How to share Permies with your friends on Social Media

One of the easiest things you can do to help out Paul and the empire is to tell all of your friends, and these days that means Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, Google + . . . you get the idea.

Posting a Thread on Facebook

When you come across a post that you thing is great and want to share, go to the top of your browser and copy the link and then head over to your Facebook page.

Click in the 'Update Your Status' and paste the link, add some of your own words on why your friends should check it out and hit post.

If there is a video or picture in the article or thread, it will show up when you paste in the link. It will look a little something like this:



The same principal can be applied to Google+ and Twitter.

Sharing a Permies Post on Facebook

Another easier way to share what has already be posted on Paul's fan page (you have liked his fan page, right?)



You see where is says share. Click on that and a pop up will come up and then click Share Link and then all of your friends will be able to see it.

Other good places to share permies stuff is Reddit, and Pintrest.

There are many, many more social media sites and if you are active on any of them, share any and all of Paul's (or other Permie people's) videos, articles, and threads. It is great way to share the permaculture love.

Awesome instructions, Cassie.

I think in both FaceBook and reddit (and others?), the comments help raise things to the top even more than a "like." So both liking and commenting - having a conversation, really - helps infect brains even more.

Today, I ran across this excellent (albeit a bit extra glowy IMHO) video about reddit. Since I've had many people ask, 'what is reddit' I thought it might help to post here.




There is actually a permies.com sub-reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/Permies/.

This is also a good excuse to bump this thread as a reminder: if you want to help infect brains for building a better world, share what you love - the fun, informative stuff about permaculture!

Good information. Liked the video Jocelyn. I'm really new to Reddit, myself. That video was helpful. I do have to comment that most other sites, in general, aren't as NICE as Permies and most are not as easy to navigate (IMO).

I agree, Karen, other sites do have more of a dark side. The high levels of reddit snark can turn ugly quite quickly.

Paul, Devaka and other behind-the-scenes awesome folks (coders) have been making the permies forums work more easily in a lot of ways - including pictures and videos.

When posting a permies.com forum link to Facebook, for example, if there is a picture in the first post of the thread, Facebook will grab that as the image for the post on Facebook. If there isn't a picture in the thread, Facebook is pretty random in what it grabs from the permies.com page - sometimes a permies.com image, some times one of the ads on the page - it's weird.

Most other social media sites are all about the pictures (or cat videos!) so I think we have a better chance of showing them our cool stuff if we add lots of pictures and videos here.

I am on Facebook (also with some pages and in some groups), Google+ and Pinterest. Together with the Permies-forum, looking interesting Youtube videos and listening podcasts ... I think I can't do more on social media ... it would take a too large part of my days.
I'll do my best to share / post things about Permies more often.

I am similar to Inge on this; where is that fine line between constant postings across a host of media, and getting off the computer and putting action to soil?

This is a question, not a challenge, but a challenge I am really facing myself.

Yesterday I had the privilege of being at a luncheon with our State Governor and the Commissioner of Agriculture and watched a well deserved farm family get recognition as Maine Farmer of the year. I will be honest, I was a bit jealous as it would be a boost to my already enlarged ego to be recognized for my commitment to agriculture, but here is the thing. The people that get these awards are active; not just on the internet, but in joining promotion boards, local committees, funding lobbying efforts and the like. There is merit to all that, and it shows commitment for sure, but there is only so much time in the day.

There is 24 hours in a day. Period.

I have a wife, a farm, 4 young daughters and am active in church, a international mission, the local soil and water conservation district, and a local children's camp mission, but I cannot say I am busier then another person, it is just that that is where I choose to allocate my time. Now the percentage's of time on those endeavors is not equal; some I spend more time on then others, but it is no different then say a person who spends 18 hours a day gaming. That is their choice, but it is still 24 hours in the day.

I try not to be judgemental, but where is the fine line between sharing, joining like-minded action groups, and promotional boards, versus just being more active on my own farm accomplishing real-live things?

Yesterday, as we were sitting with some friends who have a successful and very large dairy farm, just before they announced who the recipient was, the lady turned to me and said, "It is probably you Travis", in jest of course. To which I said, "Oh they do not even know I exist." That is probably only partly true, the Commissioner of Agriculture knows who I am and my farm's long 9th generational history, but since I choose to promote farming through helping others quietly on the internet and a FEW committees, its subdued background stuff and not name-making. But that is me, as many can attest I am on here using private messages to encourage and motivate, not in flattery but in honesty and respect. You get better results when it is personal, and I have found committees change that dynamics.

So its frustrating, an obscure average farm in Maine, trying to be uplifting and encouraging to others, trying to show others through changes on the farm itself, that it takes more then discussion of theory, but making things actually happen. There is no recognition for that sadly.

