Woody Boater Vs Your Facebook Page.
Oh, want to know more about Barbie here? It’s on Facebook!
This story is a long time coming and sadly this summer has forced us to speak out so feelings are not hurt. When we started Woody Boater 9ish years ago, facebook and classic boats were not a real big thing. There was some stuff on there, but lately it seems like many clubs and others are using facebook as there websites. Which by the way is a fantastic idea. While that has been happening more and more, Woody Boater is trying to move more towards unique content. Which is not easy, day after day…after day. For us, your classic boat show or fun adventure is fun content used to promote the entire lifestyle. We completely understand you wanting to post it on your facebook page, BUT, then its not unique content anymore. Its just facebook stuff reused.
One of 5 posts with gobs and gobs of shots from many people.
This past Algonac show was seen all over facebook by many and while it was happening I saw every boat and all the fun I was missing. A day later we started to get reports in, and it was all the same stuff. We had to painfully apologize to our friends that we would post there stuff. By the way, we had planned a huge deal on it. But its like making dinner for folks that just ate dinner.
For the record, these pics were sent to us before they were posted. But no one reads on the weekends, so we were going to give them Monday top billing. My bad for not communicating.
So? Why the story Matt. Well, it happened again, I got a report in, ABOVE, and started putting together 39 images, which were great by the way. And Bam, it shows up on facebook. Story dead! And 2 hrs of cleaning up, adding captions. Gone. So you today are subjected to a story on facebook. 
OK, Mr Woody Boater Rant man, how can do it better. Well, glad you asked. By the way, thanks for reading this far, you could be on facebook looking at Kitty pics and political memes. Here is how you can get the best of both worlds. Get your story together, and send it to us. BEFORE you do facebook, we will ask, and then have a email exchange about waiting, or stalling the facebook thing. We will do the story if its cool, and most are, and then you can link to the story. Here is what that means for you. We get 5,000 views a day, our facebook page has close to 16,000 likes and in some cases a story on our facebook page gets 3,000 views. Heck we just had a video reach 28,000 people. Its simple math, your stuff will be seen by 10 times your reach, AND, this is the best part, its someone else saying how great you are, not you saying how great you are.
Page 1 of a 6 page story by Dennis Mykols, DEAD, all on facebook, BTW, not his doing, all the pics were posted by another. A waste of time for Dennis.
Hope this helps, in the end, that’s all we want to do. We want to promote the lifestyle as much as possible, and what you are doing, restoring, zipping around, even sinking, is all part of it. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go chase some kids off the front yard.
I’m more interested in condensers than boat shows, but that’s just me.
Hi Matt:
Yes I have held some images off my FB page for you to get on WB first, but I must say that the story would not have been DEAD should I have loaded them first. Not ALL your readers are my FB friends, and I don’t search FB for classic boating stories. I would still like to read about Algonic and would still like to read Dennis’s story.
Case in point. The Rudder just came in with a Great story on Thunderbird. I have read about Thunderbird on WB and other places on the web, but I am still excited to read about it in The Rudder. And of course there is The Brass Bell. It’s not going to get to me before any story hits the web. Heck many of our subscribers have trouble with delivery all together. (seems there are many, many postpeople who like reading without being members)
In conclusion I say if you have a GREAT story, POST IT, it’s probably better than an E-Bay story anyway. (sorry you have had some wonderful e-bay stories too)
My thoughts on the subject as well. I’m on Facebook – nearly always access WoodyBoater through it in fact. But I hadn’t seen any of those stories and now I will have to go hunt them down!
The reality is, Facebook and similar sites aren’t going to go away and people aren’t going to stop sharing content. But, Facebook only provides a snapshot. Magazine format sires like yours has breadth and depth that FB can’t provide. They are the magazine cover, you are the magazine.
PS – I love that your including more fiberglass classics. Fins!
BTW Where can I find the Barbie story. I want to see more of that.
OK, Yes I borrowed this pic from somewhere.
I rest my case. This is one of the flaws of facebook mass photo loading. Its just all there in raw form. Its on facebook, good luck!
This is very disappointing. I worked the Algonac show and I spent the entire day doing things other than looking at boats. But I wasn’t worried at all because I knew Id still get to see the show on WB. I am, of course, a ACBS member and belong to the MI chpt. and so I have opportunity to see what the club puts out. And while I have seen some photos from the show I still have not seen the show in its entirety like I normally would have on WB. So I am disappointed to learn that the reason there wasn’t WB coverage is because of the fact that WB wasn’t an exclusive, or at least wasn’t the first to “print”.
