Facebook friends: Please, please 'like' this column

I just knew this was going to be a big hit with my Facebook friends.

Overcome with buyer's remorse after purchasing a pair of all-white workout shoes, I posted the question: Should I somewhat unethically take them back or live with the fashion faux pas of my own making? I included a foot selfie, and promised to live with the vote of the majority.

The answers, and the volume of them, did not disappoint. Here's a sample from the 34 comments, a personal record, (And, yes, I sound like the nerd in the TV commercial swooning over the 100th "like" of his selfie.):

• How hard can he be working out if he's taking pictures of his feet?

• You'd return them after working out in them? Ew.

• He never asks about the rest of the clothes he wears! Ha!

• If you want to be known as Jimmy "White Shoes" Davis, then keep 'em.

• I think you ought to get a nice pair in bone or putty, with a couple of handy Velcro straps. COLOR, man!!!!

• Fernando Lamas claimed, "It's better to look good than to feel good." But he was wrong, especially when it comes to feet. Nobody's looking. I vote keep them.

• Trust me here, white sneakers are a BIG NO! return them. Go on Zappos and bring the shoe store to your house. Free shipping, free returns. Order multiple sizes when in doubt, wear them around your house before you decide.

Why, you may ask, do I waste the first half of this column with something so trivial as my foot fashion choices?

To illustrate the conundrum that is social media, specifically Facebook, and how it relates to the newspaper business. It's an expectation in the editorial department that we use the comment section of our website as well as Facebook and Twitter to engage with readers - answering their questions, turning them on to interesting stories, finding story ideas in their comments, even connecting with our followers as sources for the stories we write.

But there's the rub: Facebook is supposed to be fun, personal, a way of connecting with people. Anything that's perceived as work-related can be relatively ignored.

Hence, I have a lousy track record of trying to get my friends to read this column when I post it on my FB page. Same for DH stories I think might appeal to people.

Last week I Facebook plugged a live chat among four DH luminaries - but neglected to note the deadline for said conversation has passed. So I tried to make it up by offering to answer any question my friends might have had of our editor, film critic, Cubs beat writer and taxpayer watchdog. I even shamelessly crossed the line between business and personal by suggesting (with photo): "If those topics don't float your boat, ask me about the all-white workout shoes you forced me to wear. :-)"

Alas, the gambit was past its prime; I got a spattering of "likes" and some gentle ribbing from a few co-workers.

That, I think, sums up the challenge of modern newspapering: how to sell your product - information - without putting off your potential customers with something they perceive as nothing more than a blatant sales pitch.

And despite those challenges, there is ample proof that it's working: A significant and growing amount of our online traffic comes from Facebook referrals.

So I, and others here, will keep plugging away, even if you don't immediately "like" what we're doing.

jdavis@dailyherald.com. Please, please, please "like" him at facebook.com/JimDavis06.