Travis Johnson wrote:
I have a wife, a farm, 4 young daughters and am active in church, a international mission, the local soil and water conservation district, and a local children's camp mission, but I cannot say I am busier then another person, it is just that that is where I choose to allocate my time. Now the percentage's of time on those endeavors is not equal; some I spend more time on then others, but it is no different then say a person who spends 18 hours a day gaming. That is their choice, but it is still 24 hours in the day.

To reply to both of you and Inge, Travis, yes, it's totally all about choice and personal preference! And often timing. When my daughter was in community theatre, we probably spent 18 hours a week involved with that, almost year-round. I had two kids, a part-time job, was doing some homesteading-style homemaking (in the suburbs) and I did not have time for TV. Even when the husband at the time and the kids sat down for a video, I did not. I was doing laundry, dishes, food prep, cleaning, etc. and didn't see most of the movies they saw. And I certainly didn't have much time for the computer back then (though that was before social media because I'm getting old!!).

I totally get how many permies would rather be out gardening than inside at the computer. Though more and more people are outside (everywhere, actually) with their smartphones. You know, snapping pictures, sharing the glory of nature, gardens, bugs, critters, and homesteading with the online world. That's kinda cool.

The social media stuff is a moving target in some ways. (Even the screenshots Cassie posted in the first post of this thread have moved!) And it's truly not everyone's bailiwick. Paul and many others are just trying to make the permies.com forums something that is useful in its own, unique way AND that is appealing when it is shared on social media.

Pictures. Videos.

Those seem to be the most appealing in a social media environment so the dev team here at permies.com has been working behind the scenes to ensure they work well across the boards/formats/genres.

It can be unfortunate that those who know how to play the publicity game get the most recognition, though there is power in the masses.

As a group, I think the more we expose our friends, acquaintances, family, local municipalities, and other community groups (in meat space or online) to more sustainable practices, the more likely these methods will become part of the mainstream paradigm. My kids do not know a world that does not recycle. The idea of throwing out recyclable items is, well, simply not thinkable to them. That's a generational shift I've been a part of. I wish to see more of that. Sharing stuff from the forums here could help.

Thanks for bringing this back up. It's a good reminder. It's a shame the images in the first post are missing, but I guess most people know how to post stuff on Facebook. I ventured into reddit once, and quickly venture back out again. Not my cup of tea at all. But I will start to post more on my Facebook, and although I've never done anything on Pinterest, I do have an account, so I can do more there. I was building images for Destiny for posting to Pinterest, but I suppose I can post them myself as well. (I did the images for the Permaculture playing cards that are in that thread now.)

Anyway, social media - as annoying as it can be - really is an important aspect of 'getting the word out', so I'll try to do my part and share, share, share. I'll also be making plenty of links to Permies from our soon to be launched website. Lots of little things that I hope add up to something helpful.

Cheers
Tracy

One thing to think about, especially with facebook, is to know your audience. I, personally, have been known to hide people who post insane amounts of things each day, especially if they're something I don't agree with or am sick of seeing. (No, I don't want to buy your Lularoe, or Thrive Supplement Patches, and I don't particularly need to see 15 inspirational memes from you every day--I'd rather see what's going on in my friends lives!). But, when people only post about something once/day, I'm more likely to not get sick of seeing their posts and start hiding their posts or the sites they post from. I'd hate to see Permies get "hid" by someone just because I annoyed them by posting too many things in too short amount of time.

My current facebook game plan is to "like" all of Paul's and Permies posts, comment as much as I can on them, and to share something from permies or permaculture related about once a week. More than that, and I think some of my friends would get sick of me. Just like with religion, if you shove it down people's throats, they will likely barf it up. If you season it with salt (sparingly and temptingly), people will be more likely to want a taste...and ask for more! I think the Wheaton Eco Scale comes in handy here, too. Think about what level the majority of your facebook friends are at, and post things that are just a few levels ahead--just enough to be inspirational and not scary/crazy .

Another thing I do in the facebook realm takes place on other pages' posts. I follow a bunch of pages that will post links to gardening articles. I like to go through and answer people's questions with links to permies threads and articles for more information. A lot of those people are at a level where they're ready and open to learn about permaculture, and just need some tempting info to get them reading more .

And don't forget, we have a Permies account on Pinterest!. If you're a pinning addict, you can pin Permies images to your boards! I'd like to see about inviting people to post Permies stuff to Groups Boards there (I don't think there are any, yet). You needn't have login access to Permies Pinterest, just accept an invitation to contribute to  a Group board. You can also use this to add to your residual revenue streams: pins with affiliate links can be pinned. This also helps Permies as Paul W. gets additional funding for his World Domination plans and growing the Empire!

There may even a way to grow the Daily-ish with this: images can be posted to a Daily-ish forum/thread and then be pinned... people will see this and visit the Daily-ish thread and sign up!

Permies Pinterest get 5.8 million views a month (down from 6.2 m last month.)