@mlanger @anon_opin @dbsalk

one of the saddest things I see is when small businesses neglect their independent website for Facebook, and then don't even bother to update the bit of FB that you can see without having a login, to the point you don't even know if the business is still operating as their last post is 3 years ago!

I think the wider problem is a lot of business owners don't really *want* to communicate with their customers (and then wonder why they go bust within a few years)

@mlanger @anon_opin @dbsalk

I deleted my FB, Messenger and Instagram accounts some months ago - one thing I noticed when I was using them is Messenger is *not* reliable for the level of real-time messaging you would need for a business transaction (even compared to SIgnal, SMS or a telephone call).

And FB will equally direct people to their competitors, and in a small country like England has 0 sense of geography/distance (this is a very common flaw with all USA developed social networks)

@vfrmedia @mlanger @anon_opin @dbsalk as a business owner (with websites) I tend to try to spend more time running my business than dealing with either social media or my website.

Both are huge burdens that are neccisary to doing business while actively taking time away from the business in which I am trying to engage.

And i say that as someone who is good at these things.

@ajroach42 @vfrmedia @anon_opin @dbsalk I agree with you 100%. I did have social media for my businesses and abandoned it. I still have a website for my jewelry business, but it has become such a hassle to update my work on that site as well as my online shop site that now I just pretty much point everyone to my online shop.

I'd rather run my business, make new inventory, and have a life than try to keep up with social media for the one or two new customers it might generate in a month.

@mlanger @ajroach42 @anon_opin @dbsalk

both of you do still update both the indie website and the online shop regularly (accounting for the fact that hand made jewellery and toys aren't made overnight)
and even publish actual telephone numbers and physical addresses, which for many small businesses is becoming rare these days - plus you have genuine, high quality products which are verifiable.

I see too many businesses round here (especially linked to social media channels) where the owners are clearly drop shipping same stuff from Amazon and Ebay (maybe with their own branding), they never publish where their business is located, and make it hard to contact their customer service if anything goes wrong with shipments etc..