this post is intended just for fact finding,

Does anybody on PF use Facebook as part of their figure pursuit??

I do not...

So could I be missing out on stuff ?

Obviously I know you do not need the likes of Facebook or any other such type but it maybe away of enlarging my pool for instance.

Hi Malc
Yep I've got a FB account and like Kev I'm a member of a few groups and follow a few other modellers.
The drawback I've found is the selectivity of the FB system means that if you 'like' a model figure image or post a comment this alters your feed so that quite quickly you end up with only model figure related stuff and as Kev says that can be annoying

Worth having - probably, but I wouldn't say you get anything that can't be easily found elsewhere and forums like this are a better way of interacting IMO
Hope that helps
Paul

Yes, I'm on Facebook. I waste time there, but I also spend time following hobby pages. We have a group for the MFCA, for example, that serves as our online forum. I also belong to a couple of scale modeling groups, including for the 2 IPMS clubs I belong to.

It is relatively easier to use, compared to web-based forums. But you need to develop a discipline and follow it, or it will become a time-waster.

As Paul mentions, Facebook uses algorithms-calculations designed to review what you have responded to, and then to use that info to prioritize new content directed to your newsfeed, ie, your Facebook page. It can happen that something you followed previously, drops off your feed, because you didn't interact with it enough, so it was given lower weight by the algorithms and prioritized lower in the newsfeed.

You do reach a lot more people, around the world, because more people are on it.

Prost!
Brad

I’ve joined several FB modelling groups over the years and unlike pF, there is an awful amount of politics, abuse and bastardry.

Social media groups are a good way to see a more diverse range of modelling subjects but the trolls are far more active. On balance, I can live without FB, but I’d be lost without Planet Figure.

I closed my account during the whole Brexit and General Election debate.
A number of people I held in high regard as modellers and decent individuals suddenly got dragged into the uncontrolled morass of petty snideness and ill informed content that Fb has become.
Nothing to do with their opinions, to which everyone has a right but I don't really need to go to a modelling site and hear these unrelated topics punctuated throughout by the most offensive, misogynistic, racist and sexist expletives.
Haven't missed it for a second.

I have a FB account and spend an average of 5 minutes/day there. Occassionally it has its use. Some bands schedule rehearsals there (not for some time now), some people prefer to contact me through FB chat (though I channel that through IRC) and if I really feel like wasting time I browse through some groups but mostly I check the few posts I'm tagged in and be off as fast as I can.
I do not understand how Baron can find FB easier to use. In a forum you can make a conscious effort to find something. I'm not aware that's a possibility on FB.
Modelling related: I bought my Verdi bust (see avatar) through FB as the manufacturer only offers it there.

Especially since in-person meets with other modelers is difficult now, I like being able to see other's work and ask questions. The added attraction for me is that we can see work from all over the world, tutorials from everywhere, and even new releases that I am not sure we would see elsewhere. I've been impressed at the lack of the usual moron chatter, though I admit to mostly looking at photos more than reading.

Well, that's more of a comment on the administrators of the group, if they let that happen, just as it is in the case of a forum. I'm an admin in a couple of the FB groups to which I belong, and we police them as best we can. We post the rules of the group, such as no politics, ad hominem attacks, overt sales, etc, and then if we find someone violating the rules, we react. In most of those groups, we give the offender the benefit of the doubt-once. After that, if it happens again, he's out. It's the same thing with the forums I belong to.

Prost!
Brad

I couldn't have put it better myself. 100% spot on mate.

I have a FB account but hardly use it. I don't find it an easy platform to use and never buy from modellers who promote and sell their products on FB. Very limited and a bloody lot of rubbish on it. For me PF is the best source on anything related to figure modelling, and has been a great source of information and inspiration.

NO I read books

I am also on facebook, in several groups of figurines also but I prefer the forums like this one where the exchanges are more enriching.

Facebook also allowed me to discover new sculptors and new pieces like the mountain home or gold rush for example

They are today makers who have only a Fakelook sorry ... facebook but not a public one, you have to be a fairpook member to read it . Then your phone begin to ring .
... I'm MumbaMumba the great exorcist and ...
... you won the right to participate to the Whigtown loterie ...
... we come in your street and propose you 2 free products if you buy for 100£ of frozen food ...
... I made an inheritance but I need your help ...
... Alone ? I'm from Myamar and I ...
... We are from the church of Scamology and ...

And by the way, I love computers since I bought my first one in 1981... a ZX81

I use FB, as our model club have a page. It is useful for what it is and I only generally view modelling/history/bulldogs pages. I can see how easy it would be to get swallowed up in the crap, but, if you limit yourself to specifics, theres not really a problem... you dont have to read every word on there and you can scroll past the bullshit

My local model club had a FB page that anyone could view. However, sad to say that is now Private so, if, like me, you do not subscribe to the "social media" frenzy you are excluded from your club activities. Good move that, bound to encourage the existing membership and even attract new members?

I find a Facebook account is very useful for keeping up-to-date on new releases and new work by fellow modellers.
It's also a great place to buy kits, with plenty of pages devoted solely to the sale of kits between modellers.
It's also a place I find helpful to create your own modelling page to share work, attract commissions and to sell pieces as well.
My FB modelling page is here.....https://www.facebook.com/Mark-Stothard-Miniatures-106358851172319

Although PF is always my first port of call, I have recently been enjoying contacting artists and sculptors, whose work I've come to admire, on FB. As a result , I've been able to access models I might not otherwise have been able to buy . I agree one needs to be VERY selective, as it's easy to become sidetracked with all the other dross that churns out, and waste valuable bench time Generally, it's OK for keeping in touch with like-minded folk. As is PF, of course.

Alan

Neither do I. I work in software development as a quality assurance analyst-testing software, analyzing and producing requirements, advising on process improvement. As an application, FB is crap. If my company's products were that cumbersome to use, our customers would all abandon us for our competitors.

It's really still at its core an electronic bulletin board. And for page or group admins, or people who use it for businesses, the latest version is really unintuitive, user-unfriendly. It wasn't too intuitive before, but just as Microsoft did and does with Windows, things that were easier to find and use before have been moved to other places, eliminated, or changed in such a way to make it take more effort to do things.

The chief advantage is that it is free for groups like clubs to use as a website or forum, and the next advantage is the reach. Those are important. But yeah, it can be a major time-waster if you don't establish some browsing discipline for yourself.

Prost!
Brad