What can Maplewood Online do more at the local level?

I'm glad that the politics threads are kept separate.  MOL works for me re practical and fun stuff - recommendations for vendors, restaurants, movies and TV etc.    

It is a difficult problem. I don’t know the statistics, but from personal experience it really seems like the number of active threads has dropped significantly. I’m not sure how you correct that problem.

This website had one of its most shining moments in the aftermath of super storm Sandy (as well as other major meteorological events). There were multiple threads about things like outages, business closures, as well as businesses that were are open, and where to get assistance or buy gasoline.

In contrast, I started a thread in 2020 about how local businesses were adapting to the COVID-19 shut down. I thought it would be helpful to know, for instance, where takeout was still available. Stores that have found ways to do business, without letting too many customers in. That sort of thing. The thread petered out after about a dozen posts. 

The message board used to just be a much more lively and active place. It wasn’t unusual to refresh the page after half an hour, and see that a couple dozen threads have been updated. New ones were added, and they seem to be any more fun threads  now, for instance, all of the celebrity death news ends up in a single thread. Some of those individual threads about the passing of celebrities ended up being very active and vibrant discussion places about those people.

For years, this place was my go to spot for fun and interesting crowd source information. Both local and on a broader scale. However, it feels like the crowd is a lot smaller and not as interested in engaging in discussion here.

So I guess the real question is how to bring more users back to actively posting and using MOL as a valuable source of community information. One question I have is about the community calendar. Is it only populated by people who go in and add their own events? I looked at the next few months and it shows almost nothing for the month of February March and April. I know there are more things going on around town. Is there a better way to populate that calendar? Right now I personally do not view the Maplewood online calendar is a good resource for finding out what’s going on in town.

So I’m not really sure how to improve the value proposition of spending time on Maplewood online. Actively making me information available more comprehensive might be a good place to start.

I agree with crazy_quilter that MOL is much more conversation-friendly.  This is a big plus for MOL.   While there sometimes are long heated endless debates, there are also many good discussions with lots of good information.   This is a much better way to discuss happenings and issues.   Perhaps this is a way that MOL should be advertised as the,  "The local online site for local and national discussions and events that lets you write to express your thoughts in more than a soundbite."   The weather reports, plumbing, and other  repairs, food reviews, and humor threads are prize-worthy.  I hope MOL is still economically viable for you Jamie as MOL is and has been a great public service.

MOL has been around since 1997 when there was no competition. Jamie keeps making it better every day. Plus there are  many great posters who are so knowledgeable. I learn so much. It's really worldwide,getting feedback from Australia,Hong Kong, Canada  as well as various states. Many people read but do not post.We are so lucky to live in this part of the world where we can communicate so easily. 

Younger people aren't going to Facebook. I don't know where they are going. 

crazy_quilter said:

Younger people aren't going to Facebook. I don't know where they are going. 

Insta, YouTube, SnapChat and TikTok. The message board format (which even Facebook has become through its groups thanks to olds like us) is of no interest to them. The only thing similar to this format that relatively young people use to ask questions, learn things, and converse about actual subjects is Reddit.

I'll admit to primarily being a lurker on the politics threads. I enjoy reading a lot of the responses, but most conversations have already been covered by the time I see them. A couple of friends said they used to be on it, but there was too much arguing. 

I think a more comprehensive calendar would be really nice, but it would definitely be time consuming. 

Thanks for keeping the website going. Much better than Facebook, IMO. From what I see at work, the over 40s are on FB, the 30s are on Twitter, the 20s are on everything but FB, and below 20 are on SnapChat and TikTok. 

I plan to write a longer, more thoughtful post, and will tomorrow or over the weekend, but it occurs to me that the key might be marketing to realtors. 

They really are the first contacts for people new to a community and I don’t think they’ve been mentioned.

Realtors… they really did spice things up a bit some years ago eh…

People complain about arguing on MOL? Some people who post here are just too full of themselves really. They argue because they are looking for attention and relevance. There are schmucks everywhere…more so on Facebook and Twitter and the others.

A message from the Great Straw.

My wife Algebra alerted me to this thread. As a former user of MOL and perhaps its most well known poster, I wanted to respond.

The issue with MOL is simple to diagnose. There’s dwindling user-ship. We can all agree on that.

Jamie was a pioneer in social media. He was there early with a brilliant concept that took off immediately but there would soon be competition and unfortunately that competition was Goliath.

