Social Media or Here?

Frank Sanns
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Real Name: Frank Sanns
Location: Pittsburgh

Social Media or Here?

Post: # 1054Post Frank Sanns
Sat Apr 20, 2019 7:45 pm

We have all seen the rise of social media. It has been a ride.

Is it old school, new school, or no difference?

Most or all of your know that there is a Facebook page dedicated to Collings with thousands of followers around the world. It has grown fast and steadily and continues to grow. This is a great way to follow the brand and just about anything else that you would like to follow. Each day there are more and more pictures and likes. Everybody is. happy and it shows with the numbers.

At time of writing, we are a modest 370 members. Why are we all here and not on Facebook pages? Maybe we are both.

There is a reason for the commentary and none of it negative towards FB. My question is maybe, what is our relevance here on this forum? Times are different than when it was first formed. Are we dinosaurs here now or are we a resource?

Frank Sanns
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Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2018 5:38 pm
Real Name: Frank Sanns
Location: Pittsburgh

Re: Social Media or Here?

Post: # 1055Post Frank Sanns
Sat Apr 20, 2019 7:55 pm

I will share my thoughts first since I posed the question.

Facebook is great for getting likes. It is instant gratification with likes, many of them, coming within minutes of posting. The pictures are interesting for those reading and kudos for those posting. We do not have that here on this site. We still look at the pictures and smile but most of us do not form an entire post to comment on the like. This gives little feedback to the person posting. They have no idea if anybody has even seen their newest baby let alone getting a positive comment. Shall we implement likes on this forum? I think it possible but is that the direction we want to go?

On this site, there are no ads or distractions from the core mission. It is Collings discussion and pictures and easily searched and formatted. In a glance you can see a year's worth of discussion by clicking on a topic heading.

So where do we evolve from here? Do we stay the course or implement news feeds, advertising and likes? Curious to hear your thoughts.

armdog
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Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2018 2:13 pm

Re: Social Media or Here?

Post: # 1081Post armdog
Wed Apr 24, 2019 9:03 pm

Frank, slow getting around to reading your post. As a long time member of the old forum, I noticed things were getting very slow before it went down. I have never joined Facebook because I have never trusted Facebook. I don't really have a solution or solid thought on the subject but I do remember when the old forum was a bee hive of lively conversation.

Hopefully someone will be more helpful but I sincerely thank you and Eric for putting in the effort to keep things rolling. help somebody !!!

Tenzin
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Real Name: Tenzin
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Re: Social Media or Here?

Post: # 1083Post Tenzin
Wed Apr 24, 2019 9:34 pm

I have some pretty strong feelings about Social Media and the many different ways your personal information is sold. (This includes companies like banks, local government, school districts. I'm not only saying, "…if you're not the purchaser, you're the product". I worked for the largest private media company in the world. I may not know everything (don't tell my children I said that) but I do know a little bit. I wouldn't have any social media accounts. That's just me. I don't say this stance is for everyone.
--
Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting.

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elambo
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Re: Social Media or Here?

Post: # 1091Post elambo
Thu Apr 25, 2019 4:30 pm

I don't believe that having the option to Like a post would enrich or add depth to our discussions. I'm a member of several forums which include Like buttons and it tends to only serve to aggrandize angry posts and create division within the community. That's what I've observed.

RE: Facebook, I agree that, in general, it tends to be a place for requesting approval from others (and that's a whole universe of either depression -or- an overabundance of self-worth just waiting to erupt), but some do use it very productively. The various Collings pages seem to be helpful/useful/etc., but, by nature, it's not an ideal arena for collaborative conversation. You can have a discussion about certain topics, it's just not as convenient as the forum format.

I don't post often, but I do use FB to find out what my friends and family are up to. For that, it's great.

The ads. The spying. The selling of information... It was bound to happen given its potential as a money-maker, and though they state that they're tightening things up, it isn't *really* being handled appropriately, in my opinion. So, with all that, I'm not a particular fan of FB. It would be much better for me if I could subscribe to the friends/family elements and parse that from the rest. But there would be no money in it for them, and the site wouldn't exist.

Unlike here, where membership is free and our gracious host is covering the bills without introducing ads or selling our info.

Eric Jones
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Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:05 am

Re: Social Media or Here?

Post: # 1095Post Eric Jones
Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:09 am

elambo wrote: Thu Apr 25, 2019 4:30 pm You can have a discussion about certain topics, it's just not as convenient as the forum format.
I’ve wanted to comment on this but didn’t know how to say it, but Elambo’s comment mostly summarizes it for me. The Facebook format is difficult to use for discussions. It seems to be stream of consciousness posts. There’s no categorization of topics and you can’t search the archives (or can you?).

I can appreciate the ease of posting pictures and video on Facebook, so that’s mostly what takes me to the Enthusiast page. But I’d rather see more activity here.

godfreydaniel
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Re: Social Media or Here?

Post: # 1108Post godfreydaniel
Fri Apr 26, 2019 8:51 pm

I don’t use Facebook or any social media due to privacy concerns. I think a lot of forum participants disappeared when the old forum went down. A similar thing happened at the UMGF when they had problems with their previous hosting site.

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elambo
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Re: Social Media or Here?

Post: # 1119Post elambo
Sun Apr 28, 2019 9:20 pm

Forums in general were experiencing a round of decline around the time the other Collings forum went offline. I was moderating three different sites at that time and each one (different genres, btw) was experiencing a noticeable decline in posts-per-day which hasn't changed much since then.

We've recouped quite a few of our original members, at least I see their names in the membership page, but few participate like they once did. Me included. Have we just gotten busier (I have)? Are we playing our instruments instead of writing about them? Are people now going to FB when they want Collings updates? Is this site perceived as less navigable or the community less friendly than the previous site?

I'm genuinely curious to know what people think.

Hokiebob
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Location: Mint Hill, NC

Re: Social Media or Here?

Post: # 1120Post Hokiebob
Mon Apr 29, 2019 12:09 am

I too share a general dislike and mistrust of Facebook, et al for all the same reasons. Also I was once a school administrator and I spent EVERY Monday morning ironing out cyber bullying (we didn't have that handy name for it back then) that occurred over the weekend. I really couldn't control what happened over the weekend but it inevitably boiled over once they were back in school and parents wanted us to fix it. I also became aware that we could "visit" anybody's Facebook page anytime we wanted no matter what their security settings were. As soon as Facebook changed their security our IT staff would find a hacker that would give us a backdoor. I knew a lot more about my students than I ever wanted to know. The day I officially retired I took down my Facebook page and have never missed it.

I don't post as much as I once did because I often feel like I've already had that conversation/discussion before and don't have anything fresh to add. Of course, I need to realize that as members come and go it is different members seeking or sharing information.

On the other hand, I really missed to old forum when it went dark. I must have visited the site dozens of time hoping it might magically reappear. Then thanks to the generosity and work of our founder and team it's back (or a reasonable facimile thereof).
Bob

Eric Jones
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Re: Social Media or Here?

Post: # 1128Post Eric Jones
Tue Apr 30, 2019 10:15 pm

Hokiebob wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 12:09 am I don't post as much as I once did because I often feel like I've already had that conversation/discussion before and don't have anything fresh to add.
Same here. I appreciate having the Forum back and would like to see it vibrant again. I check in often to look for new posts. But have we covered everything already?

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