Recently, I decided to kill off my Flakebook group. And, many of the members inside have been sending me emails and messages (some, thinking I banned them or something) asking about it.
The reason is simple:
The group existed to entertain and amuse me.
And, for several months, it did.
Then, it didn’t, and started to bore me.
Thus, I decided to kill it off and focus on other things that do interest me.
Anyway, that’s the reason for anyone lamenting the demise of elBenbo’s Lair. It’s not some sneaky plot to launch a product or whatever the social media goo-roos are doing lately. It’s not because I didn’t like anyone (the regulars in there were amongst the few people on this mud hole I do like). It simply bored me. And, as anyone who has watched me kill off successful products/programs on a whim before (like the short-lived elBenbo’s Apprentice membership site and Ben Settle Show podcast last Summer, The Crypto Marketing Newsletter in 2012, the Crackerjack Selling Secrets Club in 2009, etc) know, it’s not unprecedented for me to do such things, and replace them with something more fun and interesting for Yours Crotchety.
So that’s the bad news for my Horde who miss the group.
The good news?
(Good news for me, at least)
I’ll probably create a new group (with completely different dynamics and goals) that excites me as much as the old group did when I first started experimenting with things nobody else on Flakebook was doing.
(That I wrote about in the April 2017 “Email Players” issue).
In the meantime, on to the important stuff:
Even though I only had about 2500 people in there towards the end (I wanted it down to 1000 or less), my now deceased group had one of the most rabid followings I’ve ever seen on or off Flakebook in many ways.
Some people would send me long emails “selling” me on letting them join.
(After I closed Immigration.)
And, many who were banned, would send long emails pleading to come back.
It was just a very unique place from what others told me who are in lots of other groups.
And you know what?
That was all by design.
And, although I don’t mention Facebook in it, one of the influences for how I got it that rabid, is the bloke I talk about in the August “Email Players” issue — who had such a strong personal brand (people either loved or hated him, no indifference), and following, that even today (3 years after his death) you can still find probably hundreds (or more) forums, groups, chat rooms, etc online who argue, discuss, and debate him, his teachings, his ideas, etc.
I applied many things he did to the old group.
And, you can read about some of them in the August issue.
That is, if you subscribe before the looming deadline.
Here’s the link:
Ben Settle
