Flip Flops Instead of Wool Socks

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Without a doubt, I’m a Midwestern gal through and through. So when it comes to hearing complaints about the weather, my usual reaction is-- “Whatever…you live in Chicago! Just wait, it’ll change in five minutes.” 

But like the majority of hearty Chicagoans, when it comes to this brutal winter, I’m definitely “over it!” The freezing cold and snow has sapped the inspiration and motivation right out me, along with every ounce of hydration in my skin, nails and frizzy hair.

Believe me, my family and I have embraced this arctic season for the last 11 weeks. In fact just today I decided to try to walk the kids/dog to school. But I wiped out on black ice twice and even Louie was repulsed by the slush, so I had to cut that exercise short.

In an attempt to stifle my winter whining, I’ve decided to daydream. There’s no harm in that, right? So here goes. I’m dreaming about…

• Greeting friends in-person (preferably outdoors) instead of on Facebook
• Throwing food on the grill instead of into the crockpot
• Wearing flip flops instead of wool socks (I’ve truly become addicted to them and panic when I don’t have a clean pair available)
• Craving salad instead of mashed potatoes
• Jumping on my bike instead of dragging myself onto the elliptical
• Wondering if it’s warm enough to swim instead of wondering if it’s too cold to skate
• Sleeping with the windows open instead of piling on the extra blankets
• Wearing my straw hat (which my kids hate by the way) instead of my stocking cap
• Tossing wet bathing suits and towels in the dryer instead of soggy, smelly snow pants, hats and gloves
• Eating pistachios on the driveway (an old family tradition) instead of shoveling it

Of course it does no good to complain about the weather. And it’s going to change--really it will! But I guess just not in the next five minutes. Hopefully in the next five or six weeks? 

Until then, I’ll keep dreaming about warm weather-- and if you have a few daydreams you want share-- please do!

A Tip for Facebook Creepers

If you’re a Facebook “creeper” (and I know many of you are out there!) be aware that you’re News Feed probably isn’t as interesting as it could be these days. (I remember laughing about this term a few years ago when I heard it for the first time from my nieces -- mothers and aunts are notorious creepers!) 

If you’re a business owner, know that your content may be getting fewer views than it should and could!

The biggest social media network on the planet is continuously changing its algorithms and over the last few months these modifications have definitely prevented some posts from appearing on users’ pages if the user hasn’t liked or commented on what that poster has put up recently. How recently, I’m not exactly sure.

When you look it up on the Facebook’s official site they say “The News Feed algorithm uses several factors to determine top stories, including the number of comments, who posted the story, and what type of post it is (ex: photo, video, status update, etc.).”

I manage a few different Facebook pages for clients and local organizations and encountered this issue myself recently when I realized that the posts I was placing on behalf of my kids’ sports organization, weren’t showing up on my own News Feed!
I couldn’t figure out the problem until I realized I almost never “liked” the posts or commented on them. (I felt like doing so would be like giving myself a virtual high-five or pat on the back). 

Once I went through and “liked” old posts, I’ve noticed that I’m back in the loop and the Club’s posts are appearing on my personal News Feed again.

Obviously if you’re posting for your business, there’s no reason to be modest! Be sure you’re liking your own posts and you’ve requested that your employees do so as well (commenting would be even better!). Every time they do so it helps generate more visibility for your organization.

If you feel you're missing stories you'd like to see or seeing stories in your News Feed that you don't want to see, something else try besides interacting, is to go to News Feed controls and check out your settings.

To adjust the updates you see from your friends in News Feed:
1.      Go to a friend’s Timeline.
2.      In the top right, click Friends.
3.      If you want to see that friend’s stories in News Feed, make sure Show in News Feed is checked. Uncheck it if you don’t want to see their stories.

To choose what types of stories you want to see from that friend, click Settings. From there, you can:

•  Choose to see All Updates, Most Updates or Only Important stories from that friend.
•  Check stories that you want to see, like Life Events, Status Updates or Photos. Uncheck any story that you don’t want to see in News Feed.

If you’re a Facebook “creeper” and you “like it” that way, I get it. But know your creeping could be much more fulfilling if you hit that little “like” button more often.