Bruce has suggested re-vitalizing our efforts on other platforms, including social media.
We have done this in the past, with limited success.
If I had to pinpoint the reasons for lack of success, I would say it had to do with:
1. Lack of time/commitment. A presence on any social media platform requires regular "upkeep". Some platforms thrive on quantity of content, others on quality. Whatever the case, it works best if there is a point person, who can manage the pages on a regular basis.
2. Lack of expertise with the platforms. Different platforms thrive on different forms of content. In the past, we mainly just posted updates/links/simple text on alternative platforms.
3. Not keeping track of metrics and traffic driven to LongeCity.org.
#3 is the ultimate goal. We want to drive engagement and traffic to the LongeCity website. Here is where we can manage the organization most effectively. Here is where we have more control over content/image/projects. We don't want to allow LongeCity's best engagement/discussions to shift to a different platform. Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube have recently been aggressively censoring content for seemingly arbitrary reasons. As an example, Google is already demonetizing some LongeCity discussions revolving around sexual health. LongeCity is a community of mostly open-thinkers who are not afraid to discuss alternative viewpoints.
The well-known platforms are obvious places to attempt more engagement because of their large user-bases, but they do have the most strict rules and arbitrary/confusing rule enforcement at times. I would not want to neglect other emerging platforms. It might be easier to gain attention on emerging platforms because there is less competition.