I’ve always thought of WB as the Charles Kuralt of Woody boating. We might have seen other stories about any given subject but never the “take” on it that WB would give. You do cover the “lifestyle” of woody boating in a unique and very entertaining manner. I don’t care if I’ve seen something before, I still want to see WBs take on it.
Matt, I certainly understand your perspective. I also hope you can appreciate members’ Facebook posts reach only a limited number of viewers (many not involved in the hobby or even aware of WB), and is in no way intended to be in competition with WB. Most of us realize WB’s reach and viewership is much greater than our FB posts, that’s why we want to share with WB…more exposure. Indeed, I see WB and localized FB posts as a compliment to one another for the benefit of the hobby. We all win in the end.
Matt, I could not respect your opinion more after all you have done for the hobby, but I am with Troy and Bill. Facebook and Woodyboater should compliment not compete. Our chapter has established a great and active FB page but we should not limit posting there to allow stories of our events to be enjoyed by WoodyBoaterville. In any case, we will always be friends!
Matt, keep up the great work! You do a great job of promoting our hobby. Don’t get discouraged by Facebook! I love reading you web site.
Not every body has Facebook including me. Your numbers prove that!
Please keep up the good work!
Dave,
Since the first Algonac post above is mine, I feel obliged to chime in here. Since WB has 15,619 Likes and I have 372 Friends, of which we probably share 50 or less, I’m with Troy and Bill, that leaves well over 15,000 people on Facebook and many more on the web that haven’t seen the coverage of said events, but would enjoy them. I posted pictures for my family and friends to see, not to compete with or ruin a WB story.
My suggestion is that if you are wanting to cover a particular event, partner with someone who will be in attendance and have Live-ish coverage. I would have been happy to send photos and be the Live-ish reporter on site. Your crack staff on site can then have their pictures featured on WB and be a star for a day.
Given the state of dwindling participation in the hobby, I can’t see where too much coverage is a bad thing. Reach out and touch everyone you can, you just might inspire someone to join the rest of us lunatics in the WB Universe.
Andy Riggs
Hi Andy, yours was one of about 10 posts like it, it was like I was watching it live. So there was no need to publish it. This is why various organizations have a dir of communications. To keep stuff focused. Yours alone was fine and not the issue, more of just an example. As to being at the event. Well. thats another issue, and a tough one, since we do have reporters out there, but in some cases, the reporters are not getting the difference either. So sadly it may just be that boat shows are not part of Woody Boater anymore unless we are there ourselves and control the content.
In regards to reaching more people than others, you are all correct, but take advantage of it.
I too saw many posts about it, even saw mine shared a time or two. You probably saw them because we personally share quite a few of the same friends, but I think a large group of people will never see the pictures or stories if they’re not covered here. Several years from now, we might be having a different conversation as fewer and fewer folks are going to websites via an internet browser. I seldom go directly to websites, other than a couple of favorites. I completely see your point and see the same pictures shared to several groups or pages and it can certainly become underwhelming after seeing the same content several times, however, I think you have enough followers on the web that may not see the show content on Facebook to cover the larger events for your audience.
I don’t think this is going to get any better in the coming months or years due to our ever dynamic virtual world.
I appreciate your humorous spin on the stories, and hope you will continue to cover shows as part of the WB Universe.
All I know is there is no way this old time boat nut is going to sign up for that facey book …..privacy out the window….pop culture BS. I refuse to sign up even though it is the only site that features Fairchild Scouts….I will just have to suffer I guess.
Have to go boating with real live friends. All that FB stuff is “look at me”…..no thanks. I am exclusively a Woodyboater guy.
your REAL friend:
John in Va.
6 Knot John:
You are sounding older every day. You should come north and I will get you on my friends 100MPH Fountain, than we will post pictures of you all over FaceBook just for the fun of it.
Miss You!
I am a little confused by WB wanting unique content and the FB likes & views. Are you saying your web site is competing with FB or the numbers for usage do not justify content on one or the other. Please drill down to the real problem.
Personally I was initially involved with FB at the beginning but that was all and I don’t even have a FB account anymore. I by far and out prefer looking at large presentations rather than trying to squint at a small screen and fight sunlight.
Don’t forget the demographic that does not “do” Facebook. To those of us in that demographic this whole conversation is irrelevant. I like to get my news and views right here thank you very much.
What the hell is Facebook?
I agree with Greg completely. BUT, even though technically Facebook is one site on the internet, it seems to have morphed into a kind of internet all it’s own. It reminds me of the movie “The Blob”.
