A challenge is finding people and organisations to help me spread the word about the group and events. I understand that most people don't want to feel like a broadcaster- I'm only interested to connect with individuals and organisations that are passionate about supporting women in tech, and opt in.
That said, when I go onto Facebook and post a mention of an event on a fan page or group that aims to attract the types of women who would likely be interested to participate I don't expect for my post to be removed. I understand spam, and I understand that we don't want irrelevance diluting the dialogue.
The point is- participating on Facebook means inviting a dialogue. Having a fan page should be about your fans and not yourself. Social media is not a print campaign. It's a way to share and connect. If you are interested in having a one-way dialogue or only allowing wall posts by paid advertisers you are bastardising the very foundation of community.
Please don't EVER do this:
Facebook is not a magazine. The wall should not be limited to paid posts.
Now I can appreciate that Women's Network Australia might not be interested to support GGD, or perhaps they would have preferred that I email them a request to post information about our next event on their wall, but that isn't how Facebook works.
Yes, an organisation can set guidelines and block people from posting inappropriate material, but this is something entirely different. This is paid inclusion, and in my opinion; abuse of a free service. If WNA wants to only allow paid wall posts then they should build that feature on their own website. If an organisation is not open to facilitating networking amongst fans then they should hide the wall or only allow admins to post.
The message I've received is that WNA is only interested in those who pay to be included. Or maybe the only networking they support is their own.
I believe this walled garden approach to community management is old fashioned, and out of touch. (I especially like that a man is acting as a representative of a women's organisation. How very progressive.)
To help illustrate the difference of a fan page and a website, I'd like to quote a recent Mashable article entitled, 5 Big Brands That Are Rocking the Social Media Space:
Starbucks has proven it’s social media savvy. It has continued to launch new campaigns and engage followers along the way. And it continues to source ideas from its custom social network, My Starbucks Idea.
The Seattle-based caffeine king wants to know what you want from Starbucks, and the company is listening. The site enables consumers to share their ideas and critique others’ ideas as well. Discussions are encouraged, and the community votes to see which ideas become reality. The “Give a Gift” idea was suggested back in 2008, and drew more than 42,000 votes. It may have taken some time for the idea to become a reality, but it shows that Starbucks is listening to its customers.
Although this example is a digression it does illustrate the importance of encouraging outsiders (fans) to share and give their opinion. The post I created was contextual to the demographic, it didn't require that fans move to a different location or vacate the WNA fan page, video contributions for the GGD Tech 2010 Review 2011 Predictions can be done through any type of online community which allows video uploads, and it would help fans of WNA get noticed for their opinions. It was a post about empowerment on a fan page claiming to be dedicated to female enterpreneurs.
I believe that if the aim is to control the media -then social media is not for you. If instead, you want to engage an audience and encourage feedback to improve your services and offering then social media is exactly the right medium for that message.
Here's a quick video about the nature of the GGD discussion:
