when I have time. I am not likely to use Google+ or FB with regard to the posts. Keep up the good work. I have used your info!
Ellen
I agree Karl … I love the newsletters and keep a lot of them for future reference. I don’t use FB nor Google+
You’re doing a great job.
Lord Rayne
Agreed Ellen and Karl. I keep all the newsletters – you never know when something obscure might come up and 9 times out of 10, Leo has an answer.
Keep doing what you’re doing Leo, we appreciate it far more than any Facebook offerings.
David Rubenstein
You didn’t say what was frustrating about the experience. Since you said that not all of your likers could be notified without financial cost to you, I am guessing that not enough people knew about it and/or responded. Is that the reason you were frustrated, and is your search for an alternative geared towards getting more questions and/or more observers?
Leo
Frustration: of my 7,500 followers on Facebook, only 200 got notified by the time it was over. I got one question. A good one, but … only one.
Lyncamille
Leo, I have a suggestion for a solution that you have not considered. Stay on Facebook. BUT, contact your followers in an email telling them to go to your Facebook page, and under the Liked drop down tab, click “get notifications”. This will ensure that your Facebook post goes into their newsfeed. Of the pages I have done this with, I get all the posts they put up. The only other issue I have found with the Facebook Friday, is it appears to happen at different times of the day on Fridays. You are two hours earlier than I am, and when I have a pending question I want to ask you, I have to check my newsfeed frequently because I do not know what time you are going to post Facebook Friday. Incidentally, I usually receive the post within 15 minutes of you posting it as I have “get notifications” checked on your page. If someone were saving a question for you, had notifications checked, and knew what time you were posting, they would have same access to you on Facebook as any other forum you can go to. Just my two cents.
G'ma Cathleen
I concur with this suggestion. Since I missed the “memo” about FB Fridays, I wasn’t aware and didn’t participate. That said, I would definitely enjoy this option if it’s feasible. Thanks for all you do for us, Leo. Enjoy the day!
Tracy
That is so funny! The first thing I did when I read this article was to go to his FB page and click “Get Notifications”, and then I suggested below for him to create a FB group. I subconsciously did the “get notifications”, but consciously thought about creating the group. LOL! Anyway, both asking your followers to “Get Notifications”, and asking the rest to join the group would work, and setting up Hootsuite tweet/post the AMA occasion to all of Leo’s social media accounts, and then monitor and answer all posts/questions/tweets on Hootsuite – in one spot. Yes, I love and use Hootsuite. LOL!
Fred Shaw
I like what you’re doing NOW, with the newsletter.
John
I stand to be corrected but I think there is some feature on facebook where you set someone to be a “very good friend”. I assume that this means your posts get to show up more than would otherwise be the case. Again I am far from being a facebook guru but maybe this bears exploring. Anyhow I have liked your page so whatever you post should hopefully pop up from time to time.
Meanwhile I would like to take the opportunity to let you know that I have been following your blog /site for years now and really like your advice, as well as the coherent, clean and always respectful way you give it, which is a contrast with so many other sites today.
Thanks.
John (from Malta, EU)
Sandy
There are descriptions to describe the friends on your lists, but I think that is just for the convenience of the person. The “get notifications” button, is where you are able to see all of the information that a particular person is posting. Then, of those people whom you are receiving notifications for, the description of their ranking in your friends list, is what order their posts are posted in. Am I making sense??
Daniel
I agree with Lyncamille. I have not checked the ‘ask to be notified’ on your fan page. I’ve been a bad boy. Since I’m at work, I can’t check facebook right now. But I wonder if you should alternate times so that one week it is during normal working times and one week during normal ‘off’ time. Sorry I’ve never attended.
Bob Onysko
Having a very knowledgeable tech support person available would be excellent. I suggest that you only answer the questions that can’t be answered with Google, forums, etc. This would minimize your time spent on this endeavor. Whichever way you decide is fine with me.
Ih8FB
Some people, willingly miss out b/c FB sucks and they refuse to be the “dumb f**ks” Zuckerburg calls anyone who trusts him with their info.
Your newsletters are great, but I’m surprised you even use FB – considering FB users are “commodities” and it continues tracking even after logging out.
Say “good-bye” (or otherwise) to FB and find another way which respects privacy.
Bob S.
