Blogspot or FB?

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Which Blog DO You Use?

  • Facebook

    Votes: 7 23.3%

  • Blogspot

    Votes: 23 76.7%
  • Total voters
    30
  • Poll closed .
dhays said:
I had considered mentioning AdBlock when others were complaining about the ads but didn't want to offend our hosts here. They need ad revenue to be able to pay for this site. I have used AdBlock for years and it is extremely effective. I never see any adds here on TF.

I am not encouraging y'all to start using it, because then the revenue stream might dry up and the owners may abandon TF. :)
Click to expand...

I would encourage it. It sends a strong message about how you feel about ads.

At the end of the day, the value in TF, or any other forum, is in the content that all of us create. The forum itself has nearly zero value. Social Knowledge LLC hosts the site, then draws revenue off the value of our content. Make no mistake about it. We do this voluntarily since the interaction and content benefits us too, but I'd argue that we are getting the short end of the stick: our contributions are rewarded with an assault of ads where Social Knowledge is rewarded with a check. I think it's a parasitic relationship that can run happily for a while, but is not sustainable.

Bringing this back to FB vs Blogs, many blogs are ad-free. Not all, but many. I've made a point of keeping mine ad-free. If you like the content, read on. If you don't, no problem, move on. But what you read is unbiased by anyone other than me. I really enjoy reading content without the noise of ads, and without the influence of sponsors. It's the ultimate crowd sourcing, but requires the same "filtering" as any crowd sourced data. If you throw out the highs and the lows, you get a pretty good idea what reality is. This is the case with Active Captain data as well. Some filtering is required, especially to understand different reviewer's biases, but you can typically get a pretty reliable picture. The running joke between my wife and me last summer were reviews in Alaska by a particular contributor to AC who wanted to wax poetic about every anchorage.
 
twistedtree said:
What's frustrating is that I don't know an alternative to the ad-supported media business model, so don't really have a good alternative to offer. To me, subscription services is a better model, but probably not as profitable for "publishers", so unlikely to displace ad-sponsored content. Or maybe the human dynamics will change over time. Maybe people will stop frequenting ad-laced content, or vendors will decide they are wasting their marketing dollars on shot-gun ads. And maybe people will start to pay more willingly for content that has depth and is unbiased. And maybe, one day, pigs will fly....
Click to expand...

As to TF becoming more like CF, I don't anticipate it. The demographics of the user are too different. TF will never have the volume of CF. Now, the ads do not bother me. They're at the top or along the side and I am fine with them. I'm looking for an ad for a Dodge Ram at the top of this page right now. I wouldn't have if that hadn't been the subject. And it fails completely with me since I have no interest in one.

Subscription models have been tried by hundreds and failed for almost all. The exception is Wall Street Journal. Almost every newspaper has tried it at some point. One thing that has been found is that with all the free information on the internet, the internet user is not willing to pay for information. Boatdiesel is a contradiction to that as well.
 
dhays said:
I had considered mentioning AdBlock when others were complaining about the ads but didn't want to offend our hosts here. They need ad revenue to be able to pay for this site. I have used AdBlock for years and it is extremely effective. I never see any adds here on TF.

I am not encouraging y'all to start using it, because then the revenue stream might dry up and the owners may abandon TF. :)
Click to expand...

It is interesting that AdBlock comes up. I can't use my iPad or iPhone on this site because of all the ads that just freeze up the browser on these devises (and I don't like the way the TF app works so don't use it).

I have AdBlock on my computer and that makes viewing this site possible. If it wasn't for AdBlock, I would most likely not come here at all. There are many sites that I will not go to because of the ads taking over my iPad's browser with video ads. Personally, I think that if the ads are so over the top on how they display, then AdBlock should reduce the revenue for the company hosting the site. If enough if us do this, ad companies will change the way they display their ads on a webpage. I don't see the revenue changing for these companies, they will adapt to how the show ads so as not to over control a devise.

By the way, I don't blog. I don't do Facebook. Nothing against either of these forms of communications. I just don't feel that my daily life needs to be on the web for most to see. (although I do have a YouTube page that I post videos on and sometimes post on a forum like this one). I catch hell from family about it. I tried Facebook to watch my families stuff, but didn't do it so I canceled it. I think talking is a better way of communicating with family :)
 
Wifey B: Social media story.

Recently, Bridgette, a 35 year old female, got back to her office from the doctor. She was so beyond over the top excited with her news but her husband didn't answer his cell phone. So to facebook she went to share with all her friends. "Just got home from doctor. After all these years, I'm pregnant. I'd just about given up hope."

Meanwhile, her husband, James, a 42 year old male went also to the doctor that day without telling his wife. He's recently had some tests run and received the results. Finally an explanation of why no kids. He was completely sterile. Apparently dated back to a baseball accident in college. Distraught, he went to facebook and sent a private message to his closest friend, David asking for advice on how to give the news to his wife.

