Facebook

[Robert Pries <robertpries@embarqmail.com>]

Thanks to John and many others we are bringing the Iris Society into the
current age and perhaps can insure its long term survival. The creation of
electronic memberships is vital to the well-being of all the aspects of the
society with which we are familiar. Good work John.

Another part of the puzzle is Facebook. This social interaction site can have
an enormous effect on bringing the interest of a younger generation to the
Iris Society. B  I am pleased to announce that a new member of AISdiscuss is
Andi Rivarola. Andi took over managing the AIS Facebook a short time ago and
it is now growing rapidly. Managing a successful Facebook page is actually a
great deal of work and while it would be great if each section, region and
affiliate had one to serve their members, if it is not worked on constantly,
it adds little to the impression of a group. But I encourage all groups to put
the link to the AIS Facebook page on their websites. To see an example go to
the bottom of the AIS Iris Encyclopedia Home page. Andi can provide simple
instructions for your webmaster to do a similar AIS Facebook badge.

At first I was skeptical about the value of Facebook But many successful non
profits use it. The Missouri Botanical gardens has 26,000 Facebook members.
Facebook keeps these people connected to the society and builds interest in
it. B  Imagine if we had an equal number of Facebook members when E-membership
came into effect. Perhaps hundreds would join and some might become print
subscribers also. Your help in developing this new outreach to Iris lovers
would be greatly appreciated. and involves little effort.

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