To Facebook Or Not To Facebook?

Yeah, that’s the question. And we’re putting the answer in your hands…just vote now in the poll to your right.

But first, take a moment to hear out my argument against a Facebook presence, which you might have already heard on the PR Works radio broadcast.

I love Facebook. I use it myself regularly. So do many of you. And we definitely believe in connecting with people using all forms of social media.

HOWEVER, the American Red Cross has a national presence on Facebook (see here, here and here for examples) and I’m a little concerned that by making our own page, we’re siphoning off a bit of that audience and potentially watering down the brand. I mean, why not just direct our fans to those pages as we’ve done thus far?

I do think that, like Twitter, there’s an opportunity to connect with Portlanders/Oregonians on Facebook without stepping on the toes of NHQ at all. But I’m not sure I’m so gung ho on it that I want to create a page. And honestly, it will just be a duplication of information that’s already on this blog and Twitter.

So give me your two cents. Vote in the poll and leave comments on there (or on here) with your perspective. Seriously, if you guys want us to have a Facebook page, we will. Even if you have to drag me — kicking and screaming — the whole time.

2 comments

  • We have recently jumped feet first (have to practice that water safety!) into Facebook and other social media. We didn’t create a page… or rather, we did, but discovered that creating a persona also worked. In my mind, its one more way for the chapter to communicate and get the word out. I’m not as familiar with your area, but in this area, everybody has a Blackberry or Palm Centro or Treo. They’re doing this all the time.
    We saw a HUGE increase in youth participation when we started using Facebook for a school club.

  • The Facebook page is the busiest social media tool we use. The Youth Manager uses it frequently to communicate with her youth, who are way more likely to check their facebook than their email.

    We gained almost 500 friends in the course of about a month. Its a great way to talk to locals, and communicate with other Red Cross chapters. Plus, you control your own community, so its easy not to step on Natl’s toes.

    Also, there are some great tools that we use to connect our blog to our twitter to our facebook, so that they all feed each other.

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