National Trust forum connect now on LinkedIn

[Laurie Sommers]

I had found the previous email list to include periodically interesting discussions and information about National Trust initiatives and trends in the field of interest to this group.  As of January 1 they have switched to LinkedIn--something I didn't previously use. There are over 16,000 followers of the Trust, so I get why they did it. It is free and open to everyone.

 But the consequence is that it seems so big and overblown that I just get lost and don't think I'll find it of much use.

I did not previously use LinkedIn, however.  Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Laurie

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Laurie Sommers, PhD
Laurie Kay Sommers Consulting, LLC
4292 Tacoma Blvd.
Okemos, MI 48864
517-899-6964
email: folkl...@gmail.com

[Jeremy Wells]

Hi Laurie,

Great question. I’ve been following some of the concerns about this change, and I can certainly see why they are important, especially the idea that this somehow supports LinkedIn.

On the other hand, I personally think that this is a good thing because it promises the potential of broadening the Trust’s audience, which it desperately needs. The old Forum was a pretty quiet place where, for the most part, people who supported orthodox views on the field sustained these perspectives. (There were, of course,  exceptions.) Voices that were pretty much absent included the social sciences (e.g., folklore, anthropology, sociology), urban and regional planning, geography, etc. LinkedIn has the promise to bring more of these voices into the discussion, including people with more diverse identities, which I very much welcome.

To be honest, LinkedIn is the only place where, when I post a topic on historic preservation/people and place, I actually get engagement. People read my post, react to it, and most importantly, make comments. When I post the same content on the Forum, it was usually silence. Same goes for Twitter. (The FaceBook preservation practice forum can get good engagement, but as a private group, it more of preservationists talking to themselves, which isn’t good for the field.)

So yes, LinkedIn is a for-profit company that is making money from my participation on their site (through advertising), but, on the other hand, I do get this engagement.

-Jeremy

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[Andrea Graham]

I am on LinkedIn but don’t use it much at all, and I never think of it as a forum for discussion but more of a job board. Do you have a link to the new National Trust site/feed/whatever it is?

Andrea

[Laurie Sommers]

https://us.engagingnetworks.app/page/email/click/10028/1531809?email=eTKJiXvX5fYq2cbhalQAJVESkN1MQhKC&campid=XssPcaf75EKZkArzVWMSmA==

This is the link for the Trust's LinkedIn page, fyi.

[Hunt, Marjorie]

I'm not on Linkedin either, but this is making me interested. Previously I've only gone to the site to check on someone's current position and recent work history. Like Andrea, I've never thought of it as a forum for discussion/exchange of ideas or even knew this function existed.

Marjorie

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From: hp_...@googlegroups.com <hp_...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Andrea Graham <graham....@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2023 12:58 PM
To: Laurie Sommers <folkl...@gmail.com>
Cc: hp_...@googlegroups.com <hp_...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [hp_folk] National Trust forum connect now on LinkedIn

 

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