Too Many Facebook sites?

[eveshamcroft]

A search on Facebook shows the following UK sites devoted to "our" cars.

Triumph 1300 / 1500 FWD
The Official Triumph Dolomite Group
Triumph Dolomite Sprint Club
Triumph Dolomite Sprint Group
Triumph Dolomite Sprint Enthusiasts Group
Triumph Dolomite 1500SE Owners and enthusiasts
Triumph Dolomite Club members group
Triumph 1500TC Group
Toledo Triumphs
Plus many regional / national all Triumph clubs

Now, apart from the regional / all Triumph groups, is there a need for all these individual groups? Surely if all the people involved in these separate groupings were to join and put some effort into the Club we could have a very big and influential owners club and our magazine might well have to increase in size.
Any views out there on this topic?

I know I get pretty heated when I see all the material posted and sometimes I do approach those posting to ask if I can use in Dolly Mixture. You would be amazed at how many have never heard of it! In some cases I do use this stuff and quite a few have decided to join us. In other cases I suggest the club and leave it at that.

[ClassicFan]

Your always going to get 'unofficial' pages on FB. I didn't know the 1500 SE page existed but to be fair with so few SE left and 10 posts a year on the page, it's not going to be of much of a threat to the main Club pages.

As for the others, well as an SE owner the only one of any interest is the 'Official' one.

[DoloWIGHTY]

I see you have left of the main Facebook group for Dolomite owners from your list, the one with the largest members, the most active one.

[2door-toledo]

Hi Steve,

It's a great point to raise. There are a lot of Facebook groups. It's very easy to make a Facebook group, and anyone can create one in seconds at the click of the button.

The club can't control what Facebook groups people create, but what it can do is to make it as (almost) as easy to join the club as a Facebook group. I spoke to someone at the NEC Motor Show who was struggling to renew his membership to the club because he couldn't get Paypal to work, and he was hard of hearing so couldn't speak to someone on the phone. I know there are some club members who hate e-mail and prefer to use the phone for everything. Millennials (love us or hate us!) grew up with the internet and are often the other way around - love e-mail, hate the phone. There are software options that could be implemented here.

The club can also promote the great resources it has: you do a good job of mentioning the magazine on Facebook, but if you are a casual visitor to the club website or forum, it's not all that easy to find. I can't even find the magazine mentioned on https://www.triumphdolomite.co.uk/dolomite

The other advantage over Facebook groups that the club has is the amazing parts, but I speak to a lot of people at the NEC who struggle to find the parts list (it's on the forum somewhere, or in the magazine if you are already a member).

So yes, there are Facebook group, we can't control them, but can find alternative ways to compete with them as times change. I hope that the above doesn't come across as criticism, because it's not intended, we're long term members of the club and know many members have put thousands of hours in volunteering over the years. I've only organised a few NEC events and that was a lot of effort.

[xvivalve]

I see you have left of the main Facebook group for Dolomite owners from your list, the one with the largest members, the most active one.

Do you mean the one who’s moderator removed any posts with reference to the Club and what it had to offer on the basis he felt he should be able to reap all the benefits of membership whilst contributing nothing?

[Carledo]

I see you have left of the main Facebook group for Dolomite owners from your list, the one with the largest members, the most active one.

Do you mean the one who’s moderator removed any posts with reference to the Club and what it had to offer on the basis he felt he should be able to reap all the benefits of membership whilst contributing nothing?

I too noticed the absence of that group in the list. Facebook is so ephemeral that most people have now forgotten that that group and it's moderator (who does not and will never voluntarily have ANYTHING to do with the Club) actually predates the Official club group and was almost certainly the driving reason for the "Official" group's formation. Amongst a large number of frustrated Club members, I officially and publicly resigned from that group stating my reasons. Like all the others that did so, my post was promptly removed and I was blocked from ever returning (not that I wanted to)

But facebook is facebook, you can't stop ANYONE from forming a group, that's Democracy for you!

But I can see a point in the, dare I say, minority groups having their own pages. Facebook is SO ephemeral that a, say, FWD owner can ask a question on one of the main pages and it'll be lost and unanswered within a day or two, whereas on a dedicated model page with less traffic and more members model familiar it's more likely to get a result.

Of course there is this Forum which I recommend to anyone who asks where to pose any Dolomite related query. But not everyone seems to share my enthusiasm for it. I don't know why, as there is more knowledge and a monumentally bigger archive here, than in all the FB pages put together. But there you go, nowt as strange as folk!

Steve

[xvivalve]

It predates and was the first facebook presence for Dolomites etc as it was initiated by former area rep Colin (surname momentarily escapes me) who somewhat unwisely handed control of it to a non member when he lost interest.

