Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rich5ltr]

Being a Ludite I wondered what the Facebook page does over and above the Forum? I've "liked" it if that's the expression but what does that mean will happen? Looking on there it seems to be mostly the same stiff as on here?

Also, I coulnd't see a website feedback/questions page so I've put this here.

Rich...

[Dipster]

Facebook? Never been there as I cannot see what use it might be to be to me. Same goes for Twitter. I just see them as ego sites for some and money machines for a couple..........

[Ellis]

Facebook and Twitter?

I don't subscribe to either. There's much to be said about both being a snooper's delight although I understand that many forums are as active on Facebook as they are like here and now.

Not for me.
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Peter_L]

I had Facebook page for a few days but could not find a reason to keep it.

I don't mind e-mail or better still the phone (where possible) as a means of communication but can't see why I would want everyone and their dog to know what I did today.

However,,,,,,, OCC is a commercial venture and its existence depends on the finance raised because people visit the site.

I, for one, get all the fun and info for $0's. Although I no longer have anything approaching a classic, I show interest and sometimes try and help out with information and articles.

As for twitter. I have less than zero need for it.

[Rick]

Forums are a much better way of maintaining ongoing dialogue about subjects, witness the long-running threads that can be found across here. FB can't compete in that regard, as posts get buried very quickly indeed and are hard to find again. It has its uses, yes, but all postings are highly transient.

(I find my personal FB page handy for keeping up with local news and events, via village and town FB pages that appear in my timeline. So while I'm definitely no FB junkie, it can have its uses. There is a lot of noise on there though! Like everything, you just have to filter out the cr*p.)

The OCC FB page was set up, mainly because of the large number of other people that use FB. For that reason it makes sense to have a presence on there. No ego involved. Also, many people use FB rather than a search engine as their first port of call when looking for something too, so it makes sense for OCC to be findable via that route. FB won't last forever though, and I don't spend time making content just for FB, I only use it to promote what's going on here. Another route in, that's it. Same with Twitter, although that's even less useful than FB.

Search engines such as Google make it increasingly difficult to rank well for organic (ie non paid for) searches, so diversifying routes into the site (via FB, Twitter etc) has to happen.

Maintaining pages on social media also sends signals back to the search engines, that you're in it for the long-term, which can only help. Saying that, FB is getting increasingly commercial too - despite having x thousand likes (followers), only a tiny percentage ever get to see your updates in their own feed - unless you pay up. So its usefulness is diminishing as time goes on, and creating content solely for FB is largely a waste of time for me.

As an aside though, and one that I wasn't expecting, being on FB has turned up some fabulous old photographs that I've been allowed to share on OCC - an unexpected benefit.

Rich - questions about the site, and feedback, occur often enough without me encouraging it with a specific section on the forum or site - OCC is a one-man-band operation, which is fine, but time to run everything is limited

First and foremost it's a hobby site, and always has been. I hope that my enthusiasm for the subject is obvious. A "commercial venture"? well, there is some advertising in place. However, every week I get bombarded by companies wishing to load the site and forum up with adverts, pop-ups, pop-unders, in-line text adverts, sales promotions and so on, which I politely - and un-commercially - refuse.

The forum is its members, ok I guide things along a bit, but without the members it's nothing. I value the input that its active users add, and am continually impressed by how civilised conversations are - little moderation is ever required. Taking the commercial route and loading it up with the aforementioned promotions may have short-term £ gain (maybe), but would likely upset the status quo and most probably dissuade people from returning I'm sure

A forum & site that both Rich and I call by on, no naming required, is groaning under the weight of advertising, presumably as dictated by its parent company. Would that forum & site continue if all advertising ended overnight? Probably not. Would OCC continue if all advertising was removed overnight? Of course it would, just as it did for years after first going live in 2001 (taking over from a short-lived site that I ran called Jalopy).

Back to FB - will I continue using it? I've been online long enough to see fads come and go, so FB will be used for the foreseeable so long as it makes sense to do so. A useful tool, but not much more than that.



RJ
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[MikeEdwards]

I have similar reasons for being on FB - simply that some people I know and want to stay in contact with do so more easily on that platform - largely because their only email address is work-related, so if they change jobs we could lose touch. My local club has a group on FB as well, and have found new members that way simply because they find it easier to search there.

From time to time, interesting things pop up there - as Rick said - and I think that's because "outsiders" who have interesting stuff to share are more likely to hit Facebook and try to find somewhere to share it than to search around the internet for specialist forum sits such as this one, go through the sign-up procedure, just to share a photo.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm no Facebook addict. I have "issues" with the random order that posts appear in, for a start - I can select "most recent" to give some kind of order, but when I do that the site continually prompts me to return to the normal "Facebook will choose" order, and even if I don't, it reverts after a few days anyway.

Still, like so many of these other "pointless" sites, I wish I'd thought of it.

[Rootes75]

Forum everytime for me. I am not on Facebook but the wife is, all I ever hear about is over-reactions to news and what people have had for tea!! Like anyone really wants to know!
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[peppiB]

I have a FB account as it is the only way I know where in the world my son is. I have never created a post and about twice a year will reply to one. Just not my scene at all

[Rick]

[peter scott]

Broadcasting private conversations always seemed a strange thing to me. I just couldn't understand why I'd ever want to use it.
Email for the private stuff. Forums for the public stuff.

Peter
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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Peter_L]

[Minxy]

I do not have a face book account neither do I want one. I know and accept that some find social network sites really quite exciting but my view is slightly tainted from working in a school where a day never passes that at least one young person is not in tears and repeating the dreaded 'Facebook' between sobs. So each to their own but sadly I only see the negative affects.

[MikeEdwards]

[47Jag]

I was persuaded to open a FB account by my wife's best friend so the my wife could see the photos of her son's wedding in Australia. That was fine as long as I had one friend but somehow (I really don't know how) I invited everyone in my email address book to be my friend As others have already said it is amazing what the 'regulars' get to talk about there.

Art

[goneps]

I just find the whole social media circus, not to mention the imbeciles who can't leave their 'phones alone, completely ridiculous. I'm not fond of the expression, but "get a life" sums it up for me.

Richard