Forum or Facebook

wully

Brit Butt Tour Admin. Retired.
#1
I was having a conversation with a friend when I mention something that had been IBAUK's facebook page, he then commented he hadn't seen it and after some discussion I realised it had only appeared on FB and not on the forum.
I now realise that far less seems to be appearing on the forum but more is appearing on FB. Some people don't like FB and may be taking less interest in the group as the forum is not as active. May be use both
 
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owl*

Rally Bonus checker
IBA Member
#2
I'm one of the 'will not use Facebook' brigade.

If it's not posted on here, I will not know about it. What the hell is a forum for, if not to communicate.

I fail to understand why anyone would use another platform when we have our own dedicated forum.
 

kwthom

=o&o>
Premier Member
IBA Member
#3
I fail to understand why anyone would use another platform when we have our own dedicated forum.
A forum is (somewhat) focused on a given topic - obviously understood by everyone that is involved in this activity.

Generic social media such as FB has tens of millions that wouldn't know anything about a specific forum dedicated to long distance endurance riding.

Thus, the 'splintering of information' continues unabated.
 

owl*

Rally Bonus checker
IBA Member
#4
I wonder out of those tens of millions, how many new members were attracted enough to try a challenge and join us?

And was splintering the information worth the effort?
 

kwthom

=o&o>
Premier Member
IBA Member
#5
There seems to have been a continuing growth curve in IBA-style riding, as evidenced by the increasing IBA numbers over the last decade or two. One would think that *most* of us would fit into that category of learning much more about it from the web, as opposed to the *real* old-timers that learned it socially (thru motorcycle groups, moto shop get-togethers, friends, et. al.) .

Did social media (in general) facilitate that? My suspicion would be 'yeah!', but that definition of social media can be very wide.

owl* said:
And was splintering the information worth the effort?
I would posit that if there's people that have info, they need to propagate it as appropriate. New rider type of event? Maybe FB is a better place to put it, but by also putting it on the forum, those searching for similar information would also be able to access it.
 

owl*

Rally Bonus checker
IBA Member
#6
OK, Ken, I will cede that Facebook is the future (at least until the next best thing comes along) but I would strongly suggest that any IBA member that wants to post information about an IBA event posts twice. Once on FB and once on the forum.
The forum, after all, is supposed to be the repository of all IBA content, and if members concentrate solely on FB, old farts like me who are FB/latest fad resistant will become uninformed, and in a worse case scenario, become disenfranchised.
 

EricV

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#7
FB is the past, it just doesn't know it yet. "Old people use FB" I hear that often from anyone under 45 or so. Some organizations and businesses foolishly believe FB is a tool to get information out to interested parties or advertise, promote their business. That would only be true if you could view that info w/o being a card carrying FB member. Not on FB, sorry, we block viewing with pop ups and make it as difficult as possible for you to actually see info on FB w/o being signed in. A FB account gives access to your device to FB... and they take full advantage of that to 'personalize' your experience.

FB is also transitory. Most recent things at top of page. If you want info, that's not where to find it unless it's a very current and upcoming event. Want to research similar rides, be prepared to dig if you're looking on social media platforms. On the forum, you're already in a specific demographic for LD riding info, then you can search with the tools on the forum, as well as simply scrolling sub forums for like topics.

I did a moto event fairly recently where it was evident that the quick and easy way to participate was going to be using Instagram. The event was set up for everyone to post pictures to IG with hashtags to the event so the event scorers would see your posts and be able to score them. There was an alternate email method of posting pics, which causes issues with data and servers for some hosts 'holding' large files and sending them when demand is lower, pretty much killing your chance of getting scored for that file, (picture). In a previous rally that required cell phone emailing of pictures, some of my pictures didn't show up for 3-4 days after the event was over.

So, I created an IG account, (I do not have a FB account), just for this event. I learned about hashtags and how to place them, what ones I was supposed to use, how to email them to myself, then copy from that email on my phone and paste into my IG posts. I practiced doing the necessary functions and it was fine.

Problem... This event was right at election time. IG was overloaded with election traffic/posts and bogged down hopelessly for the purposes of the event. The day before the event, everyone signed up was told to use an email method instead, but if you did post to IG with the hashtags, you still got an extra point for each rally post. About 85% of the entrants did not use IG at all during the event, since it was no longer required. I had to create a new email account on a different host since I previously learned gmail would hold large files for days after an unknown data limit. I do not have an unlimited data plan either, but did have a bunch of roll over data, so that wasn't a problem in the end.

Everything went fine during the event. A few hiccups. Some of Cletha's pictures never got scored, possibly due to yahoo delaying the files, but we really don't know. All the ones I sent correctly went thru fine. I also IG posted for every pic, until IG started hanging up. I discovered a work around at the end of each rally 'day' where I could see what went, and re-send those that didn't go using the WiFi at home. I only lost a few points due to my own errors, but by reviewing at the end of the day before time ran out, I was able to correct nearly all of them and re-post to get the points before 'ending' my rally day each day. After the event I kept posting. Some food pics, but mostly pics from during casual rides around MS.

