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#Post#: 3344--------------------------------------------------
Geocaching Facebook Groups - Why?
By: Griff Grof Date: December 12, 2012, 11:03 am
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??? ??? ???
These days most cachers have ditched forums like ours and gone
over to Facebook to join a Facebook group, whatever that is :D
Huge UK Geocaching forum sites such as emCache, West Midlands
and now even the GAGB are moving over to Facebook groups - and
all I can think is WHY :-\ ???
I feel that forums are far better - you can organize information
into boards, you can add your own pages and features, you have
your own domain, you get found via Google, and they are better
for communicating...
Or are they? Facebook is, they say "for sharing with friends,
instantly" with no "compose reply" buttons to be found -
Facebook will never crash, unlike forums, Facebook has its own
app, so it's easy to check new replies on the go, most people
have Facebook and if they are on it anyway then they only have
to stay on one sight, rather than logging onto another forum -
they can have all their communications on one site. Maybe that's
why we're one of the last active UK forums :o And why we, and
other forums, don't get very much new membership subscriptions -
everyone is too busy on Facebook, where most UK Geocaching
groups now are :'(
What do you think about this? Can you say why forums are dieing?
Would you prefer us to be on Facebook, or, like me, always
prefer a forum ???
#Post#: 3345--------------------------------------------------
Re: Geocaching Facebook Groups - Why?
By: walktall Date: December 12, 2012, 12:12 pm
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I prefer forums :)
Problem with Facebook is that you can get inundated replies to a
comment you made to the point you have to turn off the news feed
on the comment thread.
I do have two identities on Facebook, a private one and a
village one and do use groups. Facebook is good for general
comments and updates but any further than that, you can easily
loose track without being on Facebook all the time.
The other issue is security, Facebook has got it wrong several
times quite publicly ::) And I HATE apps on Facebook, to use one
you have to give the app access to your profile, some wanting
more access than others. Most want access to your friends list -
they can take a run and jump >:(
#Post#: 3346--------------------------------------------------
Re: Geocaching Facebook Groups - Why?
By: SangueG Date: December 12, 2012, 12:28 pm
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I deleted my Facebook account a couple of years back. I will not
use it again for personal reasons.
That's not to say that it does not have it's benefits. When I
was using it I had a group to help support us to raise money for
33 mile charity walk along the Ridge Way, and it was great for
that. We easily got members and support and managed raise £2.5k
in a reasonably short time.
I am sticking with forum boards like this. For Geocaching; This
one, my one, and the groundspeak one. I hope they will live on,
even if quietly. If they don't, as I said to a few of my closest
friends as I deleted my FB account, you know how to get hold of
me anyway :)
We just need to keep coming up with clever ideas, things that
don't happen on FB, and we'll keep alive.
#Post#: 3349--------------------------------------------------
Re: Geocaching Facebook Groups - Why?
By: Griff Grof Date: December 12, 2012, 1:44 pm
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Phew.. I thought it was only just me who prefers the forum
format :o
You're right about coming up with clever ideas... But sometimes
the mind just goes blank - then you hand it over to the members,
like we've done on here, and there aren't any suggestions -
either we've got it bang on right, or everyone's too nice to say
we're doing something wrong ::) I suppose there's a lot of
things forums have that Facebook doesn't, anyway - like boards,
categories, stats, gallery, calendar, moderating system (the one
on this site is very good) HUGE amount of customization (you
should see all the hundreds of options and code-to-alter at
CacheWalker Admin Towers ;) ) - Facebook, does, indeed, lack
all of these... and as Forum admins get brainwaves to develop
new features, forums can grow in popularity, beyond Facebook.
And hopefully they will. I think a key part to getting a forum
to grow is advertising - something I did a lot off when this
new, third incarnation of the forum opened up :)
It's good to see your one really taking off now ;D I think that
both sites are working well 'parallel' to eachother :) Boo
Facebook! :D
#Post#: 3394--------------------------------------------------
Re: Geocaching Facebook Groups - Why?