There is no arguing that Matt, through Woody Boater, has increased the exposure of the hobby immeasurably. Scott and I read Woody Boater each morning and check in again at the end of the day to catch up on the comments. I don’t understand why there is a conversation about Woody Boater VERSUS Facebook. Each has its own distinct and important place in the hobby. Matt absolutely has greater reach, goes deeper and adds humor – that is what brings us to woodyboater.com every morning. But a once a day blog doesn’t satisfy the instant gratification culture of the younger set who we must attract or the hobby will die. Nor does it lend itself to the crowdsourcing of ideas and assistance that is possible through Facebook. Scott and I have found Facebook to be an invaluable resource as we learned the ins and outs of our Glastron’s inline 6 “Tower of Power”. There is a Facebook group dedicated solely to this engine and when we post questions, we get 50+ helpful responses within hours. The next generation of classic boaters (I guess that means me) are turning to Facebook for answers to questions that keep us on the water. I still consider Woody Boater my go-to resource for “the rest of the story” about all the great events going on around the country and other interesting classic boating topics.
I sincerely hope Matt will reconsider his position. There are still a lot of people who don’t use Facebook. Those of us who do still want to read more in depth coverage from Matt, Texx and the live-ish gang. Finally, it would be a shame to discourage the local ACBS chapters from leveraging this important recruiting tool.
Shannon Knight
+1
Exactly!
I was a fairly early user of FB (2007) but have not signed onto my page in nearly 2 years and probably never will. I found that that FB had degenerated into a cluttered, unfocussed miasma of absolute pap. Most of the “content” – which itself has evolved into a pejorative term for me, seems to be re-posted, banal garbage which is of no use or interest to me. Not all were offenders of course and I certainly don’t include enthusiast or hobby sites in that description. I initially liked it because people that I was actually friends with would post relevant information or pictures of a somewhat topical nature. This soon gave way to political, religious, commercial and other tiresome rhetoric that eventually repulsed me. Add to that the ceaseless clickbait BS that propagates, and I happily checked out.
I was also an early user and supporter of WB. I didn’t go to WB because I thought it would break a “scoop” or was a source of otherwise exclusive “content”. It was source of fun stories, usually very well done and informative. I simply don’t believe that WB has to be a source of “exclusive content” to be relevant or vital in our hobby. and I am not sure how many of your visitors expect it to be? As Troy points out, print publications (meaning periodicals) are certainly not real-time or necessary exclusive. Why does WB have to be?
Just do what you do and do it better than the shotgun approach of FB. NO ONE has ever explained or proven to me that there is any real value in a FB like, and the number of “likes” a page has is absolutely meaningless as far as I can tell. What do “likes” mean or imply about reach? It may check some narcissist’s box but as far a broad relevance or even commercial import? none I can see. I have been involved in several hobby groups and I can tell you that likes mean nothing when it comes to membership growth or any other measurable metric.
WB reach dwarf’s the typical FB page and I would say the engagement of the site visitor likely does as well. Enjoy that and don’t get hung up on “exclusivity”, just do it better.
Very well said.
Matt, I totally understand. However, I don’t look at everyone elses FB page! The FB pictures are usually not cropped and edited to perfection nor is there an in depth, well researched story included. Alex excepted. If there is a copyright issue, maybe we could all agree to wait until you post on WB before we post on FB?
One other thought I had is that I enjoy Matts miss-spellings and others. I love WB and finally figured out BTW and some other shoe strings.
Matt, ya does a good job!
The problem with the vast majority of Facebook posts is they are unedited photos and text-message-style writing. In other words, not much thought goes into them. Unprofessional, amateur league.
The great thing about WoodyBoater is that it has high standards of quality, sense of design, and photos included because they are artful or important, not just because they were taken. Thoughtful, even with (intentional?) misspellings, writing ties everything together.
WoodyBoater should not worry about being the first to cover an event or topic. It is perfectly fine to cover a topic published elsewhere. That said, demanding the best and/or new content is a good policy. It is what separates WoodyBoater and other great publications from the rest of the noise. Readers and contributors to WoodyBoater should be aware of this, and filter or hold distribution of words and images accordingly.
WoodyBoater is part of my day nearly everyday, and will continue to be. Keep up the quality!
May I add (and not just because I’m competing for word count with Paul H – love ya’ Paul!) that I look forward to reading Woody Boater even when I am AT the show that I know he’s going to post about and am seeing everty boat with my own eyes! Woods & Water case in point. I bet my Woody Boater hat I’m not the only one. (Please help me out here folks, I like my Woody Boater hat. It matches our boat.)
