You know that person who won’t get himself, herself, or their business or organization on Facebook because people play farming and mafia and fish tank and poker games on there?
Here’s what I’d like to know:
Mailbox Hit and Run, photo by Lars Plougmann
Did that same person remove their mailbox from their business office, or even at home, because they received unwanted mail?
Did that same person rip the land-line telephone out of the wall because a relative kept calling them at work?
Did that same person delete their email account when they received forwarded nonsense disproven by Snopes?
Did that same person cancel their cell phone contract because of the calls they got from people trying to dial the previous owner of the phone number?
Of course not! 
And yet professionals of every stripe still use similar rationales to avoid establishing a professional presence on Facebook, the world’s most highly trafficked website – or second most, depending on the week.
Professionals want to know that their time – ultimately, the most valuable and precious commodity they have – will not be wasted on Facebook. That’s a completely valid concern, and it’s why we take people’s Facebook hesitations seriously.
But to dismiss Facebook because millions of people (professionals among them!) occasionally use it for frivolous purposes is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
So, if you’re one of those folks pooh-poohing Facebook…what would you need to see to change your mind about it?
