A call for GRM'ers to join Facebook, if only for the car stuffs!

In reply to Toyman01:

Use Google Chrome in "Incognito" mode, turn on private browsing on your iPhone/iPad, etc. Pretty much every browser out there has the option.

You guys must love adroll.

It's pretty creepy how much info can be collated on an individual. Some of it is to your benefit - if I know the demographics of the people who are buying my Miata parts, I can tailor those parts to suit them better.

As for the original subject - depending on the settings, Facebook pages can be viewed without the need for you to have an account. If the admins set them up that way, it'll let the FB page be used to make announcements. Our corporate page is set up like that, anyone can visit. You just can't participate, and that's a choice that you're welcome to make. I'm pretty sure I have our local race group set up the same way, let me check...hmm. Nope, the group requires you to be logged in. Still, I'll bet there's a way to set that up.

So that's a happy middle ground.

Toyman01 wrote:

Knurled wrote: BTW - I do all of my Googling in a private window. It's amazing how different the results are if they get directed to your browsing history.

Expound on this please. There have been a bunch of times I'd like to get results I've never looked at before.

Actually, all you have to do is hit the "hide private results" button on the upper right corner. It's a little globe icon beside a little person icon. At least, that's on a non-phone browser.

Duke wrote: Of course there are tools out there for people who don't want to use FB. The questions are: How many of them currently match the effectiveness of FB? How many different outlets should a given organization need to cover? How many redundant sources of information should be managed and coordinated just to let a few people avoid FB when FB has demonstrated itself to be the most popular option for many others? Should a club still maintain a phone tree (as David humourously suggests) or physical printed newsletter, just because some few members may not like to use computers? I'm not really arguing for or against FB *per se*, but it really is a matter of the users voting with their activity, and volunteers concentrating their efforts where they have the best chance of success.

So as a potential customer, does it really matter why I don't want to be on FB?

I can find many potential reason, but the real reason is that I DON'T WANT TO.

And I doubt I'm the only one.

I know that I'm not personally in the focus on specifically what is being asked. But if I were, and I just don't want to be part of FB- do you abandon me, or find a solution that can serve more people?

to heck with the info sharing, etc- if I'm forced to be on it to be part of your organization, then I'm not part of your organization.

Is it that hard to understand that like apple products, like smart phones, like Cable TV, etc- some of us just don't want to be part of that specific thing. E-mailing and texting works fine already- I don't want another method.

(by I, yes, it's specific to me, but again, I am sure I'm not the only one)

In reply to alfadriver:

And my point is, currently Facebook (for better or worse) IS the solution that serves more people.

In reply to Duke:

Yet, based on what Jerry just posted to start this thread, it's not that effective. Otherwise one would not have to ask/demand people to join.

Facebook claims 1.44 billion (billion with a b) monthly active users as of March 31. That's a heck of a population size. Is it everyone on the planet? Nope. But for club run by one guy with limited time and resources, it serves my purposes just fine. It's quick and easy to use, and plenty of people seem to get the message.

By the way, I realize this is like arguing about favorite colors. Red? What are you, an idiot!? Yellow is soooo much better.

Can I ask something? Does FB send you e-mails or messages that something has been posted, or do you need to go to your account (or app)?

In reply to David S. Wallens: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/02/tech/social-media/facebook-fake-accounts/

Well, they aren't all really people. And while it serves you, it keeps me from joining your club because I don't want to be associated with a E36 M3bag company like Facebook.

I guess you have to count the good with the bad.

One more thing. For the magazine, yes, we realize that we need to cast a wider net which is why you'll find GRM on the web (hello), Facebook and Twitter. The magazine has a bit more resources and time to do so. For my little sports car club, it's just Facebook.

In reply to alfadriver:

That's configurable. I have it set up to only get messages when someone tries to add me as a friend. You can set it up to never bother you ever, at all if you want.

alfadriver wrote: Can I ask something? Does FB send you e-mails or messages that something has been posted, or do you need to go to your account (or app)?

You can set it to notify you about posts if you want. I have that turned off, there's nothing on there that's so urgent I need to get an email about it.

FWIW, FB is how my local club does communications for anything not critical enough to warrant a mass email, seems to work well.

As for the tin-foil hat crew, y'all realize that you can put as little or as much personal information as you want on your profile, right?
Hell, you can register with a burner email account and false name.

In reply to SlickDizzy, Tom_Spanger:

So then for this to be an effective tool to mass message, the person you are sending it to probably will have to go to their FB site, yes?

SnowMongoose wrote: As for the tin-foil hat crew, y'all realize that you can put as little or as much personal information as you want on your profile, right? Hell, you can register with a burner email account and false name.