I don’t do Facebook anymore since last fall . (got tired of the time consuming and political crap) I still have WB as my home page which I did before FB . I do miss vintage Merc group and a few others and some friends I kept up with, but oh well. Do what you have to do Matt
Warren
For the record, we are not asking to be exclusive here, just in situations, not coming after facebook stuff is out there, or as some email us, Just grab the photos off facebook. Yes that actually happens. People in one click can see lots of stuff, so why repeat it. Its like one broker selling the same boat as another. Its confusing.
I think the point is that not everyone sees what someone posts on FB. A limited network of “friends” will have access, but the broader readership for WB won’t. There is also significant added value through the article (and discussion) that goes along with the pictures. Can’t agree that having pictures posted on facebook (that a small portion of readership might have access to) would in any way reduce my interest in reading a story on WB.
2c from someone who stumbled across your site over a year ago, got hooked, bought, stripped, repaired, varnished and is currently enjoying a ’72 Giesler. Cutting down on great content won’t accomplish the goal of growing the hobby.
I see no competition with fb as per the reasons mentioned above. It’s about catering to your demographic. Sure it’s important to get young folks interested, but woodyboater is about catering to lifestyle people. That generally means owners, as I see it, usually people 35 on up. This goes for all your efforts to reach new hobbyists. Who cares what an 18 year sees in a website that’s all about the sound bite generation? You’re trying to reach someone who will become really invested economically and emotionally. That means depth of coverage and pictures so great it’s like you’re actually there. This is what WB brings to the table. So I think your target market will always be the 35 plus folks. There may be exceptions, but few. I’m on fb for my car club, but it’s mostly nonsense and hate there. No competition with here.
I’m on Facebook but with friends posting so much I pretty much never look for boat show postings outside of my little circle. What I see of the shows is almost exclusively through WoodyBoater. If that piques my interest I will follow a link or do some research. I think you’re overestimating what many of us view outside of this site. Please keep the content coming.
Wait a minute….there are misspellings in WB?
Not everyone is on Facebook. My husband is NOT. He never will be, he thinks Facebook is terrible. He’s a hardcore obsessed V12 man-who runs his Liberty as a daily runner in his boat Ami Anne. Heck, I had to push him recently to build a website-which is not in his wheelhouse at all! He didn’t get a smartphone untila few months ago. The learning curve is fierce 😀 so….be assured, he would check out WB first! See ya in Tahoe.
I don’t have a smart phone yet.
Can we get a story on Ami Anne?
+1
Let’s hear it for flip phones! 😀 We love reading Woody Boater no matter what. On a hot work day-the water looks good!
Ami Anne is a reproduction built by Island Stream Boatyard in 1998. She is modeled after a original drawings from the 1920’s. She is 32 feet, a “rumrunner” style, and goes 29 knots. A Garwood is in our future 😉
I’m proud to say I’ve been on Woodyboater since the early days and I’ve made it this in far in life without ever using Facebook. My kids don’t even use it anymore thanks to Snapchat and Instagram. Does anybody remember Myspace?
Matt, WB is a class act. You do great work and provide an awesome service and I hate to think I’m missing out on great WB posts because you think some crap on FB beat you to it. I guess I’m old school for 50. Don’t tell anybody but I still read the newspaper every day and I’m probably the only person on the planet who has never seen a single Star Wars movie. I prefer having “Friends” that I actually see and talk to in person. That must be why I like old boats in the first place.
NEVER seen Star Wars ? It’s one of THE GREATEST examples of movie special effects and science fiction out there. Matt. I’m not on fb but I do read this website at least once a day. Keep up the great work and don’t worry what the “other guys” are doing. This website is way above those “other” blogs. Unless it a copyright problem. But you haven’t said that’s the issue
I’m not a member of Facebook and never will be one either!
Matt, why can’t you use the FB pictures? You said you reach many more people than
all the FB groups do. You should be able to use the FB posts as a “teaser” for the show information to come. Then, you present one of your well written and info correct articles. I was surprised when you told us in Algonac we had ruined our chance to be in WB. We only do the FB page for fun. That is what this hobby is all about. You have asked how to get younger people interested, and we are only providing one way to access the younger boat enthusiasts. I have a 25 year old son who insists we use our Instagram site. Unfortunately, I still haven’t figured out how to do so. That is why we need to look to the younger generation.