Meanwhile, David and Elizabeth, his wife, sat at home together as they'd taken the day off. They were reading facebook together. Elizabeth shrieked with joy. Then they looked at David's private messages. He impulsively let out an "oh s..." as a look of horror came over his face.

:eek:
 
S41 said:
By the way, I don't blog. I don't do Facebook. Nothing against either of these forms of communications. I just don't feel that my daily life needs to be on the web for most to see. (although I do have a YouTube page that I post videos on and sometimes post on a forum like this one). I catch hell from family about it. I tried Facebook to watch my families stuff, but didn't do it so I canceled it. I think talking is a better way of communicating with family :)
Click to expand...

Wifey B: We do tons of emails. We also skype a lot. It's talking on steroids. Really so great to talk and see the person and read all their expressions as you talk. :D
 
Millennials talk? That's so hard without emoticons.?
 
Wow didn't mean to start the FB debate. The purpose was to decide which format would be easier for my family and friends (to include TF) to read about our adventures when I can co the internet.
 
dhays said:
OK, I tried the Trawler Forum App. Don't like it. So I will stick to reading TF on the computer with AdBlock.
Click to expand...

I don't use any apps to visit any websites on either my phone or tablet. I can come here just fine, coming to the regular site. I also have no issues with ads. I have to think some of you who are having such issues with ads are getting them from elsewhere, from software on your computer. I see an ad at the very top and an at at the top right. Neither one impacts me reading the content at all. I'll toss one other thing out and that is that this site would not exist without the ads. I want the site to make money for it's owner and if it gets a penny here and a penny there for each page I look at then that's fine with me.
 
sunchaser said:
I find walking the docks and talking to fellow boaters much more rewarding than sharing FB pictures of a whale with third cousins. ................
Click to expand...

Have you considered that you could do both? Have you considered that participating in an Internet boating forum is not unlike Facebook?
 
If you want to use Facebook....Just set up your page as private or closed and only people you invite can participate or see what you post...
 
WesK said:
Have you considered that participating in an Internet boating forum is not unlike Facebook?
Click to expand...
Of course I have. See post 44 above:

"TF is FB for boaters?
BruceK"
 
Face Book makes money by gathering as much information about a person as possible so they can sell said information to advertisers.

I don't mind TF showing me an ad about boats because I am on the website, though I hate pop up and especially video ads, but TF does not try to track my friends, family, religion, politics, income, trips, hobbies, games played, people contacted, websites visited, etc. TF needs money to run and ads provide that income which is fine by me. Trying to gather, keep and use every bit of information about me is not acceptable.

Face Book wants to know EVERYTHING about a person. Face Book keeps hundreds of pages of information on its members. This link shows almost 100 pieces of information that Face Book keeps on members and I doubt the list is complete. What Does Facebook Know About You : The Scary Facts

It does not appear that Face Book deletes information that the user wants removed. Face Book just hides it from view. Deleted photos, messages, chats, etc are all kept and just hidden.

Avoiding Face Book is not about avoiding new things or being anti social, it is about trying, in this era of big data, of maintaining some privacy. One can make one's profile private but that does not stop Face Book from gathering and keeping information about the person, their friends and family.

Read the link I posted and look at the amount of information that is available to a simple user...

If someone has a blog or business on Face Book I won't be visiting and I know plenty of people of various ages who do the same. Even young people.

Later,
Dan
 
This thread has degenerated a bit into either a rant against FB or defenses on its utility. The OP asked, if you have a blog, do you use FB or Blogspot?
 
dannc said:
Avoiding Face Book is not about avoiding new things or being anti social, it is about trying, in this era of big data, of maintaining some privacy.
Click to expand...

Given your email address, most of those same things can be obtained. And with the number of postings you've made on this forum, even an incompetent private investigator could figure out a tremendous amount of information about exactly who you are just from this forum. That's the world we live in.

It's even worse. Any halfway decent hacker could start with some very basic information and get through your email, onto your bank accounts, and access all of your purchases in Amazon (or elsewhere). All without any Facebook involvement.

So that Facebook can track me to pictures of my dogs that I posted when they were chasing coconuts on the beach? Come on.
 
dannc said:
Face Book makes money by gathering as much information about a person as possible so they can sell said information to advertisers.

I don't mind TF showing me an ad about boats because I am on the website, though I hate pop up and especially video ads, but TF does not try to track my friends, family, religion, politics, income, trips, hobbies, games played, people contacted, websites visited, etc. TF needs money to run and ads provide that income which is fine by me. Trying to gather, keep and use every bit of information about me is not acceptable.

Face Book wants to know EVERYTHING about a person. Face Book keeps hundreds of pages of information on its members. This link shows almost 100 pieces of information that Face Book keeps on members and I doubt the list is complete. What Does Facebook Know About You : The Scary Facts

It does not appear that Face Book deletes information that the user wants removed. Face Book just hides it from view. Deleted photos, messages, chats, etc are all kept and just hidden.

