Social Media in general
At the National in Sandringham this year I attended a presentation on Social Media given by Graham & Hannah from the Clubs Social Media team, they tried to cover all forms, Twitter, Instagram etc but it quickly became apparent that most of us in the audience were mainly interested in Facebook and (thankfully) only one person put their hand up and asked 'What is Club Together?' Hopefully they will now explore the website and find us here in person 
After much talk about security online in general, a good question was "Do the Club have a 'How to set up safely...' discussion topic for those that don't do all the jargon you get in most Help sites. It was difficult to explain that every different format ie, desktop, laptop, tablet, phone has its own quirks to surmount and both this forum and the Clubs Facebook page appear different in each format, there is not an easy step guide to setting up a profile. So perhaps this topic can be addressed here for anyone having difficulties to ask for help?
Alison
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Thank you for attending and raising CT on our behalf. Maybe things will improve.
I do use Facebook but don't want to friend the club. I have looked at there FB page and it's very hard to follow a topic. In fact the suggested post that pops up on my FB page has added comments since I last perused but I can't find ghee instantly and I don't want to trawl through a month of posts that I've already read.
I do notice that any comment eg signage gets a very quick response from a named club official very quickly. I did start a thread about FB and CT. Subjects such as signage, it was the example I used on the thread, had a fb comment some hours later whereas a CT thread running for pages hadn't received any comment. The comment was about not seeing the signs outside sites and the reply was we are looking at the positioning of signs. Flannel it may havd been but an acknowledgement it definitely was. Since the upgrade I am stunned by the lack of official comments on any of the threads. I'm not complaining but threads are not having posts Deleted User or being closed as they once we're, probably because less people post now and we are abiding by the rules?
It think FB could be great for instant things but CT offers so much more. If you want to know about journey routes, campsites, fixing something, non ehu etc etc CT is the place. If you like it's FB plus cos there are trivia type posts. There is so much knowledge among members I can't see how FB could outdo CT.
Losing CT would be a very backward step in my opinion.
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I imagine that the Club, who came to Facebook very late, had an eye to attracting non members or younger members who don't do traditional forums. The fact that you get answers may well be to do with the age group of staff looking after the page. If they are used to Facebook they will be more incline to get involved. However there is some signs of waste of resources. I was looking at a post about towing mirrors which would have been answered here almost immediately. However the Facebook staff wanted to refer it to the Technical Department so you do have to ask if they are being a bit OTT. As it happened I suggested that they might want to post on Club Together which the staff member agreed might also be a good idea but why didn't they think of it?
David
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Sadly I do wonder if CT would have got more than a passing mention if I hadn't happened to be there, they went to some length to explain why the Club was interested in Facebook with slides showing how one post can spread pyramid-style and bring more and more publicity - obviously something that doesn't happen with CT
.Alison
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As a cl site we try to promote ourselves and one way of doing this is by using Facebook.We put a lot of effort into our page Resthaven Farm Cl Site.
I do follow Caravan and Motorhome Club o Facebook but they mainly promote Club Sites
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Interesting what you say but do your actual customers come to you via Facebook or via the Club CL page/handbook. I tend not to use CL's but my impression is that many users are in the older age group (I stand to be corrected of course) who may well not be avid Facebook users.
David
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I don't like FB or the others and don't use them.I cannot see any reason for their existence. We are not old, at 72 we have hardly started. We've used CLs for about 45 years, relying mainly on the handbook. Occasionally these days a quick look at Google Earth.
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Being a CL user for 30 years now obviously I always used the handbook exclusively in those pre-PC days, but nowadays FB is a great tool for CL owners if only because they can put unlimited photos and loads more information than you get in the book OR on this website. I still look up CLs on here first but I will now also check out if they have a website or FB page too, after all you can never have too much information can you.
Alison
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PS... for ralliers many centres now seem to have a facebook page as well as their website now too, though most are closed groups (for non FB users that just means you have to ask to join the group to see it) this means you can ask questions about the rally/venue/programme etc before you book without the hassle of trying to get the marshals on the phone.
Alison
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Alison
As you know I am a Facebook member I have no issues with using it. However my gripe is that Facebook pages, like the ones we are discussing, often contain a lot of photographs but very little detail. I suppose whether we like it or not it is the way things are going. I belong to a Bailey Motorhome Owners Facebook Group which can provide useful information but unlike a proper forum its often difficult to go back and find information.
David
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DK, that is the beauty of using both FB and forums so you can get the best of both worlds, just a pity the powers that be can't get this one sorted.
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I take a peek at FB, Twitter etc but I'm not bothered about them unless I want a point of contact with people I know...but then people I know send me messages about messages on FB and I'm happy to be at the end of the receiving line. On here I find CT is the more robust and informative platform, even if it at times it is a pain to use and peruse.
It's good to offer help to anyone who wants to know about social media. So thanks Alison for bringing this up.
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Give me a "proper" forum any day. You can get a sensible discussion and dissemination of information on those. Facebook is really only suitable for transient trivia. As for Twitter.... the name says it all.
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I think the assumption that most retired folk don't do Facebook etc is somewhat false. We are in our 60s and along with most of our friends we are on FB. We find it useful to see what friends and family are up to and for sharing pics or sending private messages... In addition, by liking various venues, pubs, theatres,bands, suppliers, local radio, caravan clubs etc you get fed information about offers, what's on and when, about all kinds of things that are of interest to us.
CT is a completely different thing, it's a discussion forum mostly about caravanning topics, and whilst it can be, and is useful, has a more limited brief.
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Another well over 60 retiree who also uses FB. I have to agree with Cyberyacht, it is full of trivia much of which I block but it is useful along with the private messaging for keeping in touch with my widespread family and close friends. I rarely read the CMC page and the only time I have posted on it is to tell them this forum was down.
peedee
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Another over 60 who does not do face book or twitter. Folk keep saying it is good for keeping in touch with family. However, we find What's App,(which I think is owned by FB) Face Time, iMessage and even good old email plenty.
It would be nice if you could add photos and videos as easily on CT as on WA, we might see a few more then. Perhaps one day.😂
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My view of Companies that use FB is that they overuse it such that any notifications you buy into become a nuisance. This is also true of both the main Clubs and at least one of my family. Spam email has much the same effect, it is all eventually ignored or blocked.
peedee
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Age is certainly no barrier to using fb. Both over 60 and we use it. Started out as the ?only ? free method of committing when our daughter moved to NZ 10 years ago. Friends are strictly limited, but suggested posts drive me mad. I have tried looking at this club on fb but it's trivia. Can't follow a subject through even if there was one worth it. One of my frequent suggested posts is the club, I see that more comments have been added but even if I care to reread previous posts and scroll I can't find them.
My biggest gripe is that the club acknowledge posts ie don't think much of new magazine, signs, problems with sites, granted they only acknowledge and say they've passed on to relevant section, but at least there is response. There are so many threads on here, nowhere near the numbers there used to be 😉, so it should be possible to monitor them? 🙄 Some could be stopped in their tracks, eg filling water tanks without being on site, dogs off leads, currently the one about new entry to new facilities block at Southport, which would stop speculation by posters and some unnecessary bad feeling. But the HO line is this is for debate not interference. Great but sometimes an acknowledgement and response would be very very welcome.
This forum slow it may be 😉 does have some very helpful threads if only you can re-find them 😉
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