Using Facebook as a dancer

One of the most famous social media Web 2.0 sites is Facebook. 500 million people log in to the site everyday and it is estimated that Facebook users spend a combined time of 10.5 billion minuets a day which equals the same as 20,000 years!

I have had a Facebook profile for a number of years and don't actually check it as regularly as I used to anymore. I would however, consider it the most professional of my social media profiles and I am very considerate about what I am posting and who is going to see it.

Facebook has allowed me to connect and stay in contact with a large amount of people and has also helped me in a number of ways as a dancer. I am friends with people I went to school with, danced and trained with, teachers and directors I have worked with, parents of students I teach and also 'normal' friends and family who are not directly linked to the dance world. By being connected to these people it allows me to keep up with what they are up to via their posts and also hear about dance events and opportunities they are involved in. I am able to 'like' and encourage their achievements and developments despite not being in personal contact with my friend.

On my profile I post main events that occur in my life e.g. my graduation from Tring, my move to America and performances I am in. I also share dance photos along with these posts. This allows people interested in what I am doing to see my progress as a dancer. Also, it helps to promote myself to industry professionals I am associated with.

I also use Facebook to read and share dance posts; videos, inspirations, articles of particular interest. I follow lots of dance pages, professional dancers and companies pages and I am also friends with professional dancers (a little fan girly a know haha.) This allows me to see their posts and what they are sharing which helps me to keep up to date with news in the dance world and events and opportunities I might be able to get involved in. I am also following audition pages to help keep in the loop about upcoming auditions in different countries. Admittedly I do not check these pages as much as I should but having rediscovered them whilst writing this post I am going to start checking them more regularly again!

Facebook groups have also been a useful tool for me as a dancer. 'One Million Ballet Dancers' is a public group I am part of where people post dance related articles and information about auditions and workshops. Also, in my final year at Tring we formed a graduate company called 'Encore' which toured around England performing. We had a company facebook group which included all the company members. We used this page to post schedules, rehearsal details, costume calls, key dates and announcements and also video footage of choreography and reherasals. People were able to post questions and make arrangements easily which was much more reliable than hoping everyone checked a noticeboard at school!

Being able to create events on facebook has revolutionised marketing and promotoing! I have been invited to so many performances, dance events and workshops via facebook (even weddings!!) It is a fantastic way for people to spread the word about events and increase awareness about them, particularly new and upcoming performances and companies.

So these are a few ways Facebook has helped me as a dancer, particularly for communication purposes. Would love to hear ways others have used the site professionally? Or dance pages and groups you have found useful?