Engagement?

Ghost Orchids
Facebook has this term they like to use in the statistics on a fan or business page. It is engagement. Posts I make on Binford-Bell Studio are given information on how many peopled were reached as well as how many reacted to it. And then how many people were engaged with that post.

Reached means they looked at the post. I have some trouble contemplating just how FB knows that but I have begun to pay attention to it because the variance between that number and those who reacted (took the time to press an icon of like or love, etc) seems critical. If I was to compare it to a booth at an art fair reached would be those who stopped to at least look and reacted would be those who nodded approval or just smiled. And engaged would be those who walked into the booth and asked about a specific piece hung on the booth wall. Clearly engagement is to be preferred.

 But basically Facebook members are drive by shooters or bombers. Bombers - people who share without comment and move on. I profess to being one of those. Shooters - click a quick icon to signal you were there and move on. Cat photos and cat videos score highest in engagement. Thicke is a superstar at creating engagement. Lacking a new photo of the Prince of Cats I can post a photo of dawn, an elk, or a flower and achieve some engagement on my timeline.

 In the beginning of the resistance to Trump I had hoped for engagement in the issues but the suicide bombers (those that post a rude, crude, and totally unacceptable condemnation as the spoken word of God) made me not want engagement. It sometimes shuts me up. And if I bomb with a share from MSNBC it is without comment often. And if I am reached by a bomb dropped by a friend I usually respond with just a reaction. I have been suicide bombed because of crying icon in the past.

But Facebook should be about engagement. It should be a way to open a conversation which forwards our understanding of each other and our world. When I decided to return to FB I decided I needed to not just react but engage. Try to open those conversations. Even opposing teams shake hands.

Comments

  1. Ien in the KootenaysJune 18, 2018 at 7:33 AM

    The more engaged way to use Facebook takes more time. I most often share with a comment, but sometimes one wants to make the rounds and there just is not enough time to do everyone justice. Nice to see some of the old crowd is starting to blog again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JBinford-BellJune 18, 2018 at 10:03 AM

      Triage. I try not to open my mouth until I have seen a sampling. And that tip about the 12 friends with the most recent posts weeds through a bunch of "oh, not your grand children again." And if I have nothing to say I say nothing.

      I also don't seem myself as blogging at this pace forever. It was as if I tapped a well of unexpressed angst and spewed the contents.

      Delete
  2. shadows of nightfallJune 19, 2018 at 2:34 PM

    I don't comment on those political posts on Facebook. You're correct there is a lot of trash talking and rudeness on those posts. The latest is all about the separation of children from their parents of the illegal immigrants who have crossed into the United States. The comments are horrible. Our nation has become just awful.

    ReplyDelete

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