Update on the Fans of the WCHA group in Facebook

[Benson Gray]

The Fans of the WCHA group in Facebook has been generating some discussion recently so I decided to see if I could get some better numbers to help tell the story. This group currently has 6242 members which is substantially higher than the more that 1100 members who currently subscribe to the WCHA. I attempted to extract the names of all 6242 members but found that Facebook makes that process painfully slow. Several hours of effort only got 4426 members who had joined within the last three years. Only 73 of those names exactly matched names in the WCHA's membership list. A total of 31 matching members had joined the organization and the Facebook group around the same time. This could imply that a few people have found out about the WCHA and joined after learning about the organization from the Facebook group. It could also simply be a coincidence. The information isn't detailed enough to track the exact timing of that sequence of events. This does provide a way to publicize the name of the organization to several thousand people who might not know about the WCHA otherwise. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks,

Benson

 

[floydvoid]

Who owns the fb group? The name implies that it is not an official wcha page but sort of the unofficial page. Not that it matters as much.
Would it be helpful for a group member to advertise wcha membership in some way?

 

[Benson Gray]

Ownership is an interesting concept as it applies to a Facebook group. My opinion is that the WCHA's board of directors is the ultimate owner of anything related to the WCHA. That group was first created by Kathy Klos many years ago, shortly after she had been elected to the WCHA's board of directors. The concept was that the offical WCHA page would be for formal announcements and would not be open for the public to post questions. The Fans of the WCHA group would be wide open for anyone to post anything related to wooden canoes. Kathy has since gone off the grid so I stepped in to help manage the group after a bad spam flood several years ago. I'm not sure that it would help for a group member to advertise their WCHA membership. Most of us tend to know each other already. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Pearson made a good pitch on there the other day.

 

[1905Gerrish]

Pearson made a good pitch on there the other day.

Yes he did Dave. I believe we should all chime in the same fashion for the good of the organization once in a while.

 

[Dan Miller]

Still, there are a number of us who don’t, or won’t, use facebook.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

The Fans of the WCHA group in Facebook

Who owns the fb group?

Ownership is an interesting concept as it applies to a Facebook group. My opinion is that the WCHA's board of directors is the ultimate owner of anything related to the WCHA. That group was first created by Kathy Klos many years ago

Perhaps I'm wrong as a newer member of the BOD, but I'm not aware that the WCHA "owns" that FB page. From what I read the creator and administrators of a FB group are the "owners". The listed admins are Benson Gray, Kathryn Klos Campbell and Ray Robidoux.

If it's true that Kathryn was the original creator, then that raises the question of whether she created it in her personal capacity or as an agent of the WCHA for the benefit of the WCHA. If the former, then the WCHA has no ownership interest. If the latter, then the membership page should perhaps be amended to name the WCHA as the creator. However, I'm not sure the BOD would want legal ownership of the "Friends" page because it might then feel responsible for whatever is posted there. I could bring the issue up at the March meeting, but it would be helpful if someone could find out from Kathryn the capacity in which she created the page.

 

[Benson Gray]

If it's true that Kathryn was the original creator

It is true that Kathy was the original creator and I've forwarded this question to her in an email along with a link to this thread. My understanding is that she is living 'off the grid' now so we may not get a reply for a long time, if ever. The link below has her first mention of the Fans group on this site from December 29th, 2009, shortly after she created it on December 26th, 2009.

Benson

The Sky Canoe

This is a great movie featuring the Penobscot River, the Tribe and their canoe.http://vimeo.com/5578168

forums.wcha.org

 

[Nick Dennis]

I will chip in here. The main WCHA FB page is closed so that only WCHA can post but people can follow as as Benson has said, is used to publicise official WCHA stuff and keeps the rubbish and spammers at bay.

The WCHA has about 1200 paid up members at present. The Fans FB page has 6000+ followers, some of which will have a genuine interest, others curiosity and some spammers/bots. Any publicity for the WCHA a is good and some debate/discussion on the Fans page generates interest. I would love for us to convert a proportion of the 6000 to paid up members and will keep trying. The main WCHA forum has to be the GOTO place for the best advice as it tends to be the home of many who have the knowledge and are prepared to share and disseminate their knowledge. On the other hand some advice given on the Fans page is dubious and sketchy at times.

If each of our 1200 members persuaded one new person to join that would be great and individually we could make a huge difference. My UK chapter has lost members as age has caught up with them but I have gained new members through personal recommendations. I have some who just want to come to the pub with us and don't own a canoe!

All we can do is to try our best and keep promoting the WCHA and getting the name out there.

Cheers,

Nick

PS. flights booked for July to the Adirondacks!

 

[Dan Lindberg]

- an understatement

On the other hand some advice given on the Fans page is dubious and sketchy at times.

 

[Benson Gray]

On the other hand some advice given on the Fans page is dubious and sketchy at times.

I believe that the usual summary is that 'free advice is worth every penny.' This group does seem to have a much better quality level for the 'free' advice.

Benson

 

[John Sand]

I use the Fans of WCHA page and like it. I just searched for the official WCHA page and couldn't find it. The search on FB is terrible.

 

[Benson Gray]

I just searched for the official WCHA page and couldn't find it.

Seaching in Facebook is always a bit of a shot in the dark. The first link below is to the official WCHA page on Facebook. The WCHA's home page at the second link below has a series of small symbols in the upper right corner that will take you to the WCHA's YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages respectively. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question.

Benson

Wooden Canoe Heritage Association

Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, Tamworth, New Hampshire. 3,431 likes · 154 talking about this. A non-profit membership organization devoted to preserving, studying, building, restoring, and using

www.facebook.com

Home | Wooden Canoe Heritage Association

www.woodencanoe.org

 

[John Sand]

Thanks!

 

[Benson Gray]

The Fans group has just passed 7000 members and the geographic statistics shown below may be of interest. The popularity in Asia is unexpected.

Benson

 

[Nick Dennis]

Excellent stats Benson.

We are continuing to keep vigilant to prevent this:

Monty Python Spam

Nick