Stranger Danger and Facebook

Why I don't add strangers on Facebook.

As a disclaimer: I am not the average 250 close friend Facebook user. I love people and diverse groups of people. I love followers and even follow people with interesting posts or art. So feel free to follow or message me on my personal page and like my art page.

But to the pointfugas of this post...

I have several reasons why I dont add people I don't know on Facebook.

First, it's my page so others don't get to choose who I do and don't add. I don't like it when people try to get me to do things I don't want to do. It makes me uncomfortable when people ask over and over. Once is enough...if I say let's just chat, then let's just chat.

Second, I really prefer to use Facebook for staying in touch with friends who have moved or I have moved away from. I also love  staying in touch with people who I have met during my travels.

Now I also have Facebook friends from high school (or before) that I don't talk to often. They may Facebook stalk me every now and then or like a post here and there, but I don't need random people that I have completely forgotten exist stalking my page in a few years.  That's not what my Facebook is about.

Third, it can be a safety thing. People are not always who they say they are...I have a friend (family) who is in prison and uses facebook. He added my friends little sister. She accepted because she saw I was friends with him. A few months later I sent her his mug shot saying that he was in prison for rape. And he lived only a few hours from her (his profile info was 90% fake). She immediately deleted him. Granted this is an extreme, but it still happens. No matter how much I trust someone they still know crazies and may even be friends with one. I don't like the idea of strangers friends adding me or seeing my info. I don't like that there is a good chance your friends even good people will begin to add me and then begin to say things like "you added such and such, so you need to add me."

Ok, yes, I do have friends that I have never met. Most are friends of friends or artists. Very few are language buddies. And none asked to be friends before I knew anything about them.

But lets go back to my first reason. These are all people who have respected me and my boundaries. We have chatted for some time (often 6 or more months) and I consider them friends, which takes me to the second point. I considered them friends before adding them. I can tell you their name, where they are from, what they like to do and more.

these are just a few of my reasons.

So my answer is still "no, I will not accept you random friend request" but we can chat on here facebook. And please do not ask again.

Before I get accused of being mean, again, I do love followers and even follow people with interesting posts or art just because. I also like to meet new artists and interesting people. If you are an artist and would like to collaborate or are someone who wants to know more about my art, dont hesitate to message me and explain who you are. As I woukd have the respect to do if I wete messaging you.

So feel free to follow or message me on my personal page and like my art page.

Why I Like Art (and My Job)

Hi my name is Felicia Follum. I am a Cooper Center staff, artist, social media junkie, and am currently teaching the blogging class (this first sentence was written by the class).

When Maggie (a student in my Blogging and Social Media class at the Cooper Center) asked me to write about why I like art, I knew the topic would be a perfect fit for a guest post on the students’ blogs (since their blogs are currently set to private, I thought I would share this guest post on my own blog as well).

Why I like art… As most artists would say, I have always been an artist.

In high school I wanted to be an art teacher because I loved watching my friends and peers who didn’t enjoy school light up and really thrive in the art room. I have always liked helping people and saw art as the perfect way to relate to my friends and others when they needed a little extra encouragement.

Since attending the University of Wyoming as an art and conceptual graphic design student, I have become passionate about using art and creativity as a tool for social justice, activism, and communication. Art can make a political statement much more clearly and directly without being a “slap in the face” than a good portion of the political dialog around us.  People tend to THINK about beautiful art rather than becoming defensive and belligerent. When we can create a work that consists of both concept and aesthetic beauty we have created a powerful tool and made a difference in the lives of those who have engaged with the wok.

I suppose my simple answer to the complex question “why do you like art” can be summed up in one sentence. I like art because it is a wonderful tool to help make the world a better and more beautiful place.

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to use art, creativity, and innovation to work with such beautiful and wonderful people on a regular basis. The Cooper Center (click to see photos the Hip-Hop class I teach) is a perfect example of why I like art. We are using the arts to better the lives of people with disabilities (and all who come in contact with their work) every day.

PS I would like to thank Maggie, Nik, Eleanor, and Molly for inspiring this blog post.

Twitter and Activism

If you like my art or are interested in social justice and/or activism here are some twitter profiles for you to enjoy...Have a wonderful Twitter time this Tuesday!

Of course you should follow me
@FeliciaFollumArt

Poverty Social Justice Activism
@InjusticeFacts
@ActivismTips
@DailyActivist 
@SickBillionaire


Anti Trafficking
@YCHAT 
@ChangeSlavery
@BridgesofHopepc


Womanism and Black Beauty
@EmpowerSisters
@womanistmusings 

Creative Activits
@The_Activists
@Artists4Freedom
@Music4Freedom

In addition to creating art I love love love social media.  If you would like a lesson on how to use a variety of social media sites (including Twitter, Squidoo, Blogger, Pinterest, You Tube, FaceBook, LinkedIn and more) to market your artwork or small business, let me know.  I am also interested in creating small websites that will be easy for you to update and maintain (I did study Graphic Design in school, ya know?).

Works of Wyoming Internship

Fellow artists, family and friends. I would like to introduce you to Works of Wyoming. I am currently the AmeriCorps intern working primarily on social media marketing as well as working in the gallery space and gift shop. (Last year I worked as the Graphic Design Intern for WOW and the WWBC. You can see my blog for that here.)

As the social media marketing person (I would love to say coordinator, though I do not officially have a title) I have been posting some marketing tips on the WOW blog. My current goal is to post every week on either Tuesday or Thursday and sometimes both. In addition to weekly social media marketing tips, there are basic professional development tips for artists, some fun projects and of course announcements for our workshops and shows.

It would make my day if you would check out the blog and share it with your friends, especially artists and small business owners who could benefit from our services.  In addition to sharing the blog with people, I would also love to have more examples to post.  If you would like to have your social media site, plans, or strategies in the blog, please comment below or contact me on the WOW Facebook page.  If you would like to contact me through WOW feel free.  Their phone number is 307.742.6574 and the email address is wow@uwyo.edu.

If you are not from Wyoming and would like help with your social media comment below for more info.  If you are from WY not a part of WOW you should look into becoming a member.

Contact

WOW
WOW Blog
WOW Facebook
307.742.6574

Personal
Art Facebook Page (I don't add people I don't know in real life to my personal page, so be sure to go to FeliciaFollumDesign not FeliciaFollum. Thanks!)

Photography Blog

I just redesigned my photography blog.  The reason for having it is so that I can reference photograph.  It is a bit like a photo archive.  The new design allows me to scroll through and see all of the work at one time.  I can then click on the image I want to see, or change it back to a typical blog view.  I am quite please.  Check it out.

Images from Felicia Follum Photography Blog...Haiti and Beautiful Haitian People

Do you have a favorite photograph?  Which one?  Why?

Tweet

Pinterest

For those of you who have not seen or heard of Pinterest.com feel free to check out some of my boards.  Once you are invited to join, you can begin pinning to your boards.  It is similar to a coark board that you would pin notes to.  

To pin an image, hit the "pin it" button that you have installed in your favorites bar.  The image, with a link to the page, are stored on your pin board.  You can have as many boards as you would like to help organize your pins.

Check out "My Art and Design" board

In addition to my personal artwork, 

I use boards for meal and party ideas as well as creative inspiration.