Pay attention to the privacy settings on your Facebook posts. This is not a "be safe, don't spread your info too wide" lesson (you can find those lessons out there, but they won't be from me). This is a lesson in using the Internet for maximum effectiveness.
For me, as I imagine is true for most, most of my personal posts are set to be shared with "Friends" (see pic). But here's the thing--if you post something you WANT to be shared beyond your friends, you need to change it to "Public." Otherwise it can never go past your little circle.
For example, you post a stray animal in need of a home, a link to a fundraiser, a link to your new blog (assuming you want maximum readership) ... change it to "Public." This means that while it will still only go to the news feeds of select friends decided by Facebook's crazy algorithms, it has the potential to be shared beyond your friend circle. It will be on your public profile and if a friend shares it, it will go to all of THEIR friends as opposed to just all of your MUTUAL friends.
Oh, and perhaps more importantly (because it's more common), if your friends comment, their friends may see that they commented. If your post is restricted to your friends, that won't ever happen.
I'm trying to change the situation when a friend says, "Please share!" and I want to help them ... but they have it set to just their friends. So I tell them, please change privacy, and then they do, and then all is right with the world. This is my attempt at a broader message and some hopefully helpful advice
Did I get anything wrong, fellow social media gurus? I was going to say something about making sure to change it back with the next post, but I think Facebook changed that a little so I don't want to comment without more research. But generally, check! Don't want to make something public on accident.