I don’t understand this need to be exclusive or be “first”. I guess many of us will now be deprived of seeing show coverage. All because someone put their pics on Facebook for their friends to see, but we aren’t on their friends list? Guess I will try to hunt it down over there, but what if they’ve set their posts to “private”? Positioning it as WoodyBoater vs Facebook, I just don’t get. I enjoy them both.
Okay, so I don’t do facebook or any of the other social media-type things. But I do understand where Matt is coming from. As editor of The Boathouse, quarterly publication of the Bob Speltz Land-O-Lakes Chapter of the ACBS, I know the meaning of delivering “news” as opposed to presenting reprints. I work hard to come up with articles that represent value to our readers that they aren’t going to get somewhere else sooner. Fresh, original work with good graphics that will be a service to our members, who deserve the best. Along with our advertisers. They deserve better than to get mixed in with a rehash of internet and social media based “news.” Of course, as printed material, there is no way that we can compete with the instant gratification of the internet, but I feel that we give more and better coverage than what is provided in either facebook or even WoodyBoater (Sorry Matt). And you can actually hold it in your hands, take it with you, read it at anytime you choose, no matter where you are. If you do want more, then you can go to our website for an extra helping. This whole internet thing is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but I guess that I’m too old school to want to keep my nose in the computer screen all the time. As not only editor, but also graphic designer, my face is in the screen too much already, I’d rather read off of paper, thank you very much. What Matt is attempting to do here is provide a quality service, with original input that is fresh to everyone. If all we want is a re-hash, maybe he can play it like the late night TV programs do and run whatever they ran last week over again. When I catch myself watching last week’s monologue, I can’t believe that it’s already being rerun.
The challenge of coming up with something new every day for however many years is staggering. What a service! Even the lame days are better that what my email brings to me (sorry Matt. Not every hit is a home run). When I go to a show and see Dane there, carrying his heavy camera bag, looking for another great shot, I know that there will more than likely be a live-ish report on WoodyBoater. And I look forward to that, but I know the whole time that I’m going to have to work just a little bit harder to cover the same event and give it a new spin, with different pictures and a more personalized story. That’s one of the challenges that the internet has brought to my door, the “instant” news aspect. As with all change it is in how you perceive it: problem or opportunity. But I love the coverage on WoodyBoater. It takes me to places that I know that I’ll never get to. Places that perhaps I can plan to get to someday. And Matt’s writing? For an editor, it is a pure joy to read. Sometimes I can’t even get past the first sentence without stopping to have a real hoot! Are you kidding me? You’d think that as an editor I would be critical, but Matt gets his message across without having to bow to convention in the least. Who else can get away with that? I live to visit this site and all that it brings to my world. I may not express it often here, but living the lifestyle is what it is all about. It’s Matt’s site, I say let him lead. I especially enjoy when he gets up on his soapbox and lets us have it. It’s kind of like in kindergarten: okay children, quit throwing sand, put down the shovels, keep your hands to yourself and we’ll all go in and take a nap! Whew!
Wow! I was starting to feel like I was missing something. But you nailed it. thanks so much!
I enjoy anything posted on WB. I don’t do Fakebook it’s a colossal wasteland so, I feel I won’t miss a thing.
I guess I did not read down far enough before I made my last post. Mr. Wangstad seem to explain the reason a whole lot better Again Matt and crew, keep up the great work. This is a great website to visit and you do not have to worry about those other blogs. (( I too was at the Algonac show, and wondered why I did not see any coverage of that show on this site)
I, for one, FULLY support Matt not wanting to simply re-post things that have already been broadcast on Facebook. As classic boat enthusiasts, why do we visit WoodyBoater.com? Matt provides quality content that is interesting, visually engaging, entertaining, and often educational. For the very quality of the website, it needs to have content that you’re not going to see everywhere else. Or, at the VERY least, that you will see on WoodyBoater FIRST. It’s that promise of quality that’s part of the WoodyBoater brand… the value-added aspects that bring me to the website pretty much daily. Yes, that also factors in to advertisers’ incentives to invest in advertising on this website, and keep it going. I work in advertising, and frequently deal with magazine editors. Yes, they ALL prefer original or exclusive material, because it gives their readers a reason to pick up the magazine. Websites are no different. At least, not GOOD ones. I’m honored that Matt has published some of my photos here in the past, and if I am able to contribute more in the future, I have NO PROBLEM reserving images specifically for this website. In the past, I’ve shared the same images with my ACBS chapter, but only after Matt ran it here first.