I did caution when it was first set up that it would undermine this forum, but sadly a presence (or several) on that platform was inevitable.

Personally, I withdrew from the platform entirely some 2.5 years ago apart from a brief soujourn before Christmas as it was an easy way to share a trip to Japan. In my opinion it’s sinister and narcissistic in it’s psychological underpinnings.

[ClassicFan]

But I can see a point in the, dare I say, minority groups having their own pages. Facebook is SO ephemeral that a, say, FWD owner can ask a question on one of the main pages and it'll be lost and unanswered within a day or two, whereas on a dedicated model page with less traffic and more members model familiar it's more likely to get a result.

Of course there is this Forum which I recommend to anyone who asks where to pose any Dolomite related query. But not everyone seems to share my enthusiasm for it. I don't know why, as there is more knowledge and a monumentally bigger archive here, than in all the FB pages put together. But there you go, nowt as strange as folk!

Steve

Therein lays the issue. Younger people mostly interact via mobile phone/social media and view 'forums' as old fashioned and think they get 'Free' and quicker answers to questions via social media but never think to 'search' the internet (or the FB group their posting in) to see if the answer to their question is already out there (in 90%+ of cases it already is). Often the answers they get though are dubious and sometimes downright dangerous, but that's 'social media' for you

Having said that the archive here is far far bigger than on FB, the actual search facility on all php based forums leaves a lot to be desired with good old Google still being the better way to search versus the basic search engine default in different browsers. My default browser atm is 'Brave' but I had to change the search to Google because of the cr*p results via Brave search. I do use MS Edge, Chrome and Firefox as well (plus Safari on my phone) if looking for an obscure answer as all search engines give different results....

PhpBB itself does look 'Old Fashioned' compared to the likes of XenForo https://xenforo.com/ which may also be part of the problem but they often cost $$ - There is a good discussion on the pros and cons of different forum software from the younger community here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PHP/comments/r ... rum_today/

However, whether changing to something different would make a difference these days is pretty doubtful so all you can do is keep posting on the FB groups and pointing people to this club forum.

[DoloWIGHTY]

I see you have left of the main Facebook group for Dolomite owners from your list, the one with the largest members, the most active one.

Do you mean the one who’s moderator removed any posts with reference to the Club and what it had to offer on the basis he felt he should be able to reap all the benefits of membership whilst contributing nothing?

I wouldn't know Alun, I have no knowledge of the running of the group, or what gets removed. However, I can assure you that people asking about spares availability are told that this club can provide it.

[James467]

Most young people don't use Facebook anymore, I was told by the apprentice at work that it's not "cool" anymore, he's 16 and seems to know what's cool and what's not!!

It seems to be frequented by people aged 40 plus and my parents!!

The younglings nowadays use Instagram and Ticktock!

I personally don't use any social media, like Alun said I find it very sinister and narcissistic in it’s psychological underpinnings as well.

[geeksteve]

I personally don't use any social media, like Alun said I find it very sinister and narcissistic in it’s psychological underpinnings as well.

It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to call forums "social media"

[bazyerma]

I personally don't use any social media, like Alun said I find it very sinister and narcissistic in it’s psychological underpinnings as well.

It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to call forums "social media"

Best answer so far

Just a shame that the forum isnt set up to be viewed on a Phone very well.

Regards

Barry

[ClassicFan]

It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to call forums "social media"

Best answer so far

Just a shame that the forum isnt set up to be viewed on a Phone very well.

Regards

Barry

Works and resizes OK on my iPhone Barry so what do you feel is wrong?

[bazyerma]

Other than being a bit small, I would say it's better than I remember.

Reply on my Android phone via duckduckgo!

Maybe it's a more a more sinister and narcissistic in it's psychological underpinnings that people prefer Facebook?

Regards Barry

[Carledo]

Most young people don't use Facebook anymore, I was told by the apprentice at work that it's not "cool" anymore, he's 16 and seems to know what's cool and what's not!!

It seems to be frequented by people aged 40 plus and my parents!!

The younglings nowadays use Instagram and Ticktock!

I personally don't use any social media, like Alun said I find it very sinister and narcissistic in it’s psychological underpinnings as well.

If Facebook is sinister then Ticktock is downright scary, from what I hear (and not just from the tinfoil hat brigade) anything on it may be accessed by the CCP in China! So much so that government and military personnel in the US are already banned from using it and rumour has it the UK is contemplating similar measures!

I maintain a presence on FB purely as a means of selling non-Dolomite Triumph parts I have about me! Though, for every sale, there are a dozen timewasters, it does still reach a wide audience. Even if they ARE 40+YO men, that is pretty much my target market!

Steve