You may have noticed that we’re trying to calm the blog down a bit. The daily magazine format of up to five or so posts daily is more, we reckon, than you want or can cope with. (Today was a throwback day.)
We recognise that there are many sources, now, from which you can gather your funeral news.
We also recognise our own frailty. Keeping a blog going is hard work and we have lots of other things to do, all of which we are behind with.
So we’re going to try to give you one a day, max, from now on, and post minor items on our Facebook page and Twitter.
You are very welcome to use this blog to broach an idea, let off steam, reflect on an experience, proclaim a manifesto, ask a question… We are non-denominational. Anything goes. Get in touch: email us.
You can ‘like’ our Facebook page here (and see Barack Obama moonlighting as the Grim Reaper). And you can find us on Twitter: @goodfunerals
A good move, for everyone, I believe.
A bit like Google, if it’s not on page one, it is probably ignored. I know for a fact that I’ve missed posts and updates simply because there is so (too) much on the blog.
I’d much rather see even less than one post a day if it generated more debate without getting lost.
IMHO, less is far more in blogging terms.
Have been reading your posts and blogs since january this year, this has been a breath of fresh air for me. Have so wanted to share with friends and such on facebook now i can Hello Scotland here comes the Good funeral guide!
Seems at first glance like a good plan, Charles, especially if it generates more posts as excellent as “Remains to be Seen” the other day. We can, if we wish, stumble on songs like “Red River” for ourselves, but you’re the man to generate such a post.
I maybe a lone dissenting voice but on a good day I would check this blog several times, and pretty much always find something insightful and interesting. I’ll miss the volume.
Thank you, Andrew and GM. And Christine, that’s an unexpected bonus.
Jon, once upon a time there weren’t any death/funeral blogs – but now there are lots. I think a lot of people are swamped with info pouring out of every social media orifice. It’s only my OCD side that has enabled me to keep going by scanning a zillion google alerts every day and sifting the goodies out. It’s mechanical work, it’s very time consuming, it’s hand-to-mouth — and there’s the constant anxiety about whether there’s enough stuff for tomorrow. Latterly, I have not had time to read other people’s blogs and respond to them, and that’s discourteous.
Besides, I have projects I want to develop requiring real brainwork. I can’t tell you what being unshackled from the Daily Outpouring feels like.
Not that we’re going to fall silent, or anything…
No, I can imagine the relief! I’m sure you’re doing the right thing and can;t wait to see more of your projects. There are lots of other death blogs, but no one does it like you Charles.
Hear hear. Jon. Or is it here here?
now I’m a complete Charles Cowling “lap dog”, just to quote a post recently from a certain party…………………………
as Jon has said “……no one does it like you…..”, I do not do facebook, twitter or anything else on the social media side, but I’ll continue to catch up here
andrew
Likewise, Andrew. Facebook, Twitter etc., are a bridge too far…..
I too, will catch up here!
Nick
Whether we love it, hate it, or love to hate it, there can be no denying that social media is becoming an acceptable form of communication.
Used carefully, the sites can be very powerful business tools too.
I’ve seen visits to my website, which normally number between 10 and 15 a day, soar to over 600 following a post on Facebook. That’s 600 people, that day, who have learned of the existence of my business.
Likewise I went to a ‘Tweet Up’ in a local pub about 9 months ago. It was a social gathering organised entirely using Twitter. About 20 people turned up. A couple of weeks later, the partner of one of the attendees died, and she asked me to handle the funeral arrangements because “we know each other through Twitter.”
But the sites can also be dangerous. Tweets and Facebook posts rank very well in Google. If your business and personal profiles are linked in any way, an off-the-cuff comment made by a friend (which in Facebook terms has an entirely different meaning to the OED definition) can easily show up in a search, and that may well be detrimental.
It could be an interesting debatable topic on this blog one day. Will we one day be at the point where we avoid social media at our peril? How will that affect those in the traditionally change-averse professions? Will those who don’t embrace it get left behind?
Thanks for that, Andrew. Very helpful and informative. I tend to shy away from those who are messianic about social media, but I know you to be a judicious fellow.
First thing I did was Like your page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kingfisher-Independent-Funeral-Services/163330960348314?fref=ts
I find that FB has a crack-cocaine effect. You can post something, and then 5 mins later discover that already 15 people have seen it. It offers very instant gratification.
I also like the way it tracks ‘viral’ hits — and you really can reach an audience that would never normally make its way to the website.
Downside: it’s trivia that travels furthest, mostly.
Twitter — nah. It’s the jabbersphere at its most clamorous. Simply can’t take it!
V grateful for your thoughts and knowledge, Andrew.