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Why social media is important to amateur radio growth

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by KH6OWL, Dec 2, 2019.

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  1. KH6OWL

    KH6OWL XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    I did a presentation at our local club in Honolulu on growing numbers in amateur radio. Here is a video I did after the fact for others to use and view.


    You can also view the live presentation on my facebook page at

    Posting relevant content, original content, photos and videos are the key to growing your presence. In order to grow our numbers we need to be relevant and in the sight picture of local media, the public and organizations in our communities. Social medial can help out with getting out there.

    You can follow ham radio hawaii on Facebook page and Facebook Group, Instagram and Twitter. There is a difference between a page and a group.

    I also recommend each club or organization have a social medial person, preferably 2, that is engaged in the local community and is active on social media.

    Your club leadership and your members should always tell the social medial person what they are doing, or at least, post to social media on your club sites so others can know as well.

    Always use #hashtags. For instance, if you have 5 follows then only those 5 will see what you post unless they share it. But if you use a hashtag, then everyone that follows that hashtag will see your post or possibly see your post. #hamradioporn has over 10K follows. (# Ham Radio Porn is just photos of ham radio equipment and antennas).

    Twitter: @hamradiohawaii
    Instagram: hamradiohawaii
    Facebook: @hamradiohawaii page and group
     

    Attached Files:

    N3NQS, K9UR and W1YW like this.
  2. KG8ZQ

    KG8ZQ Ham Member QRZ Page

    I'm sure you don't meant it that way, but the above text comes off as very imperious and is off-putting. In the spirit of trying to help, I suggest you might get your "medial persons"
    to confer with you on how brutally cold text messages can appear to the reader. They might advise having one of them review the text before you post it. I wish you well, 73.
     
    N4GST, N6HCM, N6XJP and 3 others like this.
  3. K0UO

    K0UO Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber QRZ Page

    I Just get on the AIR and have a QSO with someone

    Call CQ
     
    N9AMI, NF6E, N4GST and 11 others like this.
  4. KD2MIC

    KD2MIC Ham Member QRZ Page

    As the written word goes, it can be hard to deliver a message with text alone. Without visual or audio clues, verbiage and can be taken out of context far too easy. Social media with pictures and video is a much better delivery system.

    @K0UO , I think the point of this is means of growth in the hobby and service. You can CQ all day long and never reach the person who isn't an operator.
     
    K6VOX likes this.
  5. WJ1MK

    WJ1MK XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    It's amazing how I became a ham without the aid of "social media"...As a young man I spent day and night listening to people call CQ and then listened with intrigue at who might answer their call ...but then again... that was back in the days before there was a "social media", the bands were packed and people were calling CQ...
     
    K3XR, KC2YMO, F8WBD and 4 others like this.
  6. WB0OEW

    WB0OEW XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    I'm a 64 year old staff engineer at U of Arizona. It has taken me years to fully absorb that young people today don't just use social media, they are totally immersed in it every waking moment. The professors have had to accept unless they join in as well, they will never get the full attention (or respect) of their students. Like it or not, accept it or not, that is the reality today. If we hams don't get it too, and soon, we'll never reach them either.
     
    K9UR, KE8FMJ, W1YW and 5 others like this.
  7. K8AKC

    K8AKC Ham Member QRZ Page

    While I agree that social media can be very useful, I think it's also a poison, especially Facebook. Everything is fleeting and it's hard to have real discussions. I think SM is great for keeping up on your and your friends' lives, but it's not meant to help you connect with people you don't already know. Social Media should be used as an about me page, with the ability to leave small messages. Anything more gets muddy quick.

    Wikipedia just started a new social media site wt.social
    It'll be interesting to see how it works and if they can keep a lid on fake news as well as they do for wikipedia itself. I'd say they would do a much better job than facebook would ever want to do.
     
    WQ4G and K6CLS like this.
  8. WQ4G

    WQ4G Ham Member QRZ Page

    Perhaps the professors need to get better students... Why should the professors have to descend into the depths of 'social media' to get their students to pay attention in class? By the time you reach college you should be mature enough to put the GD Smart Phone down and pay attention. If not the professors should send you out of the class...

