Facebook Groups vs Reddit vs Forums

[Alex Snyder]

I had a little thought in the car this morning. What makes Facebook Groups different from Reddit and different from forums?

It is a mindset.

If you ask a question in a Facebook Group you'll get a lot of answers. More than likely, that will be an overload of answers and many will be terrible advice. People on Facebook are killing time or feeding an addiction. It is a spaz show on there. Much like walking around Vegas. There are so many things to lose your attention to that the advice one may receive is going to be quick and less thought-out. I believe this is one of the many reasons why grammar can be horrendous on Facebook. Whether you're in a product-focused group or in the Car Dealership Life one, this seems to be the case.

Reddit leans liberal and negative. The nature of the site allows one to focus a bit more on the question, and people are incentivized to earn badges. Because you can't control who joins a subReddit there are not any car business-focused channels, but product channels exist. There are some smart people hacking leases, but many product-focused channels usually attract those who are researching problems. It makes for a lot of negative posts.

Forums are highly concentrated. People are not distracted and usually know other members of the community. The online interactions of forums move into the real world. People who visit forums are on a mission, and people who regularly visit enjoy the community. When it comes to answers, the best ones are in the forums because people put thought into their responses and are usually available for follow-up questions.

Deep thoughts with Alex Snyder ...not that deep.

 

[jon.berna]

Yeah Reddit is really useful in narrow corridors, it's new user adoption is quite steep and the older users are whiny for sure.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

I had a little thought in the car this morning. What makes Facebook Groups different from Reddit and different from forums?

It is a mindset.

If you ask a question in a Facebook Group you'll get a lot of answers. More than likely, that will be an overload of answers and many will be terrible advice. People on Facebook are killing time or feeding an addiction. It is a spaz show on there. Much like walking around Vegas. There are so many things to lose your attention to that the advice one may receive is going to be quick and less thought-out. I believe this is one of the many reasons why grammar can be horrendous on Facebook. Whether you're in a product-focused group or in the Car Dealership Life one, this seems to be the case.

Biggest problem on the FB pages is that no one knows anything about the other dealers responding. What a dealership in New York sees is going to be way different than the small Buy Here Pay Here lot in Nebraska. There is never any clarification on that.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Biggest problem on the FB pages is that no one knows anything about the other dealers responding. What a dealership in New York sees is going to be way different than the small Buy Here Pay Here lot in Nebraska. There is never any clarification on that.

I recently got back on Facebook after avoiding it for years. Primarily, I’m visiting the GXOR, Fuji Camera, and Life in a Car Dealership groups. It is the latter one that gets me concerned. Making jokes about things and discussing how things are going with the industry are great topics, but when someone asks something like “what’s your favorite CRM” 100 people chime in with whatever they’re currently using and I know quite a few of them have only ever used that system. They give zero reason why they like it. And nobody challenges them.

I made the mistake of asking about a better tire for icy conditions in the GXOR (off roading) group and got horrendous advice from people who have never driven on ice. Mostly from people who live in SoCal Who admitted they drove on a snowy mountain once for a ski trip. FYI SoCal folks: snow and ice are very different things.

Seeing so many posts like these made me realize how bad Facebook is for getting direct advice. I started this thread to give people a reference point to share in places like Life in a Car Dealership to help them understand they’re getting bad advice.

They are getting good intentions. Good intentions with a short attention span.

 

[Jon Singo]

I used to spend more time on Reddit but recently am only interested in my niche groups. The issue I've run into is, like every other social media, it's been watered down and forces content based on viewing habits. While there's still useful information and helpful communities it's becoming more and more difficult to find helpful answers due to 'popular' ones being upvoted whether they are correct or not. I've been booed out of a few automotive related subs for preaching truth against 'dealer outrage'. There also seems to be way more bot activity which is basically the same for every other social platform.

Niche forums are still where it's at if you want quality interaction with knowledgeable internet people. Random forum actually helped me find my Integra last year where no other outlet was getting it done.

 

[Tallcool1]

Making jokes about things and discussing how things are going with the industry are great topics, but when someone asks something like “what’s your favorite CRM” 100 people chime in with whatever they’re currently using and I know quite a few of them have only ever used that system. They give zero reason why they like it. And nobody challenges them.

Ya, this is what I see in the Facebook Groups. Most people just regurgitate whatever platform they are using and swear to God it is the best thing ever. In addition, those groups are loaded with Vendors that are really slimy and act as if they are dealers (maybe they once were).

As @BillKVMotorCo said, there is such a difference between dealership types as well. "Independent Dealer" is such a broad statement. That means dealerships that retail 700 units per month and are on the exact same software platforms as Franchise Dealers, all the way down to a guy that works a full time job and has 5 vehicles sitting in front of his shop on his acreage. Now throw in the BHPH and Rebuilder guys and solid advice is really hard to come by.

I turned off Facebook Notifications 6 months ago and I will get on there when I feel like it. My life is better because of it.

 

[jon.berna]

Ya, this is what I see in the Facebook Groups. Most people just regurgitate whatever platform they are using and swear to God it is the best thing ever. In addition, those groups are loaded with Vendors that are really slimy and act as if they are dealers (maybe they once were).

As @BillKVMotorCo said, there is such a difference between dealership types as well. "Independent Dealer" is such a broad statement. That means dealerships that retail 700 units per month and are on the exact same software platforms as Franchise Dealers, all the way down to a guy that works a full time job and has 5 vehicles sitting in front of his shop on his acreage. Now throw in the BHPH and Rebuilder guys and solid advice is really hard to come by.

I turned off Facebook Notifications 6 months ago and I will get on there when I feel like it. My life is better because of it.

This is the best summary of those groups. The only thing I would is the worse the advice the funnier the persons posts are. I am in it for the humor not the advice.

 

[Carsten]

Winter Tires:

I ran Blizzak tires: on sedans and on my jeeps. They also do ok in normal deep snow. Next favorite are the Michilenes followed by Continentals.

experience: I can professionally drive on ice rinks.

It's sort of joke but Sapporo, Japan ends up being close to a foot of ice on streets in some areas. No salt, snow removal is horrendous, every one drives studless which makes the ice super smooth.

WNY - every seems to drive on all season. Hard pass for me.