Thanks Lucy for putting together another informative Crafty Business last night. Nice to meet some new people too.

One thing I am having fun playing around with on Facebook is the 'page' application. It has been confusing thinking about how I want to be on Facebook - the mix of business and personal. Now I have my user profile (Briar Cook) and my separate 'page' for the business (rethreads). it fits with the idea of the business being a separate entity - one that can grow of it's own accord.

Plus it is so easy to wile away an hour or two tinkering online, especially in winter. A good time of year to set all this stuff up, I think, before the better weather pulls me outside.

I have to admit, the Facebook page thing has taken me a while to get my head around (much like Twitter!) but I think it's definitely worthwhile.

The main thing I'm finding tricky is posting content that's interesting and engaging, rather than outright marketing. Before I post anything to Felt's Facebook page, it has to pass the "would I want to see this on my Facebook feed?" test.

I have a FB Fan page for my Art Dolls and Textiles. I agree this is a good time to set up something like that - getting well established before Christmas is important.

I assume that everyone who sets up their Fan Page and then gets 101 Fans knows they can shorten the URL to their page to a name of their choice. For example mine was WhakrArtDollsdjfndnvnjad38t9ranjfe and went on forever!! So, when I got my fans I was able to choose WhskrDesign instead which is much more user friendly.

The other thing I like is you can send a message to ALL of your fans at once, which is useful for when I publish articles at Handmade News (where I edit the Inspiration Department) http://www.handmadenews.org/department/index.php?did=18. Be careful not to overuse this facility though - too many messages can really annoy people.

Marjorie