Good News - part 2

I started talking about how people can share good news online a couple days ago. The thing about trying to share good news online is that you can often be drowned out by the noise. Really good news connects with us because it comes from someone we like and trust. The personal connection makes the news extra good because we want a friend to be happy. The relationship we have makes it important news.

If your friend calls you and invites you to your regular hang-out spot with some good news, you don't wait. You get there to share the joy with them. It's important because it happens in the context of a relationship.

How can you bring the relational context to Facebook and other online media? In some ways you can't. You just can't duplicate the connection of people sitting face to face when you are separated by computer screens. But you can make your messages more relational with some work.

If you want to share something good that's going on with you, share it in personal terms. Don't link to a news story or a blog post. Tell your friends what's good about it to you, from your perspective. If you need to post a link, add the link in a comment. That way the status will still format like a status update and not like a link sharing update. That looks more personal and gives you the chance to connect with more people. Note: any time you post a link on Facebook, specify in some way that you are posting the link using non-spammy words.

Share your news with just a few people through a personal message. Don't broadcast it out across all of Facebook, send a message to just the friend(s) who need to hear it. The paradox of the internet is that the more people you can reach the less impact you have on each one of them. If you narrow the focus of your news to just one person though, you ratchet up the power of the message.

How else can you share on Facebook in a personal, engaging way?