After using IG for a couple of weeks, and maybe 150 posts I would have kept the account, except that it 'upgraded' me to a different level that was less user friendly and it was pushing more often to join FB and link the accounts to gain 'features'. Then I started getting followers. At first it was LD people I knew IRL. A few were people doing the event that apparently wanted to see what I was posting and they got some new ideas from what I was doing. I got some new ideas from them too, so 'followed' them back.

Then I started getting followers that were people that I didn't know. People that were not in the US. People that had no connection to the event. I started getting followers from other parts of the world, but many of them posted a lot themselves and had moto content or photography content that was interesting. I followed some of them, but only if there was some interesting content in their posts. I got a bunch of followers that had no, or only a few post of their own. Clearly, some followed only on the hope that I would follow them to increase the number of followers they had. Then came the odd ones with no content of their own and no obvious reason to follow me. After the second "I want to get to know you" type post accompanied by a pic of a young, pretty woman in a different country, I deleted the account permanently.

I want info, I'll go looking for it. But it won't be on social media unless that's the only source for a business, then I'll try to parce out something from what little I can see w/o an account before either disregarding them as useful or physically going there IRL.

Info here, stays here. It's rarely deleted or moved. Everyone here has a specific interest in LD riding.
 

kwthom

=o&o>
Premier Member
IBA Member
#8
The forum, after all, is supposed to be the repository of all IBA content, and if members concentrate solely on FB, old farts like me who are FB/latest fad resistant will become uninformed, and in a worse case scenario, become disenfranchised.
Emphatically agree.

Like you, I am not a FB member, and I have no plans to be. Be that as it may, FB will decay and some other version of social media could be there to take it's place, as Usenet newsgroups were taken over by computer forums like this and tens of thousands of others.

Duplicated by Eric as I was writing this... ;)
 
#9
likewise i have successfully avoided facebook, very dubious about the entire social media concept and society's obsessions' with it. the forum is supposed to be the dedicated place for info, so events etc should be posted on here as a priority and other locations as an after fought.
 

Stephen!

Flivver Flyer
Premier Member
IBA Member
IBR Finisher
#10
Prefer the forum. Seems to be a more mature class of membership here. The FB page is fun for egging on Paul and for congratulating new members on their first ride. Aside from a few scattered posts from "old timers", the rest is little more than a sewer water wasteland.
 

270

New Member
#11
Well...This is my first time logging in here since...2017 I think...and admin'ing the FB page along with several others is a CHORE sometimes with all of the bs. But like a lot of social media platforms, there's stuff all over the place.
 

saphena

IBAUK Webmaster
Staff member
Premier Member
IBA Member
#13
Communicators need to understand their audiences and to bear in mind that the onus is always on the speaker to convey his message rather than on the audience to adjust to "what's expected of them".

If you wish to speak only to forum users, that's your choice. Ditto FB or any other channel.
 

owl*

Rally Bonus checker
IBA Member
#14
I have no objection to anyone posting IBA stuff on other platforms.

What I don't like is IBA stuff being posted on other platforms but not on the forum.
 

saphena

IBAUK Webmaster
Staff member
Premier Member
IBA Member
#15
What I don't like is IBA stuff being posted on other platforms but not on the forum.
I try to post stuff to the appropriate places, plural, but, if your complaint is that you're not receiving information [effectively because you're only looking in in one place] then you might need to widen your horizons. It's up to you. The speakers choose their channels and the listeners choose their channels. If there's a mismatch, the unhappy ones must change. Natural law of the universe, none of us are special.
 

owl*

Rally Bonus checker
IBA Member
#16
I don't believe I'm special at all.
I just believe that an IBA forum is the place for IBA members to post IBA matters, and it should not be beholden upon me to widen my horizons and second guess where the hell a third party might decide to post something.
If someone wants to post IBA matters in another place as well, that's fine.
 

JON12A

IBAUK's retired Shop Keeper
Premier Member
IBA Member
#17
I'm a fan of the Forum and tend not to visit the Facebook page at all unless someone mentions a certain post or article.
Having said that there are several pages on the Forum that have not been updated by us the members in a long time.
Perhaps its time for a a Re Vamp/Update if that's even possible.
 

saphena

IBAUK Webmaster
Staff member
Premier Member
IBA Member
#18
Let me have one last try.

a) When I'm riding my motorcycle it is everyone else's responsibility to keep me alive by following the rules I think they should follow and, in the event of a collision, even though I'm the injured party, someone else will be to blame.
b) When I'm riding my motorcycle it is my responsibility to keep myself safe, regardless of what anyone else does and regardless of whether they followed any rules or not. In the event of a collision, someone else might well be at fault but it was my primary responsibility to avoid it.

I'm a type (a) rider.
 

owl*

Rally Bonus checker
IBA Member
#19
I'm a type (a) rider too, Bob.
I am fully aware of the analogy you are attempting to make but I think you are being needlessly facetious.
If you think I'm being pedantic, just say so.
Or why don't you do away with the forum altogether and have done with it. That way we can all choose to either go over to Facebook, or whatever the next social media flavour of the month is, or just drop away completely.