# Websites vs Facebook



## RattieFosters

So one of my biggest pet peeves lately is when you go to look up a company (usually a small business), and instead of finding an actual website, they've just made a Facebook group. -_- I hate that!

The worst is when I'm looking at animals on Petfinder, go to click on the rescue's website, and instead I get a Facebook page with zero usable information. Instead of getting a website that's easy to navigate, I get this messy timeline to sort through to try and find the information I'm looking for. Instead of finding an actual e-mail address I can use to contact someone, I have to PM them. Instead of getting detailed profiles of the animals, I have to scroll through a 'photo gallery' that might have a little blurb on the animal in the description. That's it. I HATE it.

Please. If you're going to run a small business/rescue, make a website. Whenever I'm directed to a Facebook page, I just give up. It's unprofessional, in my opinion. If these businesses aren't going to invest the little time and money into making an actual website, why should I believe that they're going to invest any time or money into the product/care of the animals? It's just frustrating. :/

Am I just crazy? Or does this bother anyone else, too?


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## crow

Depends on the person who made the page. Sometimes a Facebook page for a business is well-organized with all the relevant info etc. And you can tell they knew what they were doing. Sometimes not. 
The upside of facebook from the pov of a business is that Facebook requires everyone to use their real names, so no bullshit, no anonymous hatemail, no troll customers. Additionally facebook is moving in this feature where you can sell items directly from your page in your "facebook shop." So I can see that being pretty useful. Above all I think it's the ubiquity of it. Everyone's got a facebook these days


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## Kelsbels

I don't mind it. Usually small businesses etc. need a fast, affordable, user friendly, way of reaching their audience. The upkeep of a website can be complicated and sometimes costly for some business owners. So facebook is a pretty good alternative.


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## Fu-Inle

As aomeone who has never had a facebook account i agree


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## mimsy

I think most rescues want you to use petfinder to look at the animals. You also have to remember that many small rescues are people doing this from their homes, who also work and are not usually making enough off adoption fee's to cover medical expenses. When I ran a ferret rescue, this was before facebook being popular so I had a website, but I doubt I would now, medical alone, not counting vaccines, spays or neuters, it was between 10 and 13k a year. Now add up vaccines, neuters, food and such and you've got a lot spent. Better time spent than a website is setting up an etsy or ebay account and making hammocks and toys and such to help support your shelter as a shelter operator. 

Plus not everyone is really computer savy. If their petfinder info is up to date, there really isn't a need to go anywhere else. If they are in your area and you want to help, offer to make a website for them. It's pretty amazing when you are a rescue and you get some kind hearted folks who help out.


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## artgecko

I like them in combination. I know several breeders that have a legit website where they tell about themselves, their rattery (or cattery), show their breeders, show results, or information that doesn't change often. Then they have a FB page or blog that gives you more frequently updated into (litters, upcoming shows, events they are going to, etc.). From what I understand, it is difficult to frequently update a traditional website. However, I agree that it is very frustrating to try and find information on a FB page unless it is put somewhere permanent (I hate scrolling down trying to find old posts!).


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## Tiwohunter

Bit late but yes but I wanted to comment anyways because this is something that really ticks me off as well. I do not have a Facebook account (personal choice) and it seems EVERYTHING sends you to Facebook instead of their website, if they even have one as you said. Half of these redirects require you to sign in to view the page. My very old fashioned self views these businesses/organizations as willfully and blithely cutting off a part of their consumer base and I refuse to support it.


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## RatEmporiumToronto

I started out with a website and honestly facebook is just so much more practical  Especially when I am uploading 300 pics a day and want them to be organized! When I am looking for a business I prefer to see a website instead of a facebook page, but for my own purposes facebook is so much easier, and not to mention so much cheaper that I gave up and made the switch.


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## Alleyxandra

It depends. Small breeder just doing it as hobby kinda thing bc they love rats? I'm down w a FB. If it's a purebred cat breeder or something? I expect a website. And prefer a FB too for regular updates for like, how the babies are doing etc. 

Websites aren't hard to run, get up, or expensive. And if you're not comp savvy you can hire folk to do the hard stuff anyway. It's lazy and unprofessional, especially if what you're selling has a high asking price. Am I gonna buy a $1,000+ cat from a breeder who only has a Facebook? Nah.


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## Isamurat

I have both, my website gets updated maybe every 3 months or so, but houses the more formal information and more importantly for me lots of guides and information for people who may not even want rats from me. My facebook group is where I put my litter updates, photos, day to day stuff and use as more of a means to attract future owners. This is mainly because its easier for me to update on my phone, I don't get onto my laptop at home very often (hence the limited updates) and work doesn't allow me to do that so it works best this way.

