When is too early to FB?

I have a modern dilemma- one of my son's little buddies wants to "friend" me on FB. I'm thinking...no......Nooooo...NOOOO! (or at least not until I get my privacy settings really fine tuned.)

Anyhow, I'm thinking 9 is awfully young to have a FB account- (thankfully my 9 year old has no interest in Social Media, yet...but it's coming!) What do you think? is there a "magic age" when social media use is appropriate? 

I almost always err to the side of keeping my child innocent as long as possible, limiting computer use is at the top of my list.

Nooooo, I'm not saying that using computers is bad (that would be pretty hypocritical of me, FB group girl) I'm simply trying to get an idea of how my son's generation is digesting modern technology.

Facebook Flubs it again

Dear Facebook users-

Click the image to go to the "original" Metalsmiths Unite group

re: the archiving of your already established group....(I just went through this with my group of over 1200 members, Metalsmiths Unite)

if you are an administrator of a "group to be archived"
I just wanted to let you know how the whole thing worked out for us- because you may save yourself a lot of hassle in the long run.
last week:

• we were informed that our page was to be archived

• and told that if we didn't update that we would lose all of our members and most of our recent posts.

• then we weren't given an "update" button for our group- only a link to making a new page.

Not having a date of when they would archive the page led me to believe it could happen at any time- and that I would lose the membership and information that our group had accumulated over the past 3 years....

So......I made a new group- invited my friends, notified all the members of the old group....and started re-establishing the community.....

Click on this image to go to the "new" Metalsmiths Unite 2.0 group

a week went by....and guess what? Facebook then added an "upgrade" button to the original group- making all of the re-organization absolutely a waste of time, and essentially dividing my "metalsmiths Unite" group.  (Which is now cut in two- as "Metalsmiths Unite" and Metalsmiths Unite 2.0)

Needless to say I am really irked by the way Facebook fumbled this transition- if they had given a schedule to the upcoming archiving I wouldn't have been afraid of losing my group, and if they had put an upgrade button on the group in the first place I wouldn't now be sitting on a divided group.
And I know for a fact that there are many many more groups out there that are going through the same thing-
it's as if Facebook had NO CLUE as to how to transition to a new format- and no clue as to haw to inform their users how to make the transition.

They yelled "Fire" into a crowded theater....waited as  people panicked, blew out the candle then opened the exit doors

Nice job, Facebook.

my thoughts on senseless acts of violence

I'm home again in Tucson- just getting our feet under us, we hear of our friend and congresswoman being shot by a confused and twisted youth.

I mostly blame TV- and it's power to influence minds in a hypnotic manner. What we have now (on Fox) amount to hatred pep talks- speeches and propaganda that twist facts and incite hatred and violence.
There is an amount of responsibility on cable news media that has been whittled away, using the first amendment not as a support of freedom, but a weapon of freedom.
 It is a sticks and stones mentality that needs to be re-thought. Names DO hurt people- we as a country (and the world) need to create a more respectful dialogue within our disagreements, otherwise senseless acts of violence will continue, with ugly words and ideas being the root cause.
As my son's Kung Fu teacher says at the end of every class- "Use words to uplift and create, not to destruct and put down"
-peace-M

Social Media and the arts

 Interviews and podcasts....
Whaley studios is a jewelry and metalsmithing school in San Diego Ca. For a little over a year they have been broadcasting interviews and discussions with metalsmiths, jewelers and leaders in the world of crafts and metalsmithing services.

Yesterday I did my 3rd interview- with Greg Masters, the media guru of Whaley Studios. The subject was social media- and how important it is as a tool for metalsmiths and craftspeople. The sound quality of the podcast is iffy at first, but it improves as the discussion goes along, at around 20 minutes in...
you can download and listen to the archived podcast at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/whaleystudios/2010/09/09/metalsmith-benchtalk-with-maureen-bz-brusa-zappellini

You can also search the podcast archive for interviews with metalsmithing notables such as
Michael David Sturlin, Charles Lewton Brain, Harriete Estel Berman, Wendy Rosen (of the Rosen group's Niche magazine and shows), Andy Cooperman, S.N.A.G.'s Executive Director Dana Singer...
etc etc...
(I like to upload these podcasts to my ipod and listen to them while I work at my bench)
enjoy the show!