Facebook as a Platform for Positive Messaging

When Cheryl Faith Wee of the Sunday Times interviewed me in February this year to celebrate Facebook’s 10th anniversary, I had to admit that my posts were erratic, though I had opened an account since 2008. Since then, I had rediscovered the Facebook as a platform for positive messaging. I am now a much more avid user of the social network and am quite enjoying it.

My renewed interest in active participation coincided with my discovery of the PhotoGrid Apps. By putting together a number of photos into a single frame with some variations, I found that I could make my Facebook posts a lot more visually interesting. I also found that my text becomes more interesting when I have something positive to say.

In the months since the interview, I have increased the number of Facebook friends though I am still rather selective. In February the highest number of likes was 49 and that has increased several fold to some 200 in some of my posts. I thought it is instructive to find out what made my friends like my posts.

One of the reasons is the positive messages my posts always carry. No matter how sad or tragic, I do have a positive message to convey, even in the worst of times. Recently, I lost a friend of 50 years in a tragic fall. We were to have dinner at his home on Thursday but he fell at his home on Monday. He passed away within a week of his fall without gaining consciousness. In my post, I mentioned that “Life is like a morning dew, stays ever so briefly and disappears with the morning sun. I will always remember his kindness to me.” I added that I was reminded afresh: “Whatever good I can do today, don’t wait till tomorrow”.

 I also found that anything I share in regard to family love and joy appears to have some appeal. My posts on our three generation at the National Day Parade, the art and writings of my granddaughters and the pleasure I had by just spending time with my teenage grandson one afternoon at my club were well received.

 

A recent post on wishing our nation “A Happy Birthday” was also much liked. Perhaps it is because I mentioned that I belong to the pioneer generation “who went through 3 stages of national identity in one lifetime. In primary school we sang God saves the Queen. In secondary school, Negara-ku, and in college Majulah Singapura. I am glad it is Majulah Singapura forever!”

I also used the network to inform my friends of my whereabouts, and the things I do, the events I participate in and such likes. These are also much liked, it appears.

It also appears that my friends do like them when I am candid and personal with my posting. On my birthday in June, I posted a poem and that garnered one of the highest number of likes. I would like to share that with you.

Memories are Made of These 

It was my first day in school,

That’s when I first learned to write;

In that class photo I was pretty cool,

Though it’s fuzzy black and white.

I was only six, maybe seven.

The bicycle was too heavy,

And the seat was meant for the tall;

I rode it anyway because I was crazy,

And am surprised I did not fall.

I was only six, maybe seven.

Living in a kampung, we had a well,

An attap house with cemented floor.

When I hear the school bell,

In a flash I spring through the door.

I was only six, maybe seven.

My memories are mostly fond,

Though I grew up without much;

I swam and fished in the muddy pond,

And boasted not about such and such.

I was only six, maybe seven.

I played hard and grew up fast,

Read law, practised and studied further,

Married my love and life flew past,

Today, I am father and grandfather,

I am only sixty and seven.

Well, if you would like to read more of my Facebook posts, you are welcome to be my Facebook friends.