I'll admit I'm rubbish at website builder stuff lol, I don't know what I'd do without weebly's drag and drop functionality


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## fairy1776

I don't have a facebook acount and I'm looking for rats but I can't find any information on how to actually get the rats from the breeders on facebook!


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## artgecko

Fairy1776: I just saw this. I contacted the two people you mentioned and am waiting for a response. I requested email addresses from them so that you can contact them but have not heard back yet. I will let you know when I do.


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## Pixxiies

As others have said, it really depends on who is putting the content on the Facebook page. There are plenty of businesses that have very clear and concise FB pages.

I can attest to why people are making the movement to social media as apposed to traditional webpages. I have just started working at a company that has an old and very outdated website. The style is fine but everything needs to be updated. They put me in charge of contacting the site designer in order to gain access to make these edits. It has been a complete disaster so far trying to even get in contact with this person. So instead of wasting time and effort to update the website, we are considering creating a company Facebook and deactivating our domain name if we move.


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## BlackoutCat

Sort of agree here. I abhor Facebook pages with zilch for organization, impossible to navigate timelines, and my #1 pet peeve inconsistency. If you want to make your business/rattery/rescue shine keep the posts consistent. Came across a rattery where the owner would post albums of the pairings and once the pups were born they would post pics of them at fairly regular intervals of development which worked well but that's all that worked well. Some albums would have tons of pics and you couldn't tell who grew up into who. Down under markings were unlabeled, and sometimes the only pictures were groups of "rex males" "merle females" "female dumbos" and other nonsense that prevented identifying the actual number of pups because groups overlapped. Colours would be all over the place sometimes not mentioned even genders were omitted occasionally. I mean would it kill to write "Male #1, Black Self, DOB Oct 22nd" in every photo description of Male #1? How about "Dumbo Males from left to right Male#1, Male #4, Male #9"? If people use Facebook's tools intuitively then it's a wonderful supplemental business platform to attract customers. Which brings me to my second point. Facebook is of course a supplemental platform and does not replace a legitimate web presence. I don't care if it's a blogger or wordpress or a one page about the rattery with a contract download on it but having a personal web presence is kinda required for me to take a business seriously. Facebook group only just screams "this is a hobby and I have no idea what I'm actually doing"! 

Overall I agree with the exception of a well organized Facebook group that is intending to set up a proper web presence within a reasonable time frame. Being a start-up anything is not easy nor cheap so I give them some slack.


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## Tickleme2

I've learned that marketing venues are dictated by the audience you're hoping to reach. People who are into Facebook in a big way are more comfortable in that medium and not likely to get out of their comfort zone to investigate a web page. Those who dislike or don't use Facebook want a website. There is also a significant part of the population that are more likely to communicate via Twitter etc. If a persons' total income is based on social media marketing, they're going to have to "play" to that audience. Facebook doesn't have the same marketing appeal to me personally, as a website, but it has certainly helped bring me business.


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## catty-ratty

Something I've noticed is that most big businesses have a regular website plus links to their social sites. 

Businesses want to get as much exposure as possible.


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## rottengirl

AAAAH. I love and hate the Facebook pages. 

I loove them because they are free, affordable, easily accessible and you can create a decent size customer base without having to do much advertising. Excellent. 
My pet peeve is when people don't keep it just for their rats, but share like a sh*tton of shares and quotes and basically completely irrelevant stuff. So I have to sift through like 20+ things to get to one rat picture of them may or maybe not selling. 

Hate it. So much. 

But now that I have vented, I feel much better. Aah. Maybe I can give them a break now


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## raindear

I hate FB. I only joined it to be able to participate in the Travelin' Rat auctions and help the rat rescues. But outside of that I don't know how to navigate it at all. 

So, my cousin says the information about the family reunion is on her FB page. Really? How do I find it? I tried, but couldn't find it at all.

I found two local rat breeders that have FB pages. One had a CL ad that says for information about contracts and adoptions check out "notes". Again, oh, really??? How do I find that? I can find the pages, but I can't navigate to any of the supposed information to manage to do anything from there.

With internet sites I was always able to navigate around and find what I needed. I never intended to have a FB account, and now that I do, it's pretty much useless except for seeing what interesting, gross, or funny things my "friends" choose to post every day.


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## catty-ratty

I'm not a big fan of FB either. I used to be on more, but everytime you turn around, they are changing stuff. Privacy settings among them AND figuring out how to find stuff. I still have my page, but I don't very much identifying information on it precisely because privacy settings get changed so often. It's more work keeping up with keeping your personal information private than I care to bother with. So I just don't use it much.


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