I encourage everyone to read the entire article. Yes, it will require some time and attention, but I found it very informative.
For those without the time, or inclination to read it, here are some of my takeaways:
Facebook Like Farms are real business. The one in the article discussed is as noted, more a ‘start-up’ type business than the old spam-factories of days mostly gone by.
Paying Facebook to boost your reach can be dangerous and destructive to your marketing efforts. One case study explains how a music company basically destroyed their accounts usability by paying for increased traffic from Facebook itself.
Facebook plans to further dilute organic exposure of posts, specifically from business pages. Currently that organic exposure is approximately 6%; unless you pay Facebook for more. But that comes with it’s own pitfalls.
Marketing on Facebook is going to become more and more difficult for small business to effectively use Facebook to market and grew community. This gives me serious pause to a current initiative that is requiring significant development time in an attempt to integrate with Facebook.
April can mean unpredictable where here Northern California. Last weekend we had a deluge of rain. This weekend was a little different: Saturday evening at Laguna Seca.
The work for this Sunday’s trip to Laguna Seca started in earnest on Thursday, with some upgrades to the Track Van.
First of was constructing a strong anchor system for the motorcycle wheel chock. Using a pair of E-Track 2×4 mounts, and a 36″ long section of 1.5″ angle iron, a secure, yet easily removable mounting system was created. E-track mounting system
Another pair of E-Track anchors were added to the inventory, along with some more cargo straps for loading additional equipment (which came in handy as I’ll note later).
Along with updates to the truck came upgrades to the bike; principally a new set of proper track tires on Friday. The new hides are Pirelli SuperCorsa in medium compound rear, and soft compound front:
Out with the old:
In with the new:
Having done quite a few track days over the last year, I’ve come up with some items that I think are crucial to enjoying your day at the track. First of them is SHADE. Shade is very important here in California (I offer this to my friends in Seattle that I’m not sure have ever seen the sun). In the past I’ve been fortunate enough to have friends with nice easy-up awnings, but this outing was planned to be Solo, so I dropped $200 on a pretty heavy-duty setup at Costco. Although not as ‘easy-up’ as others (I have to remove the top each time to pack it) it’s big, and comes with side panels that were REALLY handy when the wind picks up at Laguna.
In the truck everything has a place, and everything is packed in it’s place; ready for the quick drive down the road to Laguna:
The next morning, it was a short walk to registration and tech inspection. Not sure why the app was showing 44F, it was low 60’s (you might notice people are wearing t-shrts) at 7:45 AM.
Once passed through tech, the generator was fired up so they would properly heat up the tires during the riders meeting, leaving the bike ready to go for the first session.
With the generator and tire warmer setup on loan from CT Racing, it was a great day of riding!
By the last session, I was able to cut 6 seconds off my previous best lap times, clocking a 1:51.34 just before the bike ran out of gas entering turn 2.
A couple of the lessons I took away from this last outing:
A good set of tires are essential
Tire warmers are not hype, they not only keep your tires up to optimal temp they let them last longer and operating more consistently
A lap time timer is mandatory if you’re trying to develop good consistent laps… what I found was laps that *felt* fast were often slow, and the ones where I was relaxed, taking it easy, were my fastest by far. If you want to know if you’re really getting quicker, you’re lying to yourself unless you use a lap timer
Proper preparation for the day is important. I had a maintenance issue develop right before lunch and I had to scrounge up materials to build a brake bleeing setup, and get some tools loaned to me because the things I expected and brought tools for were not the ones that shut me down
A new article at the New Republic caught my eye this morning. It is about Facebook (and other social media) click-farming. 
