Facebook Friends
April 2013
My relationship with Facebook and its residents is good. As a matter of fact, I met two of my three staff members through it.
But be careful !! It can also be an unpleasant place and you have to know how to use it wisely, otherwise you will find out very quickly that as much as it can be good, it can be also bad and ugly ......
Updated June-2017
It has often been argued that the Internet alienates and isolates us as we sit in front of a screen instead of being among people.
On the other hand, thanks to the Internet in general and Facebook in particular, I keep in touch with family and friends. Even more wonderful is the way Facebook brought me together with friends I had not seen for many years, some of them since elementary school. This is exactly the essence of social networking.
I joined Facebook in 2007 which makes me an "old" user. At the beginning I was "bombarded" with friendship requests from complete strangers. Being a beginner I confirmed them. This was followed by advertisements, and also some ugly posts and disgusting images on my page. I found myself on all sorts of strange groups that I had nothing to do with and its members. I was tagged on pictures I had nothing to do with, received hundreds of invitations to silly games and so on. On top of that anything on Facebook was sending notification to my e-mail box. Facebook quickly became an unbearable nightmare.
I learned to configure my Facebook account. Chose the topics I would like to receive notifications for, managed to classify messages from groups and deal with the privacy issue. All my posts are public and everyone can see everything I upload and comment. And so Facebook became mostly a nice place.
Friendship is too important to be confused with sales promotion, marketing or advertisement, and Facebook actually offers a business and landing pages designated for that matter. This is a great solution for people who do not have a website.
To ensure that people who call themselves my friends will actually be that, I have a simple way for screening friendship requests from strangers. To start a dialogue, I sent each stranger the same reply:
Hello, Thank you for the friendship request. I glanced at your page and don't remember if we met. Would you like to tell me something about yourself, so that this friendship will have meaning?
Some ignored it, and some gave an unpleasant reply, but mostly I received wonderful responses following which I was glad to confirm the friendship. It seems that most people feel good when someone is really interested in them. We end up having a nice chat about our lives, work and so on, and that is definitely a basis for the beginning of a friendship.
Thanks to Facebook, I gained friends, colleagues, apprentices, tenants, students, teachers and more. With most of my Facebook friends I met more than once so that even if the relationship began virtually, it has become a real one with time. In fact, I met two of my Y-TEAM members: Eden Elkobi and Ronni Kinaani on Facebook.
Eden Elkobi
Eden contacted me on Facebook in 2011. He asked for my help to enter an international competition. After a brief acquaintance it was clear to me that he is very good at what he does despite his young age.
In January 2012 we landed in Rimini, Italy to participate in the Saranno Famosi competition held at the 2012 Sigep Exhibition, whis is one of the most important professional food exhibitions in Europe.
Eden won 1st place at the competition , and I was sooo proud of him. Click here so view photos from the exhibition and competition.
Following his winning, Italian chef Pino Lavara asked Eden to join his team as Pastry Chef of the two-Michelin-starred Rossellinis restaurant in Palazzo Avino (formerly Palazzo Sasso). In 2012 it was the number one boutique hotel in Italy and number 5 in the world. I have no doubt that the experience Eden gained there contributed greatly to his amazing professional development.
In early 2013 we teamed up to represent Israel at a Mediterranean food festival in Sicily, and here Rooni came into the picture.
This turned out to be more than just friendship, it feels more like family.
photo by Sigalit Saadon
Ronni Canaani
I met Ronni on Facebook in the summer of 2012. Ronny told me a bit about his professional training. He works in the food & Beverage industry, and recently studied pastry as well. We chatted about his plans for the future. I liked the way he expresses himself and the topics he chose to write about on Facebook.
When I needed a cook to join my Y-Team for a food festival in Sicily I thought of him.. I already had two confectioners (Eden and I) and Danny. Ronni worked and learned from the best in the field in Israel and although we have not yet met, I took my chance with him. I sent him a text message asking him to join my team for a trip to Sicily. Half an hour later I received a positive reply.
The team - Eden, Danny and I - met with him and we all "clicked" right away.
My gut feeling was correct this time too. On our first training day I discovered an excellent professional, with a work ethic, amazing functioning ability and a hilarious sense of humor.
The trip to Sicily was amazing (all details are here).
I did not part with Ronni either, and we got to know each other's families as well.
photo by Sigalit Saadon
Despite all the Facebook goodies.....watch it!
I receied weird requests from senior commanders in the American army, for example. A simple check on the Marine Core site revealed that it was an extension of the Nigerian scam. There were also similar requests from foreigners who have no reason in the world to contact me and even requests from working girls who are apparently also affiliated with the Nigerian scam. Network exposure can be dangerous, so it's important to check who you approve. A Facebook accounts created two days ago, with unrecognized names no photos, is immediately deleted. Just be careful.
Online games
That too must be taken care of. Especially those who require access to the friends list and other personal information as a condition for entering the game. Just do not approve. You will do just fine these games.
Shaming
One of the ugliest phenomena on Facebook and other online communities as well, is the shaming, where a person or business are being humiliated publicly. I try very hard not to do that. Even if the facts are correct (and usually they are not) it is out of place. When you later regret and apologize and ask forgiveness, this does not correct the injustice that has already been done.
Just remember, when you shoot a poisoned arrow you may pull out the arrow, but you can't pull out the poison.
Like ... or not like
I value my personal and professional opinion. Therefore I refrain from dispensing empty compliments or likes where it is not due. On the other hand, when I do compliment someone or something, I mean it from the bottom of my heart!