Dang (as Matt always says) I have real live friends…and lots of them agree with me. I was the first on this post to trash FB as phony baloney…and I sure as hell was not the last!
Going Boating!
(but not until Thursday)…..If I was on FB you would already have known that and when I changed my tighty whities too.
John in Va.
Eight years ago when I first started contributing to Woody Boater it was mostly reporting from boat shows. Matt taught me to write the boat show reports to make the viewers feel like they were attending the show themselves while reading the story.
We learned what the viewers liked to read about, and I developed a philosophy based on three primary objectives;
1. Stimulate 2. Educate 3. Entertain
The difference between Facebook and Woody Boater is that Facebook is usually nothing more than a few photos (with little or no information that Stimulates, Educates or Entertains). Woody Boater takes that same information and creates a story to hopefully Stimulate, Educate or Entertain the viewers.
Social media is here to stay, so we might as well get used to it. The challenge for Woody Boater is to find a way to stay ahead of it, and continue to set the pace – a challenge we have been faced with many times before. – Texx
Exactly right, of course Texx. I don’t think they have to try to do the same thing and so far, I don’t think they have. The respective formats and approaches are very distinct from one another and there is PLENTY of room for both.
Matt:
You sound like a spoiled little kid who wants to pick up his toys and go home because someone else is sharing his playground. I am an avid reader of Woody Boater, and enjoy the unique articles, content, and perspective that you bring to Woody Boating. I, like others, were disappointed that you did not do an article on the Algonac Show. Not just the pictures, but the unique perspective that you are able to bring to that kind of event. I don’t think that any club or event organizer would refuse to provide you with unique pictures of an event, or even the information for a great story, if they knew that that is what you wanted.
Yes I am a face book reader as well, not just my club’s page, but BoatBud’s, the Century Boat Club page, Chris Craft Antique Boat Club page, and numerous others. I live by the St. Clair River and also belong to several other local pages that also post neat pictures of the nautical scene, and I enjoy them all. I can cruise by the general crap on Facebook and go to these sights and view the content and news that I want to see, including many Boating articles and pictures that I would never see on Woody Boater, and yes a lot of it about Woody Boats! That doesn’t mean that I don’t come back to read Woody Boater!
Our Chapter Facebook page, is like you, trying to expand interest in classic boating, but it is also used to draw new members to our club, and spectators to our shows, Oh and if you haven’t thought about it, we are also probably increasing your readership by introducing new readers to your site that might never have come across Woody Boater. Your articles are mentioned and other information shared to audiences that have never heard of the Woody Boater site, and it always gives you full credit for the information. If our site is doing that, how many other are as well? You may want to thank some of those Facebook pages for an increase in your readership!
And let’s face it, as some have already pointed out, Facebook will give way to Instagram, snapchat, Youtube, and whatever comes next in this fast changing world, but the fact is, more people are interested in old boats, maybe just to dream about having one, or to see what their friends are doing, or to post pictures of their own boats, Facebook serves that purpose well, and as that occurs, more people will migrate to a well written page, good pictures, and articles with a unique twist on the content. Several people including Lee Wangstad said it well, keep providing your prospective, take support from wherever it comes and you will continue to be a success and a strong influence in Woody Boating.
Don
Wow, may internet was down all day, and just got to read all these comments. Good stuff. I think I may have started all this the other day when Matt and I got into this heated debate after I spent hours putting together a little story, and he killed it, cause the guy who took all the great pictures, posted then on his little fb page, and all 33 people got to see boat pictures, no story, etc. My comments back to Matt were as Follows;
“…I understand fully, but a bunch of pictures on Facebook is not a story. Plus In my opinion, you have a nationwide audience, and that is who I target my stories towards, the hobbyist as a whole, not just those who were there.
I guess I must now take my own pictures, and NOT share them until I put together a story, and then shoot it over to you. But then how do I control, like Rick posting his pictures on his little local Facebook page? and you considering it old news?
The Algonac show I feel, will be the norm these days. members posting up live as it happens. Now, how does a WoodyBoater, who has no idea of that show going on, nor any link to their Facebook page, going to know about what that show has to offer.
When I first hooked up with your site, the Livish reports, on shows I never heard about all around the county, WITH PICTURES, lured me into placing a lot of those shows on my Bucket List to visit. I never will know of all those events unless I follow their Facebook page in advance. I would rather have a single source, like yours to go to.
