Today I wanted to talk a little bit about Facebook and recent changes on it.

As many of you know, Facebook has been changing a lot of different things lately, without letting everyone know about it before hand. Some of us do not really care about them, some of us really hate it, some of us actually like it. There are also more changes to come:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/09/22/1834590/even-more-facebook-changes-expected.html

On our Facebook page we asked you to share with us your thoughts regarding the changes. We  got a huge response! Take a look:

http://www.facebook.com/learn.polish

These comment are in Polish language, so I chose few and translated them for you. I’m sure most of know the translation, but not everyone, especially because the language used in most of them is not really the language they teach you when you take Polish lessons…I hope authors of those comments will not mind it. I chose few different ones to show versatility in our Face-bookers feelings.

“Jeżeli komuś się nie podoba nic was tu nie trzyma, to jest darmowy serwis. Zawsze można konto wykasować zamiast marudzić! Koniec i kropka! ” – If one does not like it, nothing holds you here. This site is free and you can always close your account instead of complaining! End and the dot!

“Nie lubię:(“ – I do not like it

“Pojebane. . .” – f***ed

“Gówno” – sh**t

“Kurwa!!” – f**k

“A ja będę mało polska i marudzić nie będę :> Parę zmian jest pozytywnych, parę nie, ale ogółem nie jest aż tak źle.” I will be “little Polish” and will not complain:> Few changes are positive, few not, but overall is not that bad.

“Zmiany zawsze powodują niezadowolenie bo trzeba się przyzwyczajać do nich!!!” Changes always cause dissatisfaction, because  we have to get used to them!!!

“Mam w dupie…”I have it deep in my a*s”

Well, I tried to translate it as good as I could.

Personally these changes did not touch me too much. I use Facebook quite often, but I’m not on it all the time. I do not think that using it often or not using it much is good or bad. I really think that it is a personal choice what information and with who you want to share different things. You choose the way you live and everyone has a right to their own opinion. It is the same with changes on Facebook. You have a right to be upset or happy. Maybe Facebook should really give you a choice or ask for your opinion when they change either layout or different settings…?But on the other hand…online life is cruel and nobody asks anything anymore. So before I post something, I always think twice…knowing that not always I will have control over what is online. Some day it may hunt me, so I try to be careful.

But this is my opinion. And I respect everyone elses:)

Hopefully we will not experience many more changes that will make some of upset!

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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Wow. I never thought I would say this, but I’m really impressed by the latest attempt by the Polish Foreign Ministry to promote Poland. They have just launched a website called “Do you know Polska?” which is a cross between a quiz, a social media-powered photo- and language-sharing site and a promotional hub aimed at English-speaking audiences.

Through a series of large-format images of Poland with superimposed words and their definitions the Ministry is clearly hoping to promote Poland as a young, vibrant and cosmopolitan destination. The opening screen asks you whether you “know Polska” and if your answer is “yes”, you take a short test. You are then able to add new words and images, share the existing words and phrases through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, or simply browse the (hopefully soon to be expanded) library of mostly slang or at least informal words and phrases.

I have to say, many of them have surprised me – I clearly need to watch more MTV Polska.

So far I’ve counted 24 words and their definitions on the site, which seems very little, so it’s going to be interesting to see how this project develops. It’s clearly aimed at a younger audience and the simple and sleek design should help. It looks like the site nicely complements other promotional activities which so far have either focused on some traditional aspects of the Polish culture or on mass tourism, or were aimed at foreign investors. This, although a bit niche, reaches out to the younger audience for whom social media is second nature. Therefore it’s likely to reach more people worldwide.

Have you played with the site yet? If so, what do you think? Czaisz bazę?Tweet

I have noticed in the past couple of months an increase in the number of friend requests from my old friends and acquaintances in Poland. And indeed, official numbers suggest that after years of relying on Nasza Klasa, Poles are now flocking to Facebook.

A recent post on the Social Bakers website claims that in the past six months the number of Poles using Facebook has grown by 79%. In other words, over 2.4 million new users have created their profiles within the past six months. There are over 5.5 million Polish profiles on Facebook at the moment, which makes it the seventh biggest country in Europe on Facebook. (The UK is first, with almost 29 million Facebook profiles, closely followed by Turkey with 26m and France with almost 21m.)

I have also noticed many more Polish pages on Facebook and, surprisingly, Polish-language ads too. Although why they would display on my profile if my language is defined as English and location as UK, remains a mystery to me.

I guess more businesses and brands will take advantage of Facebook’s ability to target its advertising and the number of Polish ads will grow rapidly in the next several months.

Obviously now would be an ideal time to remind you that each post on this blog comes with a Facebook ‘Like’ button – if you like what you’ve read, ‘Like’ it and share with your Facebook friends

Also, if you haven’d done so yet, become a fan of the Polski Blog on Facebook and help us reach even more readers.

Thanks a lot

Image © FindYourSearch via Flickr, used under the Creative Commons licenceTweet