The Wardman Wire

These are musings, so contributions and shootings-down-in-flames are more than welcome.

The Campaign to scrutinise the mismanagement of the former-SPCK-bookshops campaign I am involved in over here has two Facebook Groups attached:

1. A group for all those people who mourn the tragic demise of SPCK Bookshops (250+ members)
2. We Support Dave Walker (500 members)

The total membership is probably around 600-700, accounting for overlaps. These musings about the use of Facebook in campaigning online were prompted when I sent out this message to the relevant facebook groups the clickthrough rate was high - somewhere between 10% and 15%.

10-15% Clickthrough Rate

These musings were prompted when I sent out this message to the relevant facebook groups the clickthrough rate was high - somewhere between 10% and 15%:

We’ll be sending out a longer message before New Year, but in the mean time we wish everyone a Happy Christmas, and thank-you to everyone who has been supporting the continuing scrutiny of the former-SPCK Bookshops.

Between now and Christmas the SPCK News Blog is running a few cartoons. Today we have a Christmas special from Gerald the Sheep.

http://spckssg.wordpress.com/

If you are looking for something to do today, both of our petitions are only a few signatures short of the next multiple of ‘50′, when they will be resubmitted to the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral, and the Diocese of Chichester.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/chichesterchristianbookshop/
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/durhamcathedralbookshop/

Phil Groom, Matt Wardman and the rest.

(Incidentally, if you would care to sign the petitions both are about half-a-dozen signatures short of the next multiple of 50 where they are resubmitted to the Diocese of Chichester and Durham Cathedral respectively).

That seems to indicate some potential for traffic building, but also for involvement of “non-core” activists in a cause.

Facebook Musings

My unvarnished thouhts are these:

1. Facebook as a tool for keeping “interested acquaintances” involved.
2. Facebook as a tool which is less intimate than email, for more “casual” communication.
3. Can Facebook be a useful way of bridging blogging niches, and generating dialogue between different “silos”. That is especially pertinent in political blogging, which is very self-contained.
4. What is the potential for cross-niche debate by telling a diverse Facebook group about a particular post?
5. Can a larger occasional network be mobilised to support a highly committed core communicating on a forum or email group? Is this working towards a model for creating concentric circles of people in a campaign from the core activists to the interested but casual or committed elsewhere who can be called upon as necessary?
6. How can different sub-networks within the larger group help?
7. I also have some thoughts about using a wider network for gathering and focussing information to help a campaign, but I’ll talk about that when the campaigns are over?

Wrapping Up

As I said, I am thinking aloud - and all comments are welcome.