To back up a second, I remember having discussions with Dave at Bunny’s regarding what the future of MOL might look like. I remember suggesting a media presence with journalists covering local stories. You draw new readers with articles while introducing them to the message boards and announcements and personal pages. Etc.

Years later the Patch and then Mary Mann and the Village Green along with Tapinto would flood the market.

Unfortunately, I believe that market is now tapped. (no pun intended) I really did feel MOL could grow as a media company with an already thriving user base but again, this did not materialize. Opportunity lost.

So here we are in 2023, and MOL is still trying to be MOL circa 2008. I know there are users here who proudly bang their chests stating emphatically that they have no FB account. That’s great but it’s not just FB they’re missing out on. It’s the groups from Soma eats to soma travel to soma business to soma advertising to soma reading group to soma finance. To mom groups and even dad groups. The list goes on and on. These sites all have tremendous traffic and there’s no reason to go elsewhere.

So again, what MOL offers is already offered on FB in every category one can think of.

So what’s next? Jamie can’t sell the technology he created because it’s not unique anymore.

So maybe he says F FB and fight to rebuild MOL by spending money on better technology to create a new and unique user experience. What’s that going to cost? Millions?? Probably.

Or maybe do as Algebra suggests, tip his cap, thank everyone for a real good time and retire the site gracefully.

Whatever he decides to do Jamie should know that he’s made a difference. Nothing lasts forever. Just remember the key to happiness is knowing when to get in AND when to get out.

Thank You.

Straw.

Did I hear that you got out of Maplewood ,talking about getting out? How do you like your new town?

The Oracle of MOL asks me to remind Jamie: "All of Nature evolves to survive. Evolve."

-s.

The great straw….. that broke the camel’s back…

I get the FB appeal, but I go crazy with that format.  I'm getting a lot of feedback from people using those groups that our format is a bit better - and people are starting to move over to JamieSpace!  Some more info coming about that in the near future!  An app is in the works!

https://www.jamiespace.com

Another idea is to serve as a central point to share volunteer opportunities.  For example, this listing is cross posted from the Years of The Maplewood Senior Thread and is repeated here as an example.  

"The Maplewood Seniors Advisory Committee has an opening for a member of any age who lives in Maplewood and would be interested in working to help older Americans age in place. To join, you would need to complete a volunteer application (available on line or at the Town Clerk's Office) and, if chosen, be appointed by the Maplewood Township Committee. Appointment is for a renewable three year term. Anyone interested can send me a PM here on MOL."

Posters can edit comments once a position is filled so that the directory remains current. 

I remember reading somewhere about ten years ago that FB had reached the point that it had more dead users than living.  I certainly have seen a dramatic decline in activity amongst my Facebook friends over the last few years.  These days, I mainly check in to see who has died.  All of which is to say that I think the problems you are discussing are endemic to this more traditional format.

Someone mentioned realtors and I would double down on that.  When I first moved to Maplewood, it was my realtor that turned me onto MOL and, even if not every  NYC ex pat who moves to MAPSO ends up posting regularly, a mention from the realtors might get more eyeballs.

MOL was great many years ago, but it was just another step on the evolution of communication. 

For me, it started with BBS (via dial up) in the 80’s, then Compuserve, then Prodigy and AOL in the 90’s, MOL in the 2000s, FB in the 2010s….and not sure what is next.  But trying to preserve an old platform is pretty futile, unfortunately. 

As they say, don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.  

galileo said:

Did I hear that you got out of Maplewood ,talking about getting out? How do you like your new town?

Hi Galileo - we got out of Maplewood! Currently, we have a great apartment in EO and a cabin in Sussex County. We are very happy with both.

michaelgoldberg said:

MOL was great many years ago, but it was just another step on the evolution of communication. 

For me, it started with BBS (via dial up) in the 80’s, then Compuserve, then Prodigy and AOL in the 90’s, MOL in the 2000s, FB in the 2010s….and not sure what is next.  But trying to preserve an old platform is pretty futile, unfortunately. 

As they say, don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.  

Boo to this. I think MOL meets a need that’s not filled by any of the other outlets mentioned. 

Refining the community hub aspects (calendar, volunteer activities etc) would help. 

Maybe MOL needs to expand its presence into YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Posts that lead back to the website and vice versa.  

There was an exodus from MOL to Facebook about seven years ago when the format changed and everyone had to reregister or make new accounts.  

