The Haif on Social Media

[Montrose1100]

The HAIF has a facebook account & a flickr group. Which is great for 2009. Just kidding Bach, you're doing a good job.

 

Has the HAIF thought about a tumblr account? Houston development is lagging on this site, Metropolis (whom I assume is a HAIF user), updates projects once in a blue moon, and other than that I show up as a blog about Houston architecture even though I've only posted a few things about it. Texas in general is lagging on the development posts, the architecture posts, and the wanderlust posts. I know we don't have quite the gems of Chicago, Europe, and Asia, but there's no spot light.

 

Has the HAIF thought about a instagram account? I know it would be odd because the one operating it couldn't necessarily upload photos, but it could be a tag @thehaif or something cool. Whatever the kids are doing these days.

[editor]

HAIF's strongest social media presence is currently Facebook. Thanks to the efforts of Bach and Sevfiv and others there's a lot of good content on there that doesn't make it to the forum. mostly because it's interesting but not necessarily worth an entire thread of its own.

It's funny that you think of Tumblr as a way to keep up with the kids. I think of Tumbler as old tech on its way out. It is Yahoo!, after all. Might as well be a free AOL dialup disk.

instagram is a good idea because it's a growing platform. But the way it's designed makes it not good as a multi-author publishing environment. Plus, it's mobile only, which isn't all that useful when you want to post a bunch of cool new pics.

Still, I've been experimenting with Instagram with our Chicago blog, and there is some utility there, so I'm keeping it on my radar.

I've heard it said of both Instagram and Tumblr that they are Twitter for the illiterate. (And Twitter is Facebook for the lazy.)

Where HAIF really needs a social media boost is in the Twitter arena. I pay for a tool called Hootsuite to help me make the most of posting HAIF stuff on Twitter, but it can't help me save time when there is no time left to save.

If there are any social media-savvy HAIFers out ther who would like to be an official HAIF social media coordinator, please let me know.

[editor]

Here's a link to the Chicago blog I mentioned: http://chicagoarchitecture.org

Here's a link to its Insagram: http://instagram.com/chicagoarchitectureinfo

[tomv]

I noticed you refer to the forum as "the haif." I have always thought the name of this forum is a bit unwieldy. I have told others about it, but unless I have their email address and send them a link, I think it goes in one ear and out the other, partly due to the name. 

 

Calling it "the Houston Architectural Information Forum" is too many words, and also suggests only architecture is discussed. Calling it "HAIF" and pronouncing each letter as in "ESPN" is less of a mouthful but it doesn't roll off the tongue like "ESPN" does. Calling it "HAFE' (rhymes with "hate") sounds weird and when you google "Hafe" the first thing that appears is a Wikipedia page that tells you it is a "high altitude flatus explosion," a gastrointestinal syndrome which involves the spontaneous passage of increased quantities of rectal gases at high altitudes". This is kind of funny but I am not sure it will help people find the forum.    

 

I love the forum, but has thought been given to a new name or perhaps a catchy nickname so that people can find it easier? Editor?      

[IronTiger]

I pronounce it as "hife".

[Montrose1100]

HAIF's strongest social media presence is currently Facebook. Thanks to the efforts of Bach and Sevfiv and others there's a lot of good content on there that doesn't make it to the forum. mostly because it's interesting but not necessarily worth an entire thread of its own.

It's funny that you think of Tumblr as a way to keep up with the kids. I think of Tumbler as old tech on its way out. It is Yahoo!, after all. Might as well be a free AOL dialup disk.

instagram is a good idea because it's a growing platform. But the way it's designed makes it not good as a multi-author publishing environment. Plus, it's mobile only, which isn't all that useful when you want to post a bunch of cool new pics.

Still, I've been experimenting with Instagram with our Chicago blog, and there is some utility there, so I'm keeping it on my radar.

I've heard it said of both Instagram and Tumblr that they are Twitter for the illiterate. (And Twitter is Facebook for the lazy.)

Where HAIF really needs a social media boost is in the Twitter arena. I pay for a tool called Hootsuite to help me make the most of posting HAIF stuff on Twitter, but it can't help me save time when there is no time left to save.

If there are any social media-savvy HAIFers out ther who would like to be an official HAIF social media coordinator, please let me know.

I post quite a bit on Instagram. My favorite is of the old Holiday Inn that looks like a slum in Hong Kong. Downtown shots, Uptown shots, risking my life most of the time on the freeway. Instagram is extremely popular, even though it has been out for quite some time.

 

Tumblr is a little more artsy if you follow the right blogs. Photographers, Architects, you name it. There are some really great ones too. It is a little less known, I've tried to get friends to join but they're all in lala-Pinterest land, but I finally jumped ship. Sometimes I feel like the old man out on Tumblr because it's a lot of teenagers. I spend all day on it, it bleeds my data and battery. Usually all the funny memes and gifs are copied on to Tumblr first from their original sites (ebaums, the chive, reddit, etc (which are copied from the original source)), and then follow on pinterest a couple days later, and eventually on instagram. I guess it's all the bored teens.

 

There is also a lot of social justice and NSFW stuff on there, so always keep the lock on when searching.