Avoiding Face Book is not about avoiding new things or being anti social, it is about trying, in this era of big data, of maintaining some privacy. One can make one's profile private but that does not stop Face Book from gathering and keeping information about the person, their friends and family.

Read the link I posted and look at the amount of information that is available to a simple user...

If someone has a blog or business on Face Book I won't be visiting and I know plenty of people of various ages who do the same. Even young people.

Later,
Dan
Click to expand...

You understand, I hope, that you don't have to provide "real" information to get a Facebook account if "privacy" bothers you. Use a fake name, fake hometown, fake age and no photo of yourself.

As Jeffery posted, you already have no privacy in this world. Some cities are using cameras and facial recognition software to track people walking down the street. You can't go into a store or use an ATM without being recorded. And if you carry a cell phone, there's a record of everywhere it goes.

Nobody is forcing you to use social media but your excuse is pretty lame.
 
WesK said:
Nobody is forcing you to use social media but your excuse is pretty lame.
Click to expand...

I am sure that this was not your intent, but the phrasing of the statement above may be one of the reasons why there are those that are so rabid in their dislike of FB.

Someone who chooses not to use social media need not justify their decision, yet somehow they are made to feel like they should.

The reaction to someone who chooses to not participate in Facebook is much like the reaction that folks used to get if they "admitted" to not having a television.;)
 
dhays said:
Someone who chooses not to use social media need not justify their decision, yet somehow they are made to feel like they should.
Click to expand...

The poster "justified" his decision, that's why I replied as I did. His "justification" does not hold water. He (or anyone) is free to not do this or not do that. It's when they feel the need to justify their position or imply that they are a better person for their decision that a reply is necessary.
 
I do FB.
Don't know anything about blogs.

The secret to FB is to limit your "friends". Make friends .. delete friends. I've made friends or "accepted" friend requests and all their posts dumped onto my home page .. mass clutter. Now (and for some time) I go to their page and look at what they post and what their friends post. If they get more than a little political or religious I unfriend them or (if they are family) hide them. You remain friends but you aren't burdened w looking at their posts. Teenagers put up a lot of awful and fowl and stupid stuff.

My FB has evolved into half family anf half web friends many that are from around the world. I want to expand the latter as kind of a pen pal thing. I even have a TF guy on my FB. I usually go to FB after here. And like anywhere on the internet you've got to be careful where you click.
 
Jeffrey S said:
That's just factually incorrect.

If you created your own boating group for your cruising, you will reach 100% of the people who sign up for it.

If you simply post to your own wall, you'll reach 100% of your friends except those friends who get a lot of content from others. Then it's prioritized. If your postings are popular, 100% of them get through to 100% of your friends 100% of the time.

I've never paid a dime for Facebook use/promotion ever.
Click to expand...

Hey Jeff, I understand your perception about my statement being factually incorrect but for some context I work for an advertising agency who manages, creates content, curates it across multiple social channels for many national companies. You have never been able to reach anywhere near 100% of your followers and Facebook has been slashing organic reach (or the % of followers that you reach with an un-paid post) for years.

Changes to Facebook’s algorithm have reduced the average exposure of unpaid posts from 12% in October of 2013 to around 6% in February 2015 that number is hovering in the 2.5 - 4% range depending on category in 2016. As far back as April 2015, eMarketer published data collected by Adobe showing an average organic reach of 4.3% for posts by retailers, which lead all other industries surveyed (tech, hospitality, and financial services all fell well below 4%).
 
CeeBee said:
...I work for an advertising agency who manages, creates content, curates it across multiple social channels for many national companies.
Click to expand...

This conversation was never about how Kellogg's can advertise a new type of Fruit Loops. It's about creating a personal channel to reach the people interested in your own travels. My suggestion of using Facebook was to create a personal group where people interested would sign up. 100% of those people will get exposure to your own personal postings in that case.

All of your statistics involved reaching Facebook users who never signed up for anything. Basically, they're sponsored and paid postings that only annoy people who never asked for them and don't want them.

I'd bet Kellogg's has their own set of groups - try joining one and you'll see that you get a clear view when even they make an *important* announcement.
 
Well we have decided to use the BlogSpot (The Alaskan Sea-Duction) as our primary posting. I will also continue to use ASD's FB and a new thread on TF.


Thanks for everyone's thoughts and advice.
 
Nsail said:
I think a 13 year old should be on a playground.
Click to expand...

Wifey B: Snapchat is a playground....:D

Seriously agree they shouldn't be on Snapchat, but now even the schools using social media including Twitter.

At 13, my only computer use was at school and we were blocked out of using anything fun. Instead of being online we were outside getting into trouble. :blush:
 
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