We recently had an exchange with the administrator of Oakdale Chitter Chatter.
There was disagreement about posts, membership questions, advertising, and how the group is moderated.
Eventually we received this response:
“If you have an issue with the way I moderate Oakdale Chitter chatter then why would you want to join? I declined your previous posts because you never answered the membership questions. As for others violating. My rules clearly state that businesses can post one ad per week but the intent of the group is for community activities and recommendations by customers. I do my best to keep to the rules I’ve created for the good of our community. At this point based on your attempt to post an obnoxious criticism of my moderation and management of the group I think it’s best you just advertise elsewhere.”
Okay.
We can do that.
Oakdale Chitter Chatter gets to run Oakdale Chitter Chatter.
This really is not difficult.
It's their group.
They wrote the rules.
They decide what gets approved.
They decide what gets declined.
They decide whether criticism of those decisions belongs there.
We can disagree with how those decisions are made.
We can point out inconsistencies when we see them.
They can disagree with us.
And then everybody can continue with their day.
That's the part businesses need to understand.
If your entire marketing strategy depends on whether a Facebook administrator approves your post, you have built your business on rented ground.
You're borrowing the audience.
You're borrowing the distribution.
You're borrowing the rules.
You're borrowing access.
And access can disappear with one click.
Ask permission.
Hope the post gets approved. Hope the rules don't change. Hope somebody else's platform keeps sending you customers.
Build the audience.
Your website. Your search visibility. Your customer relationships. Your content. Your products. Your platform.
We've been doing this longer than Facebook groups have existed.
Epic App Solutions did not discover the internet when somebody invited us into a neighborhood Facebook group.
We've been working with web technology, software, digital systems, online audiences, search, and marketing since the early web era.
We've watched platforms appear.
We've watched platforms disappear.
We've watched entire marketing strategies become obsolete.
That's precisely why we don't recommend building your business around one moderator, one platform, or one social feed.
Facebook groups can be useful. So can search. So can websites. So can email. So can local news. So can applications. So can competing community platforms. Good businesses use the right combination instead of treating one channel like the entire internet.
And we're perfectly happy to compete.
That's actually the fun part.
Oakdale Chitter Chatter can serve the community its way.
Other groups can serve it differently.
Local newspapers can do their thing.
Community pages can do theirs.
We can build ours.
Nobody needs to be frightened by another source of information.
Nobody needs exclusive control over local attention.
If one platform provides better information, people will use it.
If another provides better recommendations, people will use that.
If somebody builds something better than us, we'll have to improve.
Good.
That's exactly how competition is supposed to work.
So yes, we'll advertise elsewhere.
We'll publish elsewhere.
We'll build elsewhere.
We'll create our own traffic.
We'll keep giving people another place to find information, businesses, services, tools, news, and community resources.
And Oakdale Chitter Chatter can continue doing exactly what Oakdale Chitter Chatter believes is best for its community.
Then the public can decide what they find useful.
One last thing.
Criticism of moderation is not the same thing as demanding ownership of somebody else's group.
People are allowed to criticize businesses.
They're allowed to criticize us.
They're allowed to criticize media companies.
And they're allowed to criticize how online communities are managed.
The answer to criticism can be:
“You're wrong.”
Fine.
Then show why.
That's a much stronger position than pretending competition or criticism shouldn't exist.
Thanks for the advice. We'll advertise elsewhere.
Oakdale Chitter Chatter has its platform. We have ours. Other local organizations have theirs. That's not a problem. That's a healthy marketplace of ideas. Build something useful. Put it in front of the public. Then let people decide.