Are webpages passe?

[K Barrett]

With the advent of smart phones, 3G networks, Facebook, texting and Twitter I wonder if societies can save themselves the expense and trouble of having a web page.

I did an experiment with one of the webpages I manage. I optimized information for viewing on a handheld device like a iPhone or Blackberry. It went over with a humongous thud. Mostly because I think my target audience didn't own things like smart phones at that time. But nowadays *everyone* seems to have some sort of a web enabled smartphone. Cellphone useage is so popular AT&T is petitioning the US government to allow them to drop landlines. Texting is so popular that ringtone sales have dropped - no one actually *calls* anymore, they text! County governments are asking their residents for their cellphone numbers so as to Twitter in case of disasters or other emergencies. (Twitter was used to alert the student body during the sniper emergency at a Virginia university a few years ago)

So why not ask the question: are webpages passe?

A Facebook page is easily viewed on a handheld device whereas a webpage may not be. And its free. And you can link to other society Facebook pages as well as Twitter any updates. I mean, bandwidth is being wasted by other meanigless communications, so why not add your orchid hobby to the global informational melee? *G*

Or maybe I've just been reading too many newspapers and this internet thing is just a passing fad.... *G*! Seriously though, the AOS is on Facebook, other orchid people & societies are on Facebook... I think the only thing holding us back is not realizing that we can use these tools for good instead of evil time sucking nonsense. Of course I say that fully realizing that I haven't looked at my own Facebook page in *months*! Precisely because it is a time suck and I don't quite grok how to use Facebook.

Well! If I don't Facebook then what am I blathering on about? Well, webpages cost money, which orchid societies may not have. As well as people to volunteer to run them, which orchid societies may not have. And if the internet world is evolving should we be static? Shouldn't we evolve with the technology, keep up with the times? That's all I'm wondering about and I'd like to see what others think. Hence this thread.