Why Facebook Should Become A PDC

Watching the evolution of Facebook has been fascinating to me. When it first came out, people were obsessed with it as if it was the must-have toy of the holiday season – and for good reason. As a tool, it changed the way we connected and interacted with friends, family, and strangers. It will go down in history as an innovation that changed our communication skills. But fast forward to today, and the toy is losing its appeal. Users have grown tired of it. There are studies to show that it has created depression in people who constantly login and compare their lives to those of their friends on Facebook. I've spoken to more than a few people who have told me they are considering deleting their account all together. Why? Now that the fun has worn off, they don't see the value in it. And that's where I see a HUGE opportunity…

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From “Fun" To “Functional"

I believe Facebook should migrate the platform into a Professional Development Center, a.k.a. a PDC. They have all the elements, they just need to rearrange the visual blocks, add a few extra features, and do some of that crazy all-night programming they are known for. Instead of just connecting with people and posting random quotes, pictures, videos and comments as a way to put ourselves out there to our friends, we could be using Facebook to better define the areas of our lives we want to enhance and then solicit support, ideas, and resources from those we know and trust.

The Ultimate Life Coach = Facebook

In my work as a career coach at CareerHMO, we have clients complete a Professional Strengths Assessment. It helps us get a better comprehension of what they want to accomplish not just as a professional, but as a person. One of the exercises includes understand the interconnectivity of the eight key areas of life. They are as follows:

• Finances
• Career
• Physical Self
• Mental Self
• Friends & Family
• Significant Other/Romance
• Hobbies & Recreation
• Physical Surroundings/Environment

Clients define their view of success for each of these areas and then we discuss how one impacts the other. The point of the exercise is to not only help them see how important it is to have clear goals they can work towards in each of these areas, but how some goals may be counter-productive, and therefore, negatively impact other areas. This is a very deep process of understanding. Many of us spend our entire lives not fully understanding how these areas affect one another. And therefore, we can struggle to create the satisfying life we want and deserve. I believe that Facebook could help with that. They could revamp the platform to allow us to visually define what we want to achieve, and then let us connect with the people and organizations in our lives we feel could assist us in those areas. A sort of virtual Life Coach created through the collective knowledge and insight of our Facebook friends.

Another Reason Facebook Should Become A PDC = Make Our Lives Easier!

The other reason turning Facebook into a PDC would be valuable is that it would pull us from our fragmented social media interaction. Right now, I use Pinterest to get ideas on recipes, DIY home projects, and fashion. I use YouTube for music and instructional videos. I use LinkedIn for professional networking. I use Twitter for quick connecting and idea marketing. I use Google to search for resources. It's a disjointed process and makes working towards creating a satisfying life time-consuming. If Facebook could create the PDC, I'd have a singular place to get what I need for all the key areas of my life… and so would you! What do you think? Would you use Facebook as a PDC? Photo Credit: Shutterstock