My main beef with social vs. the web. (This is techie, but it’s massive). The web is about agnostic protocols. Social is about posting data into owned spaces.
When I made my webpage, I could host it anywhere. When I sent an email it got to another other email user to whom I addressed it to. If something happened with the communication the protocol would try to make the connection “work.” (aka the whole “nuclear war proof” communications medium).
Social (Twitter, Facebook, Twitter, Instragram, etc..) is membership into a private sector company. They own the connectivity and the content. They can use it, re-use it, turn it off and share it as they choose. When we engage via social media, Zuckerberg and the Facebook shareholders literally own some of our relationship. That feels weird– like Telus owning my good phone calls; or Kodak owning my good photos (well, when Kodak was relevant). That is what I dislike about social: it’s doesn’t have the same benefits of the Web. I swear Facebook makes retrograde changes solely to give us something to complain about– as if they could make gains from whacking a hornet’s nest from time to time.
If having a voice in the digital world is important, you need a website. If you want some autonomy and self-determination of your content and your marketing, you need a website.
The Web is about connections and being part of network: your website is on the Internet. Your visitors come in via this network. It’s an engine of communication. Social networks looks like the Internet, but they are actually websites and web services tied into this network. That’s a very different thing.
To use a simile: when you own a storefront, it’s your door on a street. While the city could tear up your sidewalk, it’s a lot more likely you will get to keep your own hours at the shop. That’s what having a website is like. When you have a Facebook Page or a Youtube channel, you have a storefront but that’s inside a shopping mall. Someone else controls the access, the marketing, the rent and the hours of operation. Your good shop makes the mall more of a destination. The popularity of a social network will elevate your presence, but it can also be a gate to keep out people who are not active on that social network.
My best suggestion: get a website and have a social media presence. They are like having two shoes on your feet. You’ll get farther with both than with one.
If you want to talk about getting a website, Let’s talk.