I know you need to cut back on these type of stories, like you told me the time it took for you to edit/load up my Spring Lake boat show story. I also do not know the answer going forward. All I know, everyone looks forward to seeing their events on the world wide famous WoodyBoater, and like the Michigan Chapter, felt very sad when one did not show up. Although, I personally do not know if anyone actually wrote up a livish report.
Hang in there buddy, all is good with you and me, since I have some insight as to what goes on to make news happen… Dennis”
My article to Matt had a true story, see the opening page in Matt’s first few paragraphs,
it had an angle, it told what the boat was, and it’s owner. NONE of that was on Rick’s Facebook page, again which is read by a few of us West MI boaters.
Sorry Matt, I think you hit a nerve again, and this time you are way off base…
Matt, I am not going to beat around the bush here. Your attitude on this is pure BS and completely misguided. What is so important about being first? That is what is wrong with our news media, rush to be first, quality and verification be damned. Woodyboater should continue to do what you do which is provide quality content, not race to the bottom.
Most of your readers did not see any of the stories or pictures posted on Facebook. If 100 readers may have seen the pictures, THAT is a reason to kill a story for the other 5000 plus? How does that make any sense? What kind of message does that send to your contributors? Give WB a 24 hour exclusive and don’t even share with friends and family or WB doesn’t want you? F!#@ THAT! What does it say to your readers? You want Algonoac coverage? Sorry, some guy posted the pictures to his 300 FB friends some of whom may be WB readers so you can find them yourselves or just piss off because WB has to be first or never. Give me a break. You are being childish, ignoring what you do best and disrespecting you contributors and readers in the process. Please rethink this.
I really don’t think FB photos are the problem you think they are.
I would have loved seeing all of Dennis Mykol’s story. I’m not one of the 33 people who saw photos of the cruise on Facebook.
The photos wouldn’t include the article. Now, I want to read the entire article.
We love your blog, but you need to realize no one can control what goes on Facebook. We actually were told by someone they saw a photo of our boat on Torch Lake taken by a friend of theirs on Facebook. We don’t know the person who posted it. It was just a random photo.
Your readers are classic boat enthusiasts. We don’t really care,if we see multiple photos from multiple sites of the same boat. Just show us interesting boats and please, include the accompanying article. We love hearing what people are doing with their boats in different locations. I’m not going to see photos from Texas or wherever on my Michigan Facebook account.
Social media isn’t going away. You could incorporate it and include links to more photos than you post that day. It could even increase your readership by including references to other Clubs’ or groups’ photos. Those groups may be paying you for advertising. The photo links would be of benefit to you and the Clubs.
Isn’t it all about or PR for classic boats? We’ve noticed there aren’t as many woodies on Torch Lake in Michigan this Summer. We need your blog and as many social media photos of classic boats out there as possible to promote ownership of them and participation in Classic Boat Associations.
Please keep your blog coming.
I think there is a clear consensus here that there is not only room for, but a strong desire for WB to continue the liveish reports as you have always done. To me Facebook is like an appetizer and WB is the main course. FB is he preview, WB is the feature. If printed publications had your attitude, especially the quarterly publications they would run out of stories quickly. The true enthusiasts, which I believe to be your daily readers, can’t get enough coverage of events. We get a snippet of an event via FB or other social media, devour the WB story a day or two later then run to the mailbox when the printed version is due to read and view it all over again. I don’t understand how you can continue to be the heart and soul of the hobby and not cover major events that are at the core of our interest. As said above I kind feel like you want to take your ball and go home because you can’t always be first. I believe that the more exposure our hobby can get the better off we will be. My FB “friends” are mostly people that are not involved in the hobby and when I share a FB post related to classic boating it is spreading the word beyond the daily WB reader. When I visit FB I scan the postings only pausing at the ones that catch my interest. WB I read daily word for word. I did receive Dennis’s article by email. I had hoped to join in the cruise that story was about, but was unable to go. I had hoped his article would be picked up by WB and maybe even the Rudder to encourage my people to partake in these kind of impromptu events.
More people, not my people, sorry
Well that may be true that posting a story on woody boater generates a lot more interest in your pet show, boat, etc. But the fact of the matter is I offered to do a story on our show and got no response. The local ACBS doesn’t give a crap to post info or pictures, still waiting for photos on their site or facebook from last year. I feel that my obligation is to post on my own facebook page so at least someone knows the show even exists.
