Mailing list for the Person County Beekeepers Association, Roxboro, NC

[Whitney Barnes <spud1296 AT charter.net>]

We have just created a PCBA Facebook Group to supplement our Facebook Page. This may seem a bit redundant to some, but both of these things have different benefits for our group. Below I've tried to clarified the purpose of both so that you will understand where to go and look based on what you are trying to do.  And just to be sure, we will still also be using our listserv.  We realize that many people don't like or use Facebook (FB), so it will never be our only communication method. You are welcome to post the same information on both the group and listserv for better group saturation. While the listserv has the ability to do both of the FB page and group features, many members weren't as comfortable using it for cross discussions. Because I really want to up our mentoring ability, I thought this might be a great way to get everyone more actively sharing what's going on in their hives and asking questions between meetings. 

Page

The page will be our public image on FB. It allows for anyone to see what we are up to, where to find us, and they can message us. These are the kinds of things you will find there:

Events - ex. upcoming meetings, state activities, bee school

Activities - ex. workshops, outreach, field days

The page format doesn't make it easy for members to talk to each other and ask questions. Additionally the page can get so cluttered with articles that beekeepers are interested in that someone looking for info on us may have a hard time wading through it to see what we are all about. 

Group

Several bee clubs have been using FB groups to improve communications, and I really felt that our club would enjoy it. FB will send you email messages when someone posts to the group so you don't have to be monitoring FB to know what comes up.  You can also control the level of email messages you get if you feel it is cluttering up your inbox. These are some examples of the kinds of things we would expect to see posted to the group. This is not an exhaustive list, but should give you a good idea of what to expect:

FYI articles

Questions 

Concerns

Want/For Sale

The group is a closed group which means that people can find it in a FB search, and they can see who is a member. You just won't be able to see or contribute to the posts if you aren't a member.  We did this deliberately so that spammers could not fill our group with work from home or worse posts. We only want bee related information shared here. If you have wax, bee equipment, or anything that can be used in conjunction with our bee products, you are welcome to post a singular wanted/for sale ad. If you have a multi level marketing business with products that would be useful for beekeepers or wanted to make repeated posts on the same item (candle business) we ask that you hold off on those. As we become more familiar with the group format, we will see if there is a way to post that somewhere so people can find it if they are interested without generating excessive emails for those that aren't interested.

Anyone that is interested in bees and what's going on in our club can join the group by asking.  If you are a member of the group, you can also add people to the group. We don't want to limit this group. The bigger the group, the bigger the bee mind trust we will have.  So feel free to add your beekeeping Grandpa in Virginia.  He might have just the right answer for a member who is trying to interpret something they see on a frame.  We would also ask that you do a bit of fact checking before you post an article for others to see and learn from. 

This group is supposed to be a bee related only group so no arguing, insulting, or inappropriate or non bee posts will be allowed.  If you aren't sure about something you want to post or that you see posted, please be sure to message the admins. You can see who is an admin by going to the member list where it's listed. If you are interested in being an admin, please message us as we could use help to be sure that we can respond quickly to any questions. 

I hope this explains things, but if you still have questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to email me. 

Thanks,

Whitney Barnes