Why do you think people would use or desire the Facebook Wondercafe Group instead of using the Wondercafe.ca itself?

I don't think people are picking the FB group over WC.  I think they are just using it to compliment things here.  I think FB works better to plan to meet someone, and facebook might help before meeting up wtih someone for the first time.

I was very slow on joining the group though, I didn't realize there was one for a while as there is also a WC page on facebook, and I thought that's what people were talking about for a while.

The disadvantage of facebook is that one can't have the in-depth discussions we have here on WonderCafe.

Good question. It really hasn't been much used until recently when it picked up a bit of steam after the announcement of WC's pending closure. There was probably a group started on Facebook because everything has to have a group or page on Facebook. It's sort of God's law by now. "Thou shalt have a Facebook page."

Don't know. Aaron would probably be the one to ask.

No. Not even close.

No. They're two very different things.

The general lack of activity on the Facebook page compared to the constant activity here answers that question.

Financially, no. In the deeper spiritual sense, I suppose there's a cost to everything!

I don't think that "the greater church" thought much except that they wanted to save the money of updating the site. In other words, I think it was already a done deal, and I suspect that thoughts about the Facebook group came afterward as a way to try to say "It's not that bad that WC is closing. You still have Facebook." My impression was that many who make regular use of this site took offense to that attitude.

We didn't start the WonderCafe Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2364653060/) out of the General Council office as far as I know. I believe it was started by a group of WonderCafe members...RevJohn and RevMatt?

We did start the WonderCafe Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/WonderCafe) as a way to promote WonderCafe on Facebook.

I don't think either were created as a replacement for the WonderCafe site or are thought of as the only place on Facebook that people can go to after WonderCafe's planned closure. 

There are lots of different United Church-related places on Facebook where folks can connect. Probably the most active one is the United Church Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2204950400/).

The popularity of Facebook in general, is a factor in the decision to close WonderCafe. Obviously, there are many more people who are already active on Facebook than on WonderCafe. and they feel comfortable there now and are less inclined to go to another website to join in conversation. It would be very hard for us to compete with Facebook.

By the way, the February issue of the Observer includes a news piece on the closing of WonderCafe (pg. 39). It's a good opportunity to offer a letter to the editor to let them know what you think, one way or the other.

You are joking, right?

I'm a member there, but I rarely go there. I just checked it though. Of the last 25 posts on the United Church page, 17 were made by the same person! Who happens to be a friend of mine, so that's fine, but even though the responses to the posts are somewhat more diverse, if that's the most active United Church-related place on Facebook, then even Facebook is reflecting the fact that the United Church is in big trouble.

It's funny, people who only look at WonderCafe casually tell me the exact same thing....it's all the same people posting.. lol

Maybe our friend was just on a roll last night. It's actually a very active group. No joking. We've had the conversation there about how a couple of people post more than others and the group decided it was ok -- if others want to see more voices, it's open and they can post themselves.

Hi Beloved,

Probably because somebody thought Facebook was supercool and all the hip folk hang out on it and stuff.

The first post to the WonderCafe.ca Facebook group was made June 8, 2007 and WonderCafe.ca opened in October 2006 so they are fairly close to one another.

Activity is much less on the Facebook.  It really starts hopping though when WonderCafe.ca closes for maintenance or something more troubling.

No.  WonderCafe.ca kicks Facebook's backside in terms of discussion.  If you are wanting to spy on ex-boy/girlfriends then Facebook takes the lead.

No.

No.

I certainly hope not.  Because if they looked at the Facebook group and thought it compared even remotely favourably to this site they need their eyes checked and their heads shaken.

I'm always surprised when I check in to Facebook to see that there is a new post on the WonderCafe.ca page.

Grace and peace to you.

John

She must have been on a roll! Really my friend too - not just a Facebook friend. We served neighbouring pastoral charges (well, almost - there was one pastoral charge in between) for several years up north.

WonderCafe Facebook was very handy when Wondercafe.ca went down. There was a real flurry of  "Is WC down?"

Now ,United Church group,otoh, is a really tough place to be and to follow,imo. It does not lend itself to conversation. I also  find that most of the posters are clergy of some type. It seems that Lay people are sort of not there or ignored - probably not on purpose but it lends itself to a one-sided conversation.

I have been looking at the UC FB page occasionally for a while now.  Does anyone know what process puts avatars at the top of the page?  It seems to me that they are almost always the avatars of UC clergy. 

A bit more chatting going on in there when I looked earlier today.  Not any more interesting than the chatting here though.  I wonder what would happen if Airclean or Unsafe tried to create a few ripples in that particular pond?  I thought of throwing my .02 cents in but decided not to bother. 

What do you mean Kay?  The only avatars I see either belong to posts, which are fairly chronological, and at the top are friends. 

hmm.....according to The Observer article - annual cost of WonderCafe - $30,000.  Upgrades could cost $30,000.

 ' Unique visitors ' to WonderCafe 30,000 a month. (seems like a lot of visitors, to me)

The pictures at the top of the page are the ones I was referring to chemgal.  They change  from time to time (but seem to be the photos on people's avatars).  Most times I've looked they usually show ministry people. I wondered whether CH was talking about this in her post (about lay people being ignored). Not that it matters one little bit to me (and likely not to CH either!)

I don't have that Kay.  I was going to take a screen shot and hide personal info, but I can't post the pic here anyway.

There's a banner picture, the UCCan Avatar, heading, liked button, message button, etc.

Then you can see highlights or posts by page.  Under that is there posts, and on the right hand side any of my friends who have also liked the page.

Are many of your friends who have also liked the page clergy?

I couldn't care less. too, Kay but it seems that Ministry personnel  are the majority of the people who post in that group. In fact, I would go as far as  to say that Lay people are ignored if they post. As Jae might say, there is a clique. lol