4 ms·

It's not free, you have to agree to terms and conditions. You shouldn't have to agree to FB terms to learn about government services, like your garbage schedule

It's not free, you have to agree to terms and conditions. You shouldn't have to agree to FB terms to learn about government services, like your garbage schedule. Could be a lawsuit here.

axaxs 5y ago
Technically perhaps correct, but my HOA pays for garbage so it's more neighborhood level. I have zero interest in interacting with them much less suing them. I just wish they'd spend 10 dollars to setup some simple website, but don't care enough to go through the ranks to suggest that...
- erhk 5y ago
  Nasty grams about how they dont post updates anywhere would be a start. I'm sure that their laws say something vague about updates must be made available to all residents and you can swing that Facebook doesnt include all residents
  - ISL 5y ago
    Building out a simple website (Google Sites, etc.) that the HOA can update and then share to Facebook is another. Open web access then exists and yet those who choose FB are not cut off.
- gibolt 5y ago
  What everyone forgets is how important 'notifications' on Facebook are. When making a post, many if not most residents are likely to see the update. It may even be better than physical mailers, and I doubt many other options even compare for awareness. A website is unlikely to get nearly any traffic, and especially not timely views for upcoming events. Emails will probably head to spam or not get read. It shouldn't be Facebook as the default, but the simplicity of reaching most of your audience is valuable.
  - calimac 5y ago
    RSS is the way. someone might want to build on it.
  - kortilla 5y ago
    > and I doubt many other options even compare for awareness. Are there stats that show a Facebook post is better than email/sms for an important announcement?
    - jazzyjackson 5y ago
      How would you even measure that? Announcments don't really require engagement or acknowledgement. I guess you could A/B test announcing city hall events and watching for turnout?
      - kortilla 5y ago
        Exactly. You look at turnout rate and/or sample the crowd as to how they learned about it.
  - mannykannot 5y ago
    > Emails will probably head to spam or not get read. The heavy and routine use of email in businesses 'going paperless' suggests that this claim has little basis in reality.
ipaddr 5y ago
Wouldn't this page be public. No login required.
- axaxs 5y ago
  I see you've never met the typical HOA. Let me explain... One person who usually isn't even the 'president' but still sycophantic about it creates a private group, which only he or she can delete things or add people. Then they distribute flyers every couple weeks informing you about it and how you need to join. HOAs here are unfortunately the lesser of two evils, but they are far from a good thing.
- wccrawford 5y ago
  The goings-on of HOAs typically aren't publicly posted unless required by law. They'd rather keep it to the neighborhood and not have others up in their business.
zeteo 5y ago
Why would there be a lawsuit? There's no law that forces local government to run a media company or media companies to run government announcements for free. If the local government had decided to advertise in the local newspaper then the citizens would have to subscribe to this newspaper and pay for all issues in the hope that some of them contained public announcements. Facebook has a different business model and, in this case, the local government (which was elected by the citizens) decided this was a better match for its community's needs. If the citizens don't like it they always have the option to elect someone else instead. (Although, in all likelihood, receiving a decent number of complaints would probably do the trick too.)
- bbarnett 5y ago
  I think the lawsuit might come, if the local government switched to facebook in lieu of all other options. Right now, at least where I am, they have to provide freely accessible info ... even if I have to drive to the town hall to get it. But if they said, instead, "We don't print on paper any more, it's all on facebook", then I think a lawsuit could happen, and win. Of course, you weren't replying to that. I just have seen, however, leanings in that direction here and there, so it's worth noting.
1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago
Facebook is heavily oriented toward photos and audio/video. Does this emphasis ever have a discriminatory effect on, e.g., sight or sound-impaired users. A local or state government using Facebook exclusively for announcements would arguably be covered by the ADA. https://www.levelaccess.com/americans-with-disabilities-act-and-its-relevance-to-web-software-accessibility/ https://www.levelaccess.com/americans-with-disabilities-act-...
- kortilla 5y ago
  That approach won’t work well if they are just text updates.
  - 1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago
    Except when the text message says something like, "Watch this new video for full details"
  - jazzyjackson 5y ago
    they probably post scans of PDFs as photos.