Leo, you do a fabulous job and provide a valuable service. Keep doing the newsletter and books, forget the FB approach. I much prefer Q & A in print. I do not use Facebook (long story about privacy and copyright) and not so sure about Google+ so please stay with printed formats to provide your help to all we computer users. Thanks!
pg_pousson@sbcglobal.net
A friend I have Matt Barton does the live thing and also does not get many followers. Not on Facebook but twitch or googlelive. I forget which because I am usually working late on Fridays. The FB idea is fine. It’s just that you just started it, I gather. Isn’t your advice a lot of times is to give it time? What time do you try it? Remember Friday people are either working or going out or something. Maybe Sunday about 4 or 5 would be better,… if you could do it then?
Leo
Actually I’ve been doing it for several months. Activity and response has varied, but last week/s 200/7500 was by far the lowest.
paul
LOL, it would be nice also if you could edit these answers…
MWilson
The serious readers of your newsletters are also the most appreciative as indicated by the many “keep doing what you’re doing” votes.
I like the ability to read the valuable insights I want, when I can at my schedule. But I absolutely could not follow you on a regularly scheduled format be it a webinar or FB. I’d say your test of that forum gave you results and a message that you shouldn’t ignore.
Bernie O'Connor
“Quit monkeying around and stick to writing posts, articles, and books alone.”
All that Facebook bells and whistles, live seminars, hangouts and if you don’t act now stuff is the domain of the “internet guru million dollar program” guys.
I don’t know how many seminars I have signed up for, and then due to who-knows-what, I missed it. Your blog is perfect because I can always visit it when my schedule allows. So granted your advice is indeed worth a million dollars, but I can’t always “act now.”
Keep up the great work!
P.S. I got a copy of Snagit and I love it.
Jen
First I want to say thank you for all you do to help people with their computing issues. I’ve learned so much over the years and yours is the first resource I check and send other people to.
I do like and enjoy Facebook Fan Friday but it does have its limitations (not having a set time, FB deciding who sees the posts, and me being in another time zone for example). I long ago changed my settings to get notifications of your posts, which does help as long as I see it on time for the session. (As a page admin myself, it is frustrating to see only a small percentage reached without people having to opt-in twice.) I have enough accounts to keep up with personally so would not be likely to use Google hang outs or anything else that would require me to be on a service that I’m not already using for other reasons. Fan Friday is great for instant, personal interactions but if it’s not worth your time it’s understandable for you to cease doing it. Of all the options mentioned so far, for me the best one would be a pre-scheduled webinar. Other than that, I’ll have to get by with “only” your phenomenal newsletters, podcasts, videos and e-books!
Gary Hansen
1) Whenever you post a written answer to a tech question, create a parallel video answer and post it an Ask Leo YouTube channel.
2) Do you remember Car Talk on National Public Radio. Is there sufficient need to create a live Ask Leo radio show on National Public Radio.
Thanks so much for all you great information.
Batzion
YouTube! Of course! Leo, I agree with Gary that a Leo YouTube channel would be great! Instead of showing just screen shots, you could take the viewer through all the steps. I love this idea!
Ron
Use BlogTalkRadio.com, people can call in and you can talk just like a talk show.
George Shaddock
You provide an incredibly valuable service to thousands of computer users. My problem, over the past year, is that since I’ve gone from Windows 64 7 Pro to Windows 8 pro, my questions are very specific. As a result, I end up searching your prior answers, and almost always end up with an answer that fits my need. I have to assume that many of the questions that might be brought to your attention on a live type of program, you’ve already answered. Your previous questions and answers which you make available to all are quite well organized, but might be even better organized for specificity. A small, reasonable fee for a detailed search might serve your followers, and provide money for someone to handle the categorizing and upload effort.
My two cents only. I find your answers both accurate and helpful.
susan
Are you sure you even want to do live Q and A? Your answers in “Ask Leo” are so well thought-out and careful and meticulous. I can’t imagine on-the-fly answers to be as good. Sort of like the pop-psychology done on some radio talk shows. This gets a lot of callers and listeners both agreeing and disagreeing but it’s not really for good information. OTOH for example, a radio show about gardening or home improvements might answer only 2 or 3 questions thoroughly during the whole show.
D. R. L.
Agree. “Instant” answers not as good as well-thought-out responses.
morris
i think you have been doing just a great job helping with your e-mails..having a real time Q&A is going to take away from some of the real problems you have been dealing with…
Cindy R
I say stick with website, newsletter, articles, and books. Don’t make people (= don’t make me) get some new piece of technology we don’t want, e.g. Twitter, Google+, Google Hangout, Skype…
Jon J.
