Analyzing Smart Brains' Facebook Page

“Although hardship can make us more mature, it can also be a clear sign that we are devoting our energy to things which are hindering rather than helping our spiritual growth” (www.astro.com.)

It seems that my horoscope today hit the nail right on the head with this assignment for the New Media class. We are to find an author’s Facebook page and analyze it for best practices. This has not been an easy task since I need to stay with my subject matter. Facebook is not an easy application to learn. And, I am seeing that there are plenty of authors out there who are as stumped about this as the rest of us are.

As mentioned in the last blog, I was seeking valuable information from scientists in the brain training field to help unlock the doors to writer’s block. What I am finding on Facebook is there seems to be a trend for people, who don’t have time/don’t want to bother, to just copy the information from Wikipedia and post it. These sites seem to garner a good number of hits, but there is little interaction between the authors and their fans and I think they are missing a great opportunity for increasing their fan base. In 2011, New York Times blogger Somini Sengupta wrote “Half of America is using Social Networks.” I’m guessing that a good deal of those people are on Facebook. That is a huge number of people to ignore and abandon.

Let’s just, for a minute, jump into the topic of brain training to spark those sleeping neurons in the writing part of the brain. Scientists have learned that the brain is plastic—it can heal itself to some extent when various parts are not working properly. Most of us, who write, have experienced this when we just can’t think of that next sentence or, sometimes, with a whole story/book/article. Deadlines loom, we panic, and the process shuts down completely until we walk away and go for a drive, do some yard work, or just relax and recoup—in other words, distance ourselves from the situation to calm the emotional responses that hamper our creativity. When we come back we, once again, have inspiration and insight to write.

It was about a year and a half ago, that in my search for a better brain I ran into Posit Science. After having three major head injuries in my lifetime I was eager to find “anything” to help my thinking process and execution of tasks to enable me to succeed at college and in my writing life. I bought the training program and had a good deal of success with it. (At some point in the future this will be one of the topics I’ll write about in my investigation of writer’s block.) This is how I became familiar with Alvaro Fernandez, cofounder of Posit Science. He, most graciously, gave me his Facebook URL so I could complete the assignment for the New Media class. I have not read his book The Sharp Brains Guide to Brain Fitness, co-authored with Elkhonon Goldberg, but I am familiar with his writing from the newsletter articles I receive.

There seems to be a bit of humorous irony here, and I would like to refer back to the quote at top of the page—because, the URL won’t come up. Ahh . . . another lesson to learn in my writing life: Don’t wait until the deadline to do the assignment! Since Mr. Fernandez’s site is not available I will refer to the Posit Science Sharp Brains’ Facebook page where some of his articles are posted.
The best practices criteria for Facebook are--be social, be natural, be consistent, be diverse. Be social—there are 4,702 people signed up on this page. Most of the posts have more people who “Like” the posts or “Share” the posts than they do in commenting on them. It does seem that Sharp Brains will respond to comments when needed, and I believe there would be more interaction from the company if more people commented. Be natural—this one is a little harder to approach as the site is a business site. However, I feel that in all the newsletters and in all their Web and Facebook presence the staff and co-founders have always appeared genuine and down to earth. They show a true appreciation in dealing with the public. Be consistent—this site is consistent and regular posts are being made. Be diverse—this doesn’t totally apply to this site. Considering the nature of the site, it would be hard for them to be interacting with other people outside the site to diversify. There is a section called Notes at the top of the page; and, there, they do list information from other sites. In my personal opinion, a site is going to succeed, not by being diverse, but by having a strong, solid quality of content. And, in that respect this site does win. Even though they are in the business to make money from their brain training software and their online program, there is a continued sense of dedication to the science of the brain and how to improve on what we have to begin with. They aren’t just hawkers claiming to have the next miracle cure . . . they are serious about all aspects of brain science and that is why I like this particular company. I am addicted to learning new information and they certainly can satisfy that need.

Overall, I feel that the Sharp Brains' Facebook site does meet the criteria for best Facebook practices on the Internet. And, again I would like to thank Mr. Fernandez for his consideration and I’m sorry that the Internet wasn’t working properly.

In the next blog, I will continue with the exploration of the science-end of writer’s block.


Works Cited:

Sengupta, Somini. " ." Aug. 26th 2011.Web. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/half-of-america-is-using-social-networks/>.

"Web-based, Mobile and Biometrics-based Technology to Assess, Monitor and Enhance Cognition and Brain Functioning." 2013.Web. <https://www.facebook.com/pages/SharpBrainscom/129961036462>.