By: SangueG Date: December 14, 2012, 5:11 pm
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I am still staying boo to Facebook too lol, but xJammmzy this
evening set up a Cotswold Caching Facebook page
HTML https://www.facebook.com/CotswoldCaching,
not a group, just a
page, which may help promote the forum. I am more than happy for
him to do if it will help advertise, but it will have little
input from myself.
I set up a CC twitter account @CotswoldCaching
HTML https://twitter.com/CotswoldCaching
the other day too just for
the forum, again to help promote, and to keep CC postings from
my personal account minimal. I have found posting links on
twitter does seem to get a mad influx of forum views, though I
don't think any new members have come of.
I like how the two boards are working at the moment too. I'll
try not to steal too many ideas ;) One area I will let you keep
your own for sure because it is your baby, is the walk section.
I think that is a great feature. Do you think in the future
there could be the possibility for members to rate walks? Though
I guess we can do that in a form of a review in a post already.
Look forward to the new year and lots of great ideas! :)
#Post#: 3396--------------------------------------------------
Re: Geocaching Facebook Groups - Why?
By: walktall Date: December 14, 2012, 5:31 pm
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CC Facebook has got two likes now :)
#Post#: 3407--------------------------------------------------
Re: Geocaching Facebook Groups - Why?
By: Griff Grof Date: December 15, 2012, 4:13 am
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[quote author=SangueG link=topic=225.msg3394#msg3394
date=1355526719]
I am still staying boo to Facebook too lol, but xJammmzy this
evening set up a Cotswold Caching Facebook page
HTML https://www.facebook.com/CotswoldCaching,
not a group, just a
page, which may help promote the forum. I am more than happy for
him to do if it will help advertise, but it will have little
input from myself.
I set up a CC twitter account @CotswoldCaching
HTML https://twitter.com/CotswoldCaching
the other day too just for
the forum, again to help promote, and to keep CC postings from
my personal account minimal. I have found posting links on
twitter does seem to get a mad influx of forum views, though I
don't think any new members have come of.
I like how the two boards are working at the moment too. I'll
try not to steal too many ideas ;) One area I will let you keep
your own for sure because it is your baby, is the walk section.
I think that is a great feature. Do you think in the future
there could be the possibility for members to rate walks? Though
I guess we can do that in a form of a review in a post already.
Look forward to the new year and lots of great ideas! :)
[/quote]
I tried setting up Facebook and Twitter pages to promote
CacheWalker and this forum, but got booed :o - I don't know
why, particularly Twitter, which is very good in my opinion :)
I agree it's a good way to advertise, and reach out to other
cachers :)
That's a great idea for the walks section ;D We're always
looking into changing and advancing things here, as some members
know ;) I'll look into it ;D
#Post#: 3408--------------------------------------------------
Re: Geocaching Facebook Groups - Why?
By: Griff Grof Date: December 15, 2012, 4:17 am
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Also this forum service has complete Facebook and Twitter
integration ;D So, every new topic created gets tweeted, and
posted, for example :)... But I guess we have to do what the
members want :D
Oh well! ;)
#Post#: 3410--------------------------------------------------
Re: Geocaching Facebook Groups - Why?
By: walktall Date: December 15, 2012, 4:39 am
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Don't do Twitter - don't see the point ???
#Post#: 3413--------------------------------------------------
Re: Geocaching Facebook Groups - Why?
By: Griff Grof Date: December 15, 2012, 4:54 am
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[quote author=walktall link=topic=225.msg3410#msg3410
date=1355567966]
Don't do Twitter - don't see the point ???
[/quote]
Twitter is Facebook, and more ;D
"Instantly connect to what's most important to you. Follow your
friends, experts, favorite celebrities, and breaking news" -
they mean instant - the interface is great, and notifications
are fluent :)
Twitter is basically a micro blogging site, and it's very
useful, and resourceful... Far more than Facebook's slightly out
of date features. Twitter is just like Facebook for
communicating with friends, too, with private messaging etc...
;)
Twitter is, in my view, definitely the best social network out
there ;D Using both Twitter and Facebook side by side, I can
easily say which one I prefer ;) - Although Facebook is far
better at other things... But then again, they are both on the
net for different purposes, not the same purpose :)
Do you see the point of twitter now? :)
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