Just want to point out, if you want someone to join who is questionable, calling them " the tinfoil hat crew" isn't exactly a good way of doing it. Makes me want to do it that much less.

It's as old and weak as you feel us not joining. Just pointing that out.

OK, while I don't really love fb, I can admit it does have value in the number of people on there.

Also, we all have to remember there is no such thing as a free lunch. Fb does not charge users (yet), so of course they will be finding other ways to make money from you.

As for 'tin foil hats', you are only part of this group of you do not join Facebook because they know too much about you and you find that creepy.

If you just don't like fb for another reason, that might make you a grumpy old man (or woman), and is probably closely related to the GRM manual transmission gene.

In reply to alfadriver:

I get alerts sent directly to my phone, you can set them up to come in emails. You can also choose who you get alerts from.

alfadriver wrote: Just want to point out, if you want someone to join who is questionable, calling them " the tinfoil hat crew" isn't exactly a good way of doing it. Makes me want to do it that much less. It's as old and weak as you feel us not joining. Just pointing that out.

shrug
Even if any of you were close enough to me that you'd be interested in joining the club I run with, I'd gotten the impression that y'all were pretty well set in your thoughts on the ol' facebooks.
(Which - along with a lot of older members - is why we have other avenues of passing information)

Which is fine, I'm just pointing out that there's a lot of paranoia in this thread about risks that are actually really easy to manage.
Just pointing that out.

I use FB daily. Oh, there's a lot of time wasting garbage on it for sure but it really is the most effective tool out there for communicating with the outside world.

Example: Couldn't find a Ford Lightning on Craigslist, Lightning message boards, car for sale sites or Ebay in my price range. Posted on the Lightning FB site and found this within 3 days:

Knew the seller's name, location, used Google earth to see what his house/neighborhood were like, etc. Couldn't have done that (easily) with just a forum username or generic Craigslist email.

Sure, you can choose not to use it; that's a personal prerogative. But it's kind of like insisting your railroad still use steam engines in 2015.

Twitter, OTOH, makes no sense to me whatsoever...

SnowMongoose wrote: ...y'all realize that you can put as little or as much personal information as you want on your profile, right? Hell, you can register with a burner email account and false name.

I was going to say the same thing. Use a 10minuteemail site for the verification, use a fake nickname for a name, leave most of it blank. Don't add your wife. Don't list your work. Make up or leave your personal info blank... In return, convenient way for everyone to communicate, quickly, vs reinventing the wheel.

(For those that say use a message board, I'm on 4-5 Fiat, MR2, and Subaru forums. I might remember to check them weekly if I'm lucky.)

In reply to ddavidv:

Posts like that are fun on a few of the car groups I've joined. Recently, a fellow posted, "Looking for a Spitfire near Bristol". My first thought was, "hmm... I'm near Bristol... Pennsylvania, USA that is..." While he was referring to Bristol, UK.

While forums in the US seems to mainly attract members in the US (with a few exceptions), with FB you'll often get a wide group of enthusiasts from all over the world. I'd estimate half of the members of the Spitfire and GT6 groups I've joined are in the UK, despite the fact there are more of those cars here in the US.

And just like on regular forums, you get the same arguments and bickering...

And yes - you only have to give FB as much information about you as you want to. I know a few people who use pseudonym names in lieu of their real names. I also know a few that while using their real name, looking at their FB profile or their posts would tell you zilch about them. Of course, I have other friends who post like it's a diary...

rcutclif wrote: OK, while I don't really love fb, I can admit it does have value in the number of people on there. Also, we all have to remember there is no such thing as a free lunch. Fb does not charge users (yet), so of course they will be finding other ways to make money from you. As for 'tin foil hats', you are only part of this group of you do not join Facebook because they know too much about you and you find that creepy. If you just don't like fb for another reason, that might make you a grumpy old man (or woman), and is probably closely related to the GRM manual transmission gene.

I'm not paranoid, I don't see the point. Accusing me of being paranoid makes me see the point even less.

Nick_Comstock wrote: In reply to alfadriver: I get alerts sent directly to my phone, you can set them up to come in emails. You can also choose who you get alerts from.

Blogs do that, too, don't they?

I think it comes down to, the majority of people are already on FB. The organizers can post stuff the majority can see. Minimum effort, maximum coverage. As a individual, you can be a member of multiple groups while using only one login. Again, minimum effort, maximum coverage. It's streamlined and easy both from the standpoint of the organizers and the individuals. There are a couple of groups I've joined that are only on FB. They don't have websites or forums, they don't do email blasts. If you want news, join their FB group. I foresee more groups making that move in the future. I was dragged kicking and screaming on to FB a couple of years ago. It's not all bad. I check it twice a day and I get reminders on my phone. Easy.