Just to add my coin to the fountain… keep doing what you are doing. With the onslaught of technology, fixed time “live” events aren’t the best way to communicate. That’s why people use all of the various ways to manage their communications in a non real-time manner. Leo, I think your responses to questions will be higher quality if they are done on Leo-time.
Keep up the great work!!
Liris77
Agree!
D. R. L.
I second that!
John Minick
I’ve been a long time follower and user of your website. I believe your website is the best computer advice website there is period! Thank you so much for your invaluable advice. It has bailed me out so many times! Keep doing what you are doing on Ask Leo and your books. You are the only advice website I truly trust, that is not selling something. Please keep up your great work on Ask Leo!!!
JW
Roert Burger
Sorry but I did not know about Friday Facebook. I have a Facebook account but I do not use it. I enjoy the way you are doing it now with the newsletters. Many thanks for those very informative newsletters
Karen S.
After a momentary excitement about a Q & A chat/FB/live situation, it dawned on me that I already have the best. Your newsletters come in, and, regardless of what is going on, they get read from cover to cover (if you’ll pardon the hard-copy lingo). Maybe not at that very moment – but they do get read. I save EVERY issue and refer back to them, pass them on to friends and use them to find interesting topics for an Internet & More special interest group I lead for my local computer club. I think many like the “idea” of the immediate nature of chat/text, but the realities have all been stated by your readers (we work, we live in different time zones, you can’t possibly drink that volume of coffee!) (hey – I just tried to underline “idea” using Cntl+U and this page of Original Source something – is this html I keep hearing about?). I vote to keep doing what you’ve been doing, and if I can’t find an answer, I’ll submit a question. Thanks Leo!
Ken Power
Let me just say that I have been a fan for a long time, and I have never failed to see a response to a question I have posed. Doing a great job Leo.
From a ‘selfish’ point of view I can contribute nothoing to the question of ‘live’ communication, because I live in a time zone up to 12 hours ahead of the rest of the world (New Zealand), and even in USA the time zone thing must complicate things ?
Chris
I have subscribed to Ask Leo since early 2011 and have not missed a single newsletter.
Just sticking with the newsletter format will ensure all subscribers see the latest edition
of Ask Leo.
Rod Eagle
Leo,
Stick to what you do best. You run an excellent web site, use that. Let readers leave a question, and then check back in a day or so, to see if they got answered. I would suggest that you might abandon social media altogether, as it limits your exposure to your readers. There are some of us “oldies” out here, who do not trust social media, and don’t use it. After you’ve seen as many messed up computers, from what people have picked up from Facebook as I have, you will see where I’m coming from. Mate, don’t mess with what you’re doing well.
Dave eliason
My vote goes to continuing what you are doing the way you always have. I look forward to your emails.
Chris
As a UK based newsletter subscriber I am firmly in the “Quit monkeying around and stick to writing posts, articles, and books alone” camp. I read the newsletter every week, if I have a problem I search Ask Leo and if that doesn’t yield an answer I ….er, Ask Leo! Your capacity to answer questions that don’t necessarily get published is impressive and truly appreciated.
Another contributor way up this thread associated all things Google with the Antichrist (a bit rough on the Antichrist in my view!) but I feel the same way about social media, so no Twitter, Facebook etc for me, I simply have no use for it. Perhaps it is no coincidence that despite having the same email addresses for 10 years I get very little spam.
I have learnt a lot from the newsletter, long may it continue.
Martin I
I’ve read on other forums where Facebook is only in it for the money it can make on “reaching people”. I also think that any real time or near real time event is problematic for people in different time zones. It is also difficult for you to answer every question (I have asked a few that didn’t get answered) but concentrate on those that are most common. I think that your regular emails are most effective and the one thing that you totally control. Keep up the good work.
Jan vander Weegen
Hi Leo.
I am well into the 80’s and have been following you since you started.
For a large following,live shows won’t be much use overseas.
Like politics, you run the risk of some ( s a) arguing with you , so they can attend a live show.
What most readers don’t appreciate , is the shear volume , you have to cope with.
Please never change you present style.
Without you , my knowledge would be even less. ..
Cheers , from down under.
John.
B.R. Beamer
I ,as a senior citizen, knowing what I know, and have seen what is happening to this “social media has becoming” I just will not do Face book,twitter or any other of these things that are out of control, sorry.
Max Mesko
I’ve seen a lot of AMAs on Reddit, for what it’s worth. Drop the link on facebook and in your regular newsletters with a time and day so folks can show up 🙂
Maria R.