I’m a little late to this conversation, but as a rare “millennial” who happens to work professionally in internet marketing, and participates in this hobby (as a Lyman guy), I felt I should add a perspective. On a side note though – I aspire to be a grumpy old man someday, and my wife says that I am already 60 years old at heart. – However, I feel that a resistance to change is how a lot of the original wooden boat builders went out of business in the first place. We live in a “now” and “on demand” world, and it is only getting more connected through mobile devices. Social sites like FB, Instagram, Twitter, etc. only help the entire community. We talk a lot about “inspiring the younger generation”, and “how can we attract new hobbiests”, but then we are resistant to meet them in their world, or support their expertise (Internet and Media). How discouraging is this to a person trying to grow and network in this hobby, to read about not posting at an event. What about the “newer” features that Facebook offers like Facebook Live? People will begin using it in this hobby more and more as they realize (or millennials get involved) it’s a free thing that can be done from an iphone. Video is a growing medium online, and is becoming more important in both how Facebook displays posts and how websites rank. FB shows video content better than pictures. What if WoodyBoater could continue to innovate their stories in the hobby and start posting 30 second video clips or hosting Facebook Live videos? Since most of the sites and Facebook pages in the WoodyBoater hobby are run by older generations, there isn’t a true understanding of Internet marketing strategy or even how the internet works.
Which brings me to my second point. Internet Marketing Strategy. I’m sure that WoodyBoater has a good strategy for their website, and social pages (especially at the growth and numbers reported) and they have standards they follow. One can’t grow a following like that without strategy, unless they have a scandalous topic…… and i have a lot of respect for those numbers! However, in the world of online media, there are 2 audiences – the readers/visitors – BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY the search engines. If you can’t appeal to the all mighty Google, you won’t reach your potential number of visitors. What does not posting a well written article (Unique Content, unless its plagiarized) with 39+ pictures (Media files) on a site like WoodyBoater (mobile optimized, with a solid traffic history) cost in overall webpage authority? When Google Crawls websites, yes time stamps are a factor, but their algorithm cares more about quality content, view-able on all devices, and Facebook isn’t crawled/indexed like a website. In the issue at hand, my strategy would be to post it without question, and use it as an article geared toward the search engines to continue building authority on the WoodyBoater topic for search engines. Then next year as the show is Googled the post shows up and people will see how much fun is to be had. – OR – When a certain boat gets Googled, one of the 39 pictures shows up, linked to the article, and brings in a new visitor looking to buy a boat like it – gets inspired by the other articles, and becomes an ambassador of the hobby after purchasing and restoring one like it.
Either way, if a story is something I already knew about or not, I am a (almost) daily visitor to WoodyBoater and will “read” the articles. Sometimes the story isn’t even that interesting to me, but the child/millennial in me still likes to look at the pictures.
I didn’t know Millennials owned boats, I thought they boatshared. Just kidding. That is some great insight and a valuable and interesting perspective.
WOW! I sure missed (or not) a lot yesterday because I was not on WB or FB. I was busy doing the real thing.
Yeah, Carl, I was wondering where you were.
I don’t think I have seen this many posts on a WB subject since the discussion of the ACBS judging rules.
There is one significant difference between a picture I post on my FB page and that same picture on WB with an article attached to it. I assume WB gets paid by your sponsors. No one pays me for posting the pictures I take. One could probably assume that if you can guarantee to your sponsors you will be the first site to cover a boat show then you should be able to get more money. How many days would be the maximum amount of time I can’t post on my FB page until you do a story on the boats I took pictures of? You don’t have that deadline now. Is this kind of pressure something you would want to commit to for the right to be first? There is another element here that is somewhat of a wild card. Not everyone has heard of Wood Boater. If I happen to have entered my very rare classic boat into a boat show and then publish five pictures of it on my FB page complete with the story of how it was saved by accident by my parents and this was one of the stories you were planning on covering – how would I know that?
It’s a noble idea to have folks wait to publish their pictures until you do the story on them but I think the hassles and energy expended ultimately will not be worth it. The draw of Facebook is to post something instantaneously. Most who read FB posts are not terribly concerned about photo quality or how well written something is. They heard about a boat and there it is! Let Woody Boater fill in the details!
I think you are making much more out of this than it is. My husband reads your website daily and really enjoys it. He doesn’t have FB, so now he won’t see events or pictures on your website as they might be posted somewhere else….. that is sad. You have professionally posted pictures and articles, so who cares what some stranger posted on their personal website. Hope you work this out or that someone else does what you’ve been doing. We are wooden boat enthusiasts and are on our 2nd boat, a Chris Craft 22′ utility and love reading most everything about wooden boats. Please be flexible on this….. thank you.