Does the society have a Facebook Fan Page? All I can find is the community page that was auto-generated by Facebook with info from wikipedia here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Heraldry-Society/103790649660219
I’ve heard talk of a Facebook group in the forum, but can’t find a link.
A search of both our forum and Facebook in general doesn’t seem to yield anything for me.
If there is a society presence on facebook, might I suggest the following:
1. Link to the page on the home page of our website.
2. Ensure it’s actually a "fan page" as opposed to a "personal profile" or "group" neither of which are useful for outreach and education as an organization.
If there is not, I propose we create one. I’d be happy to volunteer setting it up and pass admin rights to officers too.
It appears the American College of Heraldry has a good example of a fan page: http://www.facebook.com/americanheraldry
Too bad they already grabbed the url "/americanheraldry"
There is an AHS facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=59631965820
It is in the "Group" format.
Ok - I understand now. We use the group so that it’s exclusive to members. I would still suggest - if we are interested in promoting best practices in heraldry - that we create a public fan page.
Admins of the facebook group may want to note the changes being made to groups too:
Quote:
Over the next few months, Facebook will be archiving all groups created using the old groups format. When this group is archived, its wall posts, photos and discussion threads will move to the new groups format, but group members will need to be re-added.
Jeremy,
I have tried several times to "take ownership" of the page identified as "American Heraldry Society" even using my society email address and have been told each time that I did not meet their requirements to take over the page. I agree that we should have a presence there, if for no other reason than to point people to out website, but not sure there should be redundant pages. Since the current "organization" page is there, as long as it has correct information, that should be fine for now. Perhaps eventually we can get control of it.
Ah - yes. The Facebook "Community Pages" are awful frustrating. Here’s an article that helps differentiate between some of the different pages:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-community-pages-what-your-business-needs-to-know/
I still think it would behoove the society to create its own fan page - esp. given we have no control over the community page (except for ensuring our wikipedia article is accurate) and only 44 people "like" the community page.
I see it as more than just a vehicle to drive traffic to our own site. And as the Fan Page gains momentum, searches will lead people more to the fan page than the community one and we won’t need to worry too much about having multiple pages.
Facebook is one of the new ways of developing website traffic. It’s a little weird who has facebook pages these days, but if it works, it works. I was at the mall yesterday, and they had a sign on one of the mirrors in the restroom that read "Follow Gateway Mall now on Facebook and Twitter". I’m thinking, who seriously is that into the mall that you follow them on Facebook or Twitter. People are odd…so you may as well play into their strange habits 
.
RE: the mall thing… teenagers who’s parents drop them off to "hang out"
But I would have thought that would be more effective in the girl’s room.
<grin>
Facebook can certainly be more than just a way to get people to the forum. It’s another venue for heraldry enthusiasts to connect and talk about the subject or just shoot-the-shit, if you will.
Any more buzz we can create around heraldry - the better - in my opinion
Jeremy Corbally-Hammond;83982 wrote:
I still think it would behoove the society to create its own fan page
May I suggest to suggest this to the Board to be taken up at its next meeting?
I would really like to see some forward progress from AHS, in regards to promoting itself. The board tends to go stagnant every couple months or so, where hardly any posts are made. Then suddenly a new member shows up, wanting to design an arms, and the board starts hopping again. If we could generate a more consistent flow of members, we wouldn’t end up with those down times. Granted, the demand for heraldry is less than other subjects, but I think the interest is still there in a lot of people.
For clarity, I think Joshua is refering to the forum when he says "board" not the governing body of the AHS.
Need to prevent there being a misunderstanding there.
This message currently resides at the top of the Facebook "Group" page:
Quote:
This group is scheduled to be archived
Over the next few months, Facebook will be archiving all groups created using the old groups format. When this group is archived, its wall posts, photos and discussion threads will move to the new groups format, but group members will need to be re-added.
Kathy McClurg;84072 wrote:
For clarity, I think Joshua is refering to the forum when he says "board" not the governing body of the AHS.
Need to prevent there being a misunderstanding there.
Correct.
J. Stolarz;84071 wrote:
I would really like to see some forward progress from AHS, in regards to promoting itself. The [forum] tends to go stagnant every couple months or so, where hardly any posts are made. Then suddenly a new member shows up, wanting to design an arms, and the board starts hopping again. If we could generate a more consistent flow of members, we wouldn’t end up with those down times. Granted, the demand for heraldry is less than other subjects, but I think the interest is still there in a lot of people.
I feel like I need to point out a few things.
1) You folks in the younger set may not be picking up on the trends as much, but the forum tends to slow down at pretty consistent times of the year, like when the grass all of a sudden needs to be cut more regularly and the yard needs more maintenance. The waxing and waning of activity is not as random as it might appear.
2) Many, many conversations have already been had. Some of them many times. Look at the thread on supporters right now. Not only has that discussion occurred, but with the exception of Jeffrey it’s all older members participating (again).
3) The design threads are deceptive when it comes to gauging activity on the forum. They often tend to generate a lot of discussion, but the participation is varied not only in terms of who participates, but even among those who participate regularly on the forum. Some design threads will attract some members where others do not, while some members will almost always jump in on design threads. If you’re looking at the quantity of design threads to determine 1) how much interest there is in heraldry or 2) how much interest there is in participation (by members), I don’t think that’s a very good measure of either.
Kenneth Mansfield;84119 wrote:
but with the exception of Jeffrey it’s all older members participating (again).
I have two years and three months under my belt with AHS, so I guess this means I’m in my "terrible twos now?" :spooky:
Also, just in case anyone was wondering, I do seach out and read old threads on a given subject before I post new ones, and I did read previous discussions on supporters. Since I wanted to open a new angle on the "old discussion" I started a new thread rather than sully the old one as I wasn’t quite sure what the reaction would be.
As to Facebook, I do like the community/group page being available, though I don’t really have an opionion on the idea of a fan page. 