Curated by Cat Gina Cole
The Green Egg Forum is a lively hotbed of thoughtful discourse, moderated by Cat Gina Cole. In this column, Cat shares some of the most interesting and interactive posts and threads from the forum. Want to get in on the conversation? We would love to have you! Go to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1069823176940972/ to join.
This week in the forum I asked, what does a closed or private group on FB mean to you? OR what is the reason we make a group private or closed? I asked this because I saw some content from a group shared on another platform. I wanted to see how the members perceived the privacy of social media groups. The responses provided great insight.
“To keep out spammers.”
“It means (hopefully) everyone is genuinely interested in that topic and not a bot or troll. Curated membership.”
“Do you think it implies some level of privacy too?”
“Hmmm. I think so. However, if sharing outside the group isn’t allowed, it should be stated in the rules. That said – you can screenshot anything and share it everywhere, and not everyone is trustworthy. Trusting people on social media is a risky business if you don’t really know who they are. I think it helps to have stated rules and some moderators to monitor things and weed out trolls and troublemakers.”
“No nothing on the web is private. Never has been, never will be. There is protection and security for data but never ever privacy.”
“Not all of us are out of the broom closet, and a private or closed group makes those people feel safer. It also ensures that people who aren’t a good fit are excluded.”
“This! Call me naive, but I thought it was just understood that what goes on in a closed or private group stayed there.”
“Agreed. Unless you have permission of the poster, it stays in the group. In my groups, if someone posts outside the group without permission, we remove them from the group and ask for the post to be removed.”
“That is not really true. It’s available a number of private ways. Plus, anyone can breach the confidence.
It only feels private as the entirety of Facebook by its very nature a public platform.”
“But we do our best to ensure it is as private as possible.”
“It’s a reminder that being here is a privilege, not a right. We are guests in someone’s home, here because we’ve been invited and welcomed, and can wear that welcome out if we behave disrespectfully.”
I am of the mind that what is said in a group stays in a group. A good point is made about making that part of the rules for the safety and privacy of others. It is also a good point that privacy on social media is a misnomer and that being admitted to a group is a privilege not a right.
The other topic in the forum came from an article I found and shared, about the trials and tribulations about the job of self-promotion for content providers. The link to the entire article is provided at the bottom. In summary the article discusses the trend of how becoming a brand on social media comes with the territory of being a content provider and the impact that has on the provider and society as a whole.
The responses are mostly one sided to folks who do not like the second job of self-promotion and how it affects their work.
“Thoughts or feelings. Thank you for sharing this article. My thoughts recognize this is true. It also reifies all the tangential issues of today’s society. Many of which I have spoken or posted about in the recent years, and including issues that are many decades old.
Feelings, I can’t let my feelings which will lapse into cynical melancholy, or outright angry righteous indignation about many things.”
“I hear you! I despise doing self-promotion and I have my own bias about others doing it too. This is why I share so much from others I support. It is just a little less they have to do themselves.”
“Well, you already know where I stand on this topic. It’s necessary AND I absolutely LOATHE it.”
“I really would just like to make art but find a huge portion of my time is spent on the social media aspect, and it’s really not something I want to do at all. I try to not put “those posts” out there very often, and focus more on my website, making art, and venues. It’s a fine balance, for sure.”
“It is a second job…”
“Yes!”
This is a topic close to me as a first-time author. When I wrote my book the process was engaging and creative. I had no idea what came after it was published except a book release and tour. The social media self-promotion stuff was indeed a learning experience in many ways. The push to be like others or do as others are doing, was present and stressful. It took almost a year for me to find a balance that worked for me in self-promotion. Here is the link to the shared article, let us know what you think in the comments.
Cat Gina Cole is a Hereditary Witch and author of Psychic Skills for Magic and Witchcraft (Llewellyn, 2022). She is the founder of The Coven of the Rising Phoenix and Staff Coordinator for “Green Egg Magazine.” You can reach her at www.catginacole.com.