Adventures in Facebook

Just over a year ago, around 2/1/2016, I started Movie Memory Time Facebook page. The link is down below. Movie Memories are short video clips followed by questions to encourage recalling one's past and reminiscing about it with whatever friends and family watched the video with you. Some are clips from feature films, trailers, cartoons, "educational" films like they showed in schools, newsreels, TV ads -- basically anything filmed long ago can remind one of where they were in life at that time. If you never heard of Movie Memories, here is how they work:


I invited all my Facebook friends and about 100 "Liked" the new page just to see what I was doing. I had a stockpile of Movie Memory segments and began posting every other day. Not much happened for quite awhile as far as picking up viewers. Then I started using Vimeo for uploading the videos instead of youtube. I also started re-doing the segments with stills behind the questions instead of a blank screen. I added more off-the-wall humor in the questions such as "What is your favorite ocean?" Here is an original one made for Facebook that has gotten the most views:


The goal of each post is to "Reach" a lot of people on Facebook. I don't know what qualifies as a "Reach." I think it means that a post flits across one's computer screen as they are browsing Facebook. If you have 500 FB Friends, then you get a whole lot of posts on your timeline every day and might have missed most of mine. I do not repost the same video several times since that can become annoying. Anyone can intentionally come to MMT page to catch up on anything they might have missed, but I suspect few do that as we are all too busy. Only around 10% of those Reached, click on and watch the videos.

I found I could vastly increase reaches, views and new Likes by sharing my posts with other FB Groups. For instance, this Edsel one was shared with 3 groups who love vintage cars, and also to 1950s America and other nostalgia pages. I only share horror videos to horror groups, TV posts to TV groups, comedy videos to Dead Comedians Society, etc.

In October 2016 I put out lots of horror movie trailers and clips leading up to Halloween, but still only every other day. I started sharing these wider and picking up more LIKES (700 MMT page Likes as of mid February 2017). While I used to think 400 Reaches was a great success, I began wanting to reach 1K or more every time.

I started posting