I tend to agree with most of the comments here. My personal thoughts: 1) keep current newsletter 2) no need to start any “live” videos (perhaps special ones, on occasion) 3) love the website 4) I recommend you to one & all on my G+. 5) time zones are horrid for many to pop on to live videos.
Thank you for all the sound advice.
Albie
I am a admirer of Leo and enjoy his posts but I am wary of social media and do not want closer involvement so please keep doing your newsletters- how do you find the time?
Mark Jacobs
You once had a section on Ask Leo! called the Ask Leo! Mailbag where you published the answers to some of the questions you answered personally. If you have an Ask Leo! mailbag everyone would get the benefit of all that work we do daily. They would be indexed by Google so people searching for answers could find them. It wouldn’t be necessary to publish all the answers, but many are of general interest. You might put up a disclaimer that those answers are specific to that question, but may be of some benefit. Or you might just add an Ask Leo! Mailbag section to the Newsletter so that all newsletter subscribers see what you’ve answered that week. That would also permanently remain in the NL archives and be indexed by Google.
Lindsay
Hi Leo
Thanks for you’re continuing information
I do not use Facebook (my wife does)..I simply work on the email that you constantly send and use that information to great effect
Receiving you’re information via email twice a week is all I need to keep my info’up to date
Thanks Leo
B E Smith
How about a “hangout” on YouTube? Several of the channels I follow have weekly sessions.
Tracy
I didn’t read all the comments, but here is a thought that came to my mind (I am totally in the same boat, by the way. I am sad that FB makes posts – EVEN MY OWN FRIENDS’ POSTS!! – so that you cannot see them in real time, if at all. We can have a total b*tch session just over that, but I won’t. ) FACEBOOK GROUP. I think a good solution would be to create a Facebook Group (or event, but an event would be a PITA), encourage your Likers to join the group, that way we will see posts and comments in real time. The group can be called a “discussion” or just “Facebook Fan Friday”. I don’t think you will be going against any FB “laws” for that. You can always use Hootsuite to send one (or scheduled) posts out to most of your social media sites.
Tracy
Ok. I have read everyone’s posts. Some of us are Social Media junkies, getting all of our information from Facebook or Twitter. I am in the Facebook camp, and prefer to get my information on some else’s server – in one spot which is Facebook. When I get email Newsletters, I have a tendency to not read them, and store them thinking “I will get to those later”, which I never do, and if I do, I can’t find what I need since email is a sucky file and storage system that only takes up huge amounts of space on my machine. So, I now have the freedom (but at the same time – bondage!) to Social Media.
Then you have the Newsletter/Book camp. Old school. No brainer.
You can appease both by 1.) Keep doing what you are doing, AND 2.) Create a FB Group. If you use a Social Media management tool, then managing the FB, FB Group, Twitter, Google+…etc, can be used as a one stop shop.
Connie
One good way to keep up with Ask Leo! is with an RSS feed from his site. He also has it set up so you can get notifications of new articles. I like getting it that way as I see the articles one at a time and can quickly decide if it’s something I need to read or not. https://askleo.com/new-article-notification-by-email/
Leo
I’m not really sure what a Facebook group really gets me over the Facebook Fan page I already have. I’m a member of several groups and Facebook still doesn’t show me every post or all activity in that group. (I do use bufferapp.com to manage my social media notifications at least).
Nancy
“Quit monkeying around and stick to writing posts, articles, and books alone”
Hi Leo,
Yes, I read your post,
Tony P
Hi Leo,
I agree with Karl, Ellen and Lord Rayne above. I dutifully store all your newsletters (Ask Leo) and refer to them as and when necessary. Keep doing what you’re doing – it is of great service to many people. I certainly spread the word about you and your info to my friends. Who needs FB?
Dave
I like the system you have been using as I have to be able to read etc. in my own time. I do not do social media
Christine
I belong to a group on Facebook, and every time someone posts to the group page, I am notified. I think that this could possibly work for Facebook Friday. I am not sure if there are settings to control when group members post to the group page, but I know you can remove members if they get unruly. I often missed out on your previous Q&A sessions on Facebook because I didn’t receive an audible and/or visible notification. I think something similar could be done on Google+, too. My personal preference is to read (instead of watching video) because it is easier for me to scan and disregard information that doesn’t interest me. I’m sure you will come up with a good solution. Good luck, Leo!