    IMO Smart Phones (and cell phones to an extent) are nothing more than a gimmick to suck the money from people and funnel it into the pockets of the service providers and phone manufacturers. There are a few people who are important enough to require (NEED) a Smart Phone/Cell Phone like CEOs, Doctors, and a few other professionals. Most everyone else just WANTS one so they can keep their nose buried in other peoples' business or so they can yak it up with their friends while they grocery shop or work.

    Service providers and phone manufactures tout 'increased productivity' as one of the benefits of owning and using their products. Another gimmick. From what I have seen it is just the opposite. Social Media junkies are addicted and can NOT seem to put their phones down. At the places where I worked, and where my wife worked, they had so many employees standing around talking and/or texting that they had to make new rules and pass down new edicts in an effort to curb the resulting lost production. A few employees even had to be let go because they COULDN'T put their phones down and do their work.

    More recently the Government(s) have/has/had to pass and enact new laws because people are being killed by Smart Phone and Social Media addicts who can NOT put their phones down while driving. And, I won't even get into the political unrest that is caused by them (smart phones and social media).

    Personally, I don't do cell phones and smart phones. I don't NEED one, I don't WANT one, and I am certainly not important enough to require one.

    Dan WQ4G
     
    W9ELO, KC2SIZ, K2NED and 3 others like this.
  9. KA9JLM

    KA9JLM Ham Member QRZ Page

    Facebook is a virus.
     
    W9ELO, VE3GZB, NC8X and 13 others like this.
  10. KD2MIC

    KD2MIC Ham Member QRZ Page

    To offer some counter opinions

    Social Media IS about connecting with those you don't know. That's what being social is. I agree, it's gone over the top viral. That goes for all of the platforms though. That's why more platforms continue to sprout. They all have good and bad. The anonymity though, that's where the whole idea has gone sour. If you wouldn't say it to there face without expecting a fist, it shouldn't be said.

    Connected devices ARE a part of a students life now. Maybe not for the right reasons always, but it's a fact. The maturity is knowing the time and place and that's a parental issue as I see it. Speaking of parents, kids are also learning these behaviors from them.

    A youth sitting around a scanner listening to our bands on a Saturday night is a bygone era. Too many other activities to be immersed in. If one is looking to recruit you MUST reach them under their terms. No ifs, ands, or buts. We are using a technology that is not relevant to them (or to a lot of people and entities, i.e. California), trying to market to them in a realm that they don't live in. It's like anything else, if you are not going to provide them with quick, relevant content, they're gone. They might come back for a second try at which point amateur radio has to hit it out of the park.

    g
     
    KE8FMJ, N5ORO and VE1HFM like this.
  11. AK5B

    AK5B XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    Screw social media!
     
    W9ELO, KC2YMO, KR3DX and 8 others like this.
  12. K6VOX

    K6VOX XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    Social media is TOO relied upon for communication in a day to day basis. Especially by our politicians, this is a 3rd party unvetted or internal core controlled entity that has massive security and manipulation issues. So previously stated Amateur radio at its base is Social and does not need a venue that has "0" merit or technical evolution to bolster 2 way communications among Amateurs.
     
    KC2YMO, F8WBD, WQ4G and 3 others like this.
  13. SM0AOM

    SM0AOM Ham Member QRZ Page

    Actually this is was amateur radio, being one example of
    "anti-social media", does.

    Youngsters, not only today, have to be dragged "kicking and screaming" into the hobby:

    [​IMG]


    73/
    Karl-Arne
    SM0AOM
     
    KF4ZKU and MW1CFN like this.
  14. G3SEA

    G3SEA Ham Member QRZ Page

    Another example of ' Change is the only Constant ' whether one likes it or not.:cool:

    G3SEA/KH6
     
    KB3K likes this.
  15. KB9VLH

    KB9VLH Ham Member QRZ Page

    Social media is a disease --- The more and more we vacate our amateur frequencies and go to THAT for conversation
    the more ammunition the FCC has to auction off the silent amateur bands. I will never have social media on my computers.
    If I do the machines will be on a one way trip the landfill...
    Amateur radio or nothing at all !!
     
    W9ELO, KF4ZKU, KC2YMO and 7 others like this.

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