These days, however, I think the force that is really competing with MOL for eyeballs is Nextdoor.  That is where a lot of the conversations about noisy neighbors and playgroups are taking place.  I am no longer a member of the MAPSO Nextdoor but I do watch the Edmonton version and it is, in many ways,  just a crappier version of MOL. Personally, I don't get the attraction, the format is terrible and the moderating is just as bad but the activity level reminds me if MOL circa 2010.

Michael Goldberg says that he doesn't know what the next thing will be and neither do I but, for my money, the current thing for a lot of younger parents who want to network about their community is Nextdoor.  

I think Jamie offers the same platform in several other towns.

Are the sites for the other towns experiencing the same issue/trends?

Here's what I like about this site:  The moderating is active and discourages the excesses I hear of on many other platforms.  Keep it up Jamie.

I started a conversation (?) on FB about Jamie's quandary re: MOL's future, & got some interesting responses, the most recent of which was "Figure out a way to bring it here...Facebook...it's possible, in one way shape or form...

-s.

soda said:

I started a conversation (?) on FB about Jamie's quandary re: MOL's future, & got some interesting responses, the most recent of which was "Figure out a way to bring it here...Facebook...it's possible, in one way shape or form...

That would seriously inhibit my chest-banging on MOL about not having an FB account.

soda said:

I started a conversation (?) on FB about Jamie's quandary re: MOL's future, & got some interesting responses, the most recent of which was "Figure out a way to bring it here...Facebook...it's possible, in one way shape or form...

-s.

I don't like supporting Mark Zuckerberg. Just my two cents.

soda said:

I started a conversation (?) on FB about Jamie's quandary re: MOL's future, & got some interesting responses, the most recent of which was "Figure out a way to bring it here...Facebook...it's possible, in one way shape or form...

-s.

Maybe I am misunderstanding that response but it is hard to see what the point of that approach would be. 

earlier today I posted this on one of my other threads, now I think it is better here…

@jamie

Got to reading Jamie’s post and felt sad to hear of MOL aging out. I joined during the dial up days of the great reveal, circa 2000!

I have a Twitter account, seldom read; an Instagram account, which I loath, for the sake of my seven grandkids; and Facebook, which provides me a presence in the world I really enjoy! I “talk” with people worldwide about gardening, sharing container tips and photos. I revel in cat, dog, and senior issue cartoons, which lighten the aging alone load considerably. Cooking solo is tough after cooking for six, but lots of tips come via FB. Streaming suggestions, books, cooking, or not, real estate, security, remodeling,  medical referrals, etc etc

soda said:

I started a conversation (?) on FB about Jamie's quandary re: MOL's future, & got some interesting responses, the most recent of which was "Figure out a way to bring it here...Facebook...it's possible, in one way shape or form...

-s.

I really dislike FB's format.  Bringing it there make no sense.  How much does FB pay these groups to have millions of clicks and data on all of their members?   Meta's format is basically designed to keep you there.  I'm really against everything it's about.  I hardly am on there - mostly to message a few people.

GoSlugs said:

There was an exodus from MOL to Facebook about seven years ago when the format changed and everyone had to reregister or make new accounts.  

These days, however, I think the force that is really competing with MOL for eyeballs is Nextdoor.  That is where a lot of the conversations about noisy neighbors and playgroups are taking place.  I am no longer a member of the MAPSO Nextdoor but I do watch the Edmonton version and it is, in many ways,  just a crappier version of MOL. Personally, I don't get the attraction, the format is terrible and the moderating is just as bad but the activity level reminds me if MOL circa 2010.

Michael Goldberg says that he doesn't know what the next thing will be and neither do I but, for my money, the current thing for a lot of younger parents who want to network about their community is Nextdoor.  

Yeah Nextdoor was pretty flimsy when they launched.  Now they really have incredibly aggressive email campaigns, which are probably effective.    

They charge businesses $25,000 for sponsored posts and have other revenue streams.  In 2021 they only lost $95 million dollars.  And they've raised over $717 million.

Hard to know what the next big thing will be.  

It's part of my logic to create JamieSpace - it provides a less manic environment for small groups who may not want their information as part of a large social media company's data stream.  For those who need a break from the hyper stream of these megaplatforms.

soda said:

I started a conversation (?) on FB about Jamie's quandary re: MOL's future, & got some interesting responses, the most recent of which was "Figure out a way to bring it here...Facebook...it's possible, in one way shape or form...

-s.

The Facebook format is inhospitable to the give-and-take that is possible here.