Facebook Takeover

So, the big question is how to get people to stop wasting their time posting valuable discussions to facebook and start posting them to permies?

Let's start a discussion on ideas to conquer this... addiction.

My first thought is to have a chrome extension that pops up a button while posting to Facebook that says something like “Permies Worthy?”. If they click that it asks where the post should go and automatically starts the thread for them with their post.
Is there already an existing extension that would do something like this or is this within anybody's capabilities to build? Are there better ways this extension could work or better features you can think of?

Bit of a tangent to the exact question but i'd suggest finding a way to combine the two. facebook has a lot of eyes on it. A permies.com page and group on facebook could be a powerful way to get people who have never heard of permies.com over here. An fb page plus an fb group with lots of posts, likes, comments and clicks is fabulous free advertising for a website because the posts find their way into friends and friends of friends fb feeds.

There is a permies Facebook page, Steve. https://www.facebook.com/PermiesCommunity/

Feel free to spread the word!

If there was an fb group that worked in conjunction with the page, then permies.com forum members could put their main content especially photos/videos on permies.com, then go to the fb group and post a brief summary with link to permies.com. Other permies.com forum members in the fb group then like, comment, share and this putts the posts value up in fb;s algorithm, and it goes in the feed of people who have never been to permies.com. Instant free new views to permies.com. With just a page and no group, it's a one way deal that doesn't leverage the forum the content and is dependent on manpower from permies staff rather than all the permies forum members.

Permies Public Thread to Facebook Group/Page

It might be easiest to integrate something that auto posts threads (or new threads) from permies to the facebook group. It would be best if at the end of each auto post to facebook it says something like "to comment or follow this topic see the original thread here (insert thread URL here).
I don't know that you could make it auto post comments to the facebook post with replies to the thread or that you would even want to.

All I can say, is I don't do FB. Never have never will. I also don't do snapchat, or instagram, twitter, or even reddit.

I just don't have the time to waste on such things. They seem to suck your time away from what I have seen of other people using them. They also seem to make people spend more time in the virtual world than the real one. I joined a few forums that I have interest in, and youtube and that is it.

So can't help you with ideas to get people off FB and here instead. I have never seen the attraction to FB in the first place.

Josiah Wallingford wrote:So, the big question is how to get people to stop wasting their time posting valuable discussions to facebook and start posting them to permies?

Let's start a discussion on ideas to conquer this... addiction.

I can't agree with the premise. Currently, I post more about what we are doing on Facebook than on Permies - because more people who are interested in what we are doing at this stage see it on FB than here on Permies and I've been getting much more feedback on FB than on Permies.  Before much longer we'll be at a point where I expect Permies will find it more interesting, and I'll make more effort to post here - but I'll keep posting on FB because I reach different audiences.

Peter Ellis wrote:

Josiah Wallingford wrote:So, the big question is how to get people to stop wasting their time posting valuable discussions to facebook and start posting them to permies?

Let's start a discussion on ideas to conquer this... addiction.

I can't agree with the premise. Currently, I post more about what we are doing on Facebook than on Permies - because more people who are interested in what we are doing at this stage see it on FB than here on Permies and I've been getting much more feedback on FB than on Permies.  Before much longer we'll be at a point where I expect Permies will find it more interesting, and I'll make more effort to post here - but I'll keep posting on FB because I reach different audiences.

I agree with Peter. Posting what I do to Facebook has gotten much more attention and interest then here on permies. I think it takes more to stand out here and there is a specific style that fits in well here. On Facebook I find most of the people I reach have just dabbled in gardening and are amazed at what might be considered fairly standard permaculture practices on permies. Another advantage is that if someone comments on my post on Facebook it may then be shared with their friends who I might not have any connection with. This expands my reach and is what "going viral" refers to since this sharing can spread from person to person. Now the big disadvantage to Facebook over permies is the connections on Facebook can be fleeting and not as deep. Here on permies the connections tend to be much deeper and comments more thoughtful - but the audience is smaller.

For promoting my work as I move forward and start my business I will use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, a blog, email and of course Permies to reach as broad of an audience as possible - plus local in person interactions. I also plan to promote permies by sharing interesting threads, talking about the site, etc.

So I see it as a trade off and essentially different tools for different purposes. Of course this is not even touching on the broader issue of the role of Facebook, Twitter, etc. in our society and you could make the case that the overall net impact of those sites is negative but that is a much larger conversation.

I like fb for certain things and permies for some things (and email for other things)  From my point of view, permies has the in depth conversations and fb the snippets of stuff... links and pictures and probably too many memes  I find both very useful.   Even political discussions on fb among my very political friends aren't all that 'in depth'...just links to 'what's happening now' mostly and where the next march is.....

So far I do not have any disagreements with anything related to why facebook is useful or not useful. But I do not think that matters for what I am proposing. What I am proposing is a way of "auto sharing" what is posted to permies public forums onto the permies facebook group. I guess what I am hearing is that there would be no use for that but I am thinking there is a great use for it.
If I am on facebook and looking at my wall, I will see posts from different groups I am in as well as posts from friends and people I follow. If I were to see a permies post there I might be inclined to share that post with other groups or on my wall, thus spreading the message further than it would normally spread sitting on permies alone. This is why I emphasized including a link back to the original permies thread in each "auto share".

What I am proposing is a way of "auto sharing" what is posted to permies public forums onto the permies facebook group.

I got sidetracked in my previous reply...yes, I like that idea.  As it is now, several of my fb 'friends' are permies and share links to different threads here.  I think you're idea would be great, although I would somehow want to filter how many notifications I got from the permies fb page. If every thread showed up I think it would be just too many to wade through....or maybe the person posting at permies would have 'auto sharing' available when they post or maybe just a choice for moderators to make?  

Josiah Wallingford wrote:So far I do not have any disagreements with anything related to why facebook is useful or not useful. But I do not think that matters for what I am proposing. What I am proposing is a way of "auto sharing" what is posted to permies public forums onto the permies facebook group. I guess what I am hearing is that there would be no use for that but I am thinking there is a great use for it.
If I am on facebook and looking at my wall, I will see posts from different groups I am in as well as posts from friends and people I follow. If I were to see a permies post there I might be inclined to share that post with other groups or on my wall, thus spreading the message further than it would normally spread sitting on permies alone. This is why I emphasized including a link back to the original permies thread in each "auto share".

Having an easy way to share to facebook would be great and I fully support that!

Josiah Wallingford wrote:My first thought is to have a chrome extension that pops up a button while posting to Facebook that says something like “Permies Worthy?”. If they click that it asks where the post should go and automatically starts the thread for them with their post.
Is there already an existing extension that would do something like this or is this within anybody's capabilities to build? Are there better ways this extension could work or better features you can think of?

I find Chrome extensions the best way to work - I use them all of the time.