If you’re like me, you  open Facebook everyday and click on “home” to catch up on your friend’s updates. It’s such a easy and quick way to hear a tiny tidbit of what your friends are up to.

Occasionally someone has an intriguing blog post or lovely photo. It’s networking at its best online. I Love the internet and the instant way we can all stay in touch these days.

Networking is all about building relationships, so if you are using Facebook primarily for your business it’s important to clearly focus on what you want to accomplish with your updates.

There’s an art to putting up good Facebook updates. Sometimes it’s hard to be creative, cool and inspiring everyday so updates can also be mundane and boring. I’m not an expert at this and I know my updates fall flat sometimes,  but I have  noticed a few things that work or don’t work for me.  Maybe you can add a few more.

1. People want to hear a small snippet from many people, not many updates from one person. Too many updates right in a row can make readers feel bombarded.  I notice that when there are five in a row from someone who is promoting themselves, it feels too much. If this happens a couple days in a row, I can  click “hide” and poof, their updates are gone from my home page.

To avoid this being done to you, be mindful of how many you post. Of course this is subjective and what is too many for one person is fine for someone else but I have a feeling that there is a “too much” level that most people would agree on.

2. Negative updates are a downer. In general people don’t want to read about how f__cked off you are. I’m sure there are exceptions but in general people like reading positive and uplifting things. This doesn’t mean you can’t post a news item that’s sad or challenging. It’s all in the way you do it. For instance, one of my friends posts headline stories for the NY Times everyday. Sometimes not good news but it is very informative.

3. Adding photo links are great eye candy and will draw people to look at your post, especially if it’s a beautiful photo or image.It also breaks up the monotony of words.

4. Promote someone else who is doing something you love. Not only are you helping someone else but it’s using networking the way it’s meant to be.

5. Imagine you are reading your update. Is this something you’d want to read? Would it grab your attention or make you feel good?

If you use Facebook for your business primarily it’s important to look at it as a marketing tool. When you do that you realize it’s not about selling or promoting. It’s all about building relationships. If you do have a business make sure you put up a Fan page.

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