It's not free, you have to agree to terms and conditions. You shouldn't have to agree to FB terms to learn about government services, like your garbage schedule. Could be a lawsuit here.

axaxs 5y ago

Technically perhaps correct, but my HOA pays for garbage so it's more neighborhood level. I have zero interest in interacting with them much less suing them. I just wish they'd spend 10 dollars to setup some simple website, but don't care enough to go through the ranks to suggest that...

erhk 5y ago
Nasty grams about how they dont post updates anywhere would be a start. I'm sure that their laws say something vague about updates must be made available to all residents and you can swing that Facebook doesnt include all residents
- ISL 5y ago
  Building out a simple website (Google Sites, etc.) that the HOA can update and then share to Facebook is another. Open web access then exists and yet those who choose FB are not cut off.
gibolt 5y ago
What everyone forgets is how important 'notifications' on Facebook are. When making a post, many if not most residents are likely to see the update. It may even be better than physical mailers, and I doubt many other options even compare for awareness. A website is unlikely to get nearly any traffic, and especially not timely views for upcoming events. Emails will probably head to spam or not get read. It shouldn't be Facebook as the default, but the simplicity of reaching most of your audience is valuable.
- calimac 5y ago
  RSS is the way. someone might want to build on it.
- kortilla 5y ago
  > and I doubt many other options even compare for awareness. Are there stats that show a Facebook post is better than email/sms for an important announcement?
  - jazzyjackson 5y ago
    How would you even measure that? Announcments don't really require engagement or acknowledgement. I guess you could A/B test announcing city hall events and watching for turnout?
    - kortilla 5y ago
      Exactly. You look at turnout rate and/or sample the crowd as to how they learned about it.
- mannykannot 5y ago
  > Emails will probably head to spam or not get read. The heavy and routine use of email in businesses 'going paperless' suggests that this claim has little basis in reality.

ipaddr 5y ago

Wouldn't this page be public. No login required.

axaxs 5y ago
I see you've never met the typical HOA. Let me explain... One person who usually isn't even the 'president' but still sycophantic about it creates a private group, which only he or she can delete things or add people. Then they distribute flyers every couple weeks informing you about it and how you need to join. HOAs here are unfortunately the lesser of two evils, but they are far from a good thing.
wccrawford 5y ago
The goings-on of HOAs typically aren't publicly posted unless required by law. They'd rather keep it to the neighborhood and not have others up in their business.

zeteo 5y ago

Why would there be a lawsuit? There's no law that forces local government to run a media company or media companies to run government announcements for free. If the local government had decided to advertise in the local newspaper then the citizens would have to subscribe to this newspaper and pay for all issues in the hope that some of them contained public announcements. Facebook has a different business model and, in this case, the local government (which was elected by the citizens) decided this was a better match for its community's needs. If the citizens don't like it they always have the option to elect someone else instead. (Although, in all likelihood, receiving a decent number of complaints would probably do the trick too.)

bbarnett 5y ago
I think the lawsuit might come, if the local government switched to facebook in lieu of all other options. Right now, at least where I am, they have to provide freely accessible info ... even if I have to drive to the town hall to get it. But if they said, instead, "We don't print on paper any more, it's all on facebook", then I think a lawsuit could happen, and win. Of course, you weren't replying to that. I just have seen, however, leanings in that direction here and there, so it's worth noting.

1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago

Facebook is heavily oriented toward photos and audio/video. Does this emphasis ever have a discriminatory effect on, e.g., sight or sound-impaired users. A local or state government using Facebook exclusively for announcements would arguably be covered by the ADA. https://www.levelaccess.com/americans-with-disabilities-act-and-its-relevance-to-web-software-accessibility/ https://www.levelaccess.com/americans-with-disabilities-act-...

kortilla 5y ago
That approach won’t work well if they are just text updates.
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago
  Except when the text message says something like, "Watch this new video for full details"
- jazzyjackson 5y ago
  they probably post scans of PDFs as photos.