I manage the Facebook page for my Rotary Club* and I spend a lot of time explaining social media to the members. We have a meeting coming up where all the different divisions will give an overview to the rest of the members about what we have been working on, what we’ve accomplished, and what our goals are for the future. You can probably guess that the “Facebook girl” is scoffed at by the more established members.
Imagine the most cantankerous old man you know. The kind with a walking stick that if you get too close, he might whack you with it**. This “doubter” is who I’m thinking of while I draft my informational handout. The handout has basic statistics for Facebook, user behavior (the undeniable kind), our current status and more. I have also included screencaps of how to post and how to share something someone else has posted. The goal is to have the membership understand more clearly how we can share the great community work we do with others.
Now, I don’t have false expectations that this man is going to use Facebook. I’m shooting for the 80% in the middle. My goal is to gently educate, inform, and inspire over a prolonged period of time. I understand that change is hard, not everyone is going to do it or is interested, and that it takes all kinds. My job here isn’t to convert.
But I’m staying out of range of the walking stick.
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*If you’re not a Rotarian, there are more women and younger people than you are probably imagining. We are simply people that care about the world and all the people in it and we are members of the largest volunteer organization on the planet. No religion and no politics.
**The person I see as I write this is, I’m sure, a perfectly wonderful man with a family, an illustrious career, and has donated money and time to his community. I use this as a general illustration of all people that might fit into this category. This is not a judgement of the person himself.
Thank you for taking the time!