Alice
I’m in the “keep doing what you are doing” camp. After what Randy wrote about FB this week, I think you (and everyone else with a good product) should stick as much as possible to your own servers or something else you control. Use everything else to direct traffic to your own site.
cherie m
Can’t express enough how grateful I am for your newsletters & now wonderful videos, but is it perhaps not better to keep to what you do now rather than overextend yourself. So many of us now benefit from what you currently offer but you still need a life. Your videos are great they allow us to “see” you, watch them at a time that suits us & in my case re watch so I am able to let the info sink in. The videos still allow you the freedom to do at a time that suits you. I’m with some of the comments above stick to what you are doing & Thank You so much for all you do.
Lewis Stallings
Stick to writing posts, articles, and books alone. Can it get any better than this?
Thanks for all the info and help!
Jim de la Plante
You’re a Gift from the Gods, Leo!
I first studied computers on the University of Toronto’s mainframe (that’s all there was) in my final year of Mechanical Engineering. WOW! I bought my first mini a day after they appeared in the stores.
Languages? Fortran. and Assembler I quite like them.
I give myself about 3 years to live, so don’t be mean! 🙂
Denise
I like the idea of a webinar or ‘article’ that 2 people earlier on posted!
some of us (ok; maybe just me?) are not on facebook, twitter, dont’ blog, etc. so we lose out on all that other stuff.
Ben
Videos are fine as long as there are transcripts which can be scanned (with my eyes, not a machine) and read or skipped with total time invested (again, by me) greatly reduced vs. watching a video and wondering if I will be interested in the next item. If you have taken the time to answer a question, posting it here on AskLeo would be helpful to anyone else with a similar issue.
Robert Moore
Add one component – a newsletter-like email blast with a link to your facebook post. Once someone sees or opens the facebook post, I believe it will stay visible. That’s a no-cost & low-effort addition.
Then, the benefits of being on facebook (many more are on facebook at any particular time than are on askleo and their servers are probably more responsive than yours – not that your site does not seem responsive when I post!).
I can rarely “attend” live, but I’ve looked at the give-and-go’s from the Q&As and find the dialogues useful and informative. I’d recommend adding a link on your page (and perhaps on each newsletter) back to the most recent FFF.
Best,
Robert
Bonnie Clark
Please, please. please consider making more of those videos! They were very easy to understand, available when desired, and very pertinent. Thanks you for them!
Joe fidaleo
I am happy with Ask Leo and have been for years.
You do an excellent job simplifying and clarifying
computer concepts.
Pat Doyle
I enjoy reading your articles what can be easier? Keep up the good work !
I wouldn’t touch Facebook with a bargepole.
Christine Leov Lealand
Re earning for your contribution what about a donation button on all your pages, Leo? Link to a Givealittle page or Patreon perhaps? I’d like to see you giving us an opportunity to pay you for your service which is awesome. I agree FB is not a company I want to pay money to – Twitter may be going the same way too.
Google will no doubt in the future.
I belong to some FB groups and there is no guarantee that any of us will get to see all the notifications posted even within a group on FB as their algorithms function there too, judging by the groups I belong to anyhow.
There used to be ways you could host your own email group and have live discussions that way but Yahoo destroyed all that IMO.
Perhaps a new and up-coming social media platform offers what you seek? There’s a lot of em.
regards and thanks Christine
Leo
http://buyleoalatte.com has been around for quite a while, though I don’t promote it much. Personally if you want to give me money I’d much rather you get something tangible out of the transaction – which you can do by buying a book at https://store.askleo.com. I’ve thought things like patreon – I know others who use the model. Right now I’m more comfortable producing products (books, videos, etc.) and measuring my success by people’s willingness to buy.
Edison
Since I never use facebook, any of the alternatives would be better. But I do agree with this sentiment expressed by Wilson
“I enjoy reading your articles. So for me I would prefer reading your answers on your page. If you received questions on a specific day and answered as many as you could on a another day would seem like a fair approach for me anyway.”
David Turner
The last suggestion above “•Quit monkeying around and stick to writing posts, articles, and books alone.” suits me fine. Keep up the great work, Leo.
Mark Jacobs
Something else you haven’t thought of to replace the FB Fan Friday: open an Ask Leo! Fan Friday (or any day) article to comments for an hour a week on askleo.com. You can still do it like you did with the Ask Leo Facebook Fan Friday session. People can ask in the comments and you can answer in the Comments via the Dashboard or directly on the page. You could announce it on the Ask Leo! social media pages. You can close the comments at the end of the session and the results would be a permanent archive of the Q&As.