 

Anyways, I would love for Houston, and Texas to have more lime light on there. 

[Subdude]

You know, for years I've had tons of these old Houston postcards that I've been trying to decide what to do with, and one idea is to post them to Tumblr.  Alternatively I've thought of just having a "Historic Picture of the Day" topic here on HAIF.  I'm not sure how wide the audience is for that sort of thing.  Any thoughts?  

 

 

[sevfiv]

^I would love that! I think whatever way is easiest and viable for you is best. Are they all scanned and awaiting online fame?

 

Oh, and it's "HAFE" for sure! I tend to make accompanying words from it - HAIFy (adj), HAIFer (noun)...HAIFish? 

 

I don't know what besides HAIF would be descriptive yet short enough and not undo the identity HAIF has already made..

[Montrose1100]

You know, for years I've had tons of these old Houston postcards that I've been trying to decide what to do with, and one idea is to post them to Tumblr.  Alternatively I've thought of just having a "Historic Picture of the Day" topic here on HAIF.  I'm not sure how wide the audience is for that sort of thing.  Any thoughts?  

Do you have a tumblr? Please post them!

[IronTiger]

Not a big fan of Tumblr, rather see them appear on HAIF (at least HAIF, both concurrently would be fine too). 

 

The only problem is watermarking them, Sev and I have seen our scans and photos of historic content reappear on other sources without citations.

[tomv]

Oh, and it's "HAFE" for sure! I tend to make accompanying words from it - HAIFy (adj), HAIFer (noun)...HAIFish? 

 

I don't know what besides HAIF would be descriptive yet short enough and not undo the identity HAIF has already made..

 

Okay, HAFE (pronounced like "safe") it is! I still think it's kind of funny that it stands for "high altitude flatulence expulsion." But I guess if you are experiencing HAFE, either as participant or observer, it's not that funny!   

 

Sorry, didn't mean to suggest there is a problem without offering a solution.

[mkultra25]

[tomv]

 

Hilarious! 

[cloud713]

the facebook page finally hit 1,000 likes!

[Subdude]

^I would love that! I think whatever way is easiest and viable for you is best. Are they all scanned and awaiting online fame?

 

Oh, and it's "HAFE" for sure! I tend to make accompanying words from it - HAIFy (adj), HAIFer (noun)...HAIFish? 

 

I don't know what besides HAIF would be descriptive yet short enough and not undo the identity HAIF has already made..

 

Some are scanned, others not.  I'll probably just end up posting them on HAIF so people can comment more easily.  Plus I figure anyone who's interested in that sort of thing is probably already aware of HAIF.

[Pumapayam]

HAIF's strongest social media presence is currently Facebook. Thanks to the efforts of Bach and Sevfiv and others there's a lot of good content on there that doesn't make it to the forum. mostly because it's interesting but not necessarily worth an entire thread of its own.

It's funny that you think of Tumblr as a way to keep up with the kids. I think of Tumbler as old tech on its way out. It is Yahoo!, after all. Might as well be a free AOL dialup disk.

instagram is a good idea because it's a growing platform. But the way it's designed makes it not good as a multi-author publishing environment. Plus, it's mobile only, which isn't all that useful when you want to post a bunch of cool new pics.

I agree with Tumblr, it's just a prettier version of Geocities. And I remember once upon a time when Blogger mattered too, but there was no way to really get an audience.

 

I think Instagram is a quick way to spread HAIF love. And would totally tag anything HAIFy related that I found there.

 

How do you share an Instagram photo on HAIF BTW...none of the forum codes work for images?

[Pumapayam]

I love the forum, but has thought been given to a new name or perhaps a catchy nickname so that people can find it easier? Editor?      

Veto, the name stays as is. 

[tomv]

Veto, the name stays as is. 

 

Agreed. And the preferred way to vocalize HAIF is to say it like you would the word SAFE, instead of enunciating each letter like you would ESPN. Not to be confused with HAFE, of course!       

 

[editor]

It's repeatedly been told to me that the name "HAIF" with the word "Architecture" in there scares away the general public.  I'm not necessarily sure that's a bad thing, as we aspire to be a little better than the average web forum.

 

I think TomV is on to something about the name, though.  It's hard to tell someone verbally about the forum.  The reason we have "TheHAIF.com" as a domain forwarding directly to the forum was to make it simpler than telling someone to use "Houston Architecture dot com slash H-A-I-F."  

 

I don't think that we're ready to move away from the "HAIF" name and brand.  So, here's a compromise.

 

If you need to tell someone verbally how to get to HAIF, send them to this address: http://HoustonArchitecture.org

 

I think most people can remember "Houston Architecture dot org."

 

I've been sitting on that domain for a couple of years and don't really have a place for it.  But maybe I should use it to promote the forum.
 

Right now it's set to forward to the regular domain.  But I could always move the forum so that the forum, alone, is on the .org while the rest of the site remains on the .com.

 

Thoughts?

[IronTiger]

Nah, I like it the way it is, I don't think that I can stomach another domain change. The move from .info to .com messed up Google searches (you said so yourself) and I think also caused a lot of people to leave (or at least, start the process of leaving, if that makes sense).