[members at lugog] Twitter/Facebook

[MJ Ray]

Sean Miller wrote:
> I am slightly confused as to why any social networking site should be
> deemed "inappropriate" for the group, as surely the idea is to get the
> message that we exist out to as many people as possible...?

Well, how would the FB and Twitter (and identi.ca and ???) be run?
Merely existing seems a bit of a waste of effort to me.

For microblogging, I feel we should start using the #lugog tag and see
if there's interest on any of them before starting a group account.  I
recently saw the account of another group deleted after someone
accused it of spamming because it had boiled down to linking mailing
list threads, due to lack of interest from the group members.

> I get messages on FB from pubs, clubs, the LibDems, charities and
> allsorts in addition to friends... Twitter is used quite extensively
> by the media, for instance Autosport to highlight when something
> interesting has been written on their website...

98% of what I get on FB is either rubbish (often factually incorrect)
or repeated elsewhere in easier-to-use ways.  The interface is
horrible, so I don't post much to FB directly.  I'm still there
because of the 2% from a few friends which I don't see elsewhere.
Walled garden network effects at its worst!

The mainstream media is a bit different: adverts means that views are
enough for them.  A group like this needs participation, not just eyes.

> Have never heard of identi.ca, and I doubt many people in the
> Glastonbury area who might have an interest in Linux but are unaware
> of LUGOG would have either.

Most of my Facebook posts are from identi.ca (and so link to it) and I
know Sean is a FB friend of mine, so I think Sean's just not
noticed/remembered it, rather than never having heard of it.  I think
being on things like identi.ca should come first, then use that to
give a basic core service to twitter, FB and the wider world.

> But, I suppose, it depends if we want to get the message out to the
> world or would rather focus on hardcore FOSS advocates...

I'd rather get more members, link members together better and get a
hardcore actually meeting with interesting topics again, then look to
spread out.

Regards,
-- 
MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op.
Webmaster, Debian Developer, Past Koha RM, statistician, former lecturer.
In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html
Available for hire for various work http://www.software.coop/products/