just don't forget that one of the conditions of Facebook is that everything you post becomes their property to do whatever they wish with it. Mainly that means "data mining" for commercial purposes and targeted advertising together with the use of cookies to gather information about people who browse the pages. This then turns into targeted advertising.

Results in such things as when you search on line for information about a particular tyre you suddenly get inundated with advertising for tyres.

Let's face it services like Facebook are not worth billions of dollars because they provide the service out of the goodness of their hearts. I am happy to make the occasional donation to TM for the very reason that it is ad free and run by enthusiastic volunteers. If it was a commercial venture I would probably loose interest.

This is also one of the reasons why I use Firefox as a browser plus an add-on that deletes cookies when I leave a web page except on a few selected sites, such at Talk Morgan

I would suggest as an alternative Google Groups

Which one? TIA

Fair points, Peter - although of course Google makes as much, if not more, use of targeted advertising as Facebook.

The argument is, of course, that any service (Google, Facebook, Commercial Television, whatever) that is free at the point of consumption has to use advertising as a means of getting revenue in order to be able to continue to provide the service.

If the consumer is going to have to be exposed to advertising, then giving them adverts which they are going to at least find relevant has got to be more appealing than hitting them with a random selection.

As you probably already know, there is already a reasonably active Google Group (called MOG Group) which has been in operation for a few years now, it was set up in the wake of Lorne Goldman's decision to close down eMog.

Many people probably aren't aware of the depth to which their actions in public are captured and analysed by all sorts of people, from their supermarket loyalty cards to their use of the internet.

Peter I agree with you and wish that it was only limited to data mining for advertising purposes.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc are doing far more than simply tailoring advertising based on 'likes' and page views.

This is worth a listen: http://www.radiolab.org/story/trust-engineers/

Even that is only the tip of the iceberg.

I'm not a supporter of Mr. Assange but based on the conversation in the Soap Box and the discussion about Facebook and Social Media, this meme I was sent made me chuckle...

But we are being encouraged to do just that! See last night's broadcast of James May's Cars of the People here, particularly between 3'15" and 4'25".

It is also important to remember that EVERY photo and video uploaded to Facebook becomes the companies to use as they see fit:-



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/so...nline-life.html

I'm constantly amazed that people (users) of Facebook, and other social media, are willing to open their personal albums and say "yes, please use any of the photographs (and videos) I have taken for your own commercial gains; furthermore, please feel free to license those same videos and photos to anyone else you want to."

How many people would offer a stranger/company that option in the 'real' world?

Absolutely. The moral is that nothing you say or do in public fora whether in real life (down the pub) or on the internet (Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc) can be considered any longer to be 'private' in any sense of the word.

To someone who grew up in a small rural village, where everyone knew everyone else's business and intimate details, this is pretty familiar, but to people who are used to a degree of privacy in their lives this can come as a bit of a shock

Brown Baker:

I was investigating the same sort of thing for the same area (I think you and I had a brief chat via private email some months ago now on the same subject), though your approach involves a wider audience.

In an attempt to improve communication, especially for 'off the cuff' meets etc I put some of my thoughts to the Devamog events secretary (a new one is due to take over for 2016 though). As a result I had agreed to to canvass Devamog members for their opinions at the next Noggin....but I was unable to attend the one last week and will miss the one in March as well (due to the Antwerp Classic Show).

My initial ideas included creating a North Wales/Devamog website, or the creation of a private group/forum here on TM (Thames Valley have one) for North Wales/Devamog (the latter on the assumption that a lot of MSCC members are also on TM). Both these ideas had pros and cons (don't they all?), especially around who would be allowed to view the information (public) and who would be allowed to post information etc (authorised group members)- not dissimilar to how TM operates: the public can see quite a lot of what is posted/discussed, but only registered members can view certain areas and post).

Feedback to some more general enquiries on the subject have indicated that these 'groups' start off well at the beginning and then have a tendency to tail off - thereby reducing their use as effective communication tools (and therefore also defeating the object). They can also become a little parochial insomuch as there is a danger that they end up only communicating amongst themselves; they are also viewed by some as 'just something else to log into'.

So I agree that there is a need for more dynamic and responsive communications, especially for those days when the 'weather window' opens and you fancy a blat out. How that might be achieved is clearly open to further debate.

Personally, I am not a fan of Facebook though I concede that it does have its uses, so I would be inclined to see if there was scope to use TM as it is to advertise an event (this would allow the notice to reach reach a wider audience as well) but then perhaps supplementing the TM notice with a group email and group text message (essentially for those who you know live in the geographic area or those who wish to be included in notices).

Have you come across the 'Coffee on The Prom' notices? There is a group of car enthusiasts who organise regular meets in this area (I went to one in Rhos on Sea when I was looking at Caterhams). As far as I know they put notices on sites such as Pistonheads and send emails around to those in their contact group.
Probably very similar to the route I outlined above.

Hope this helps - with insomnia if nothing else!

So if this is the problem, what is the answer..?

Is there one..?

No there isn't one, there are many! The thing to do is just get on and do something. For all the negative comments and criticism of Facebook it is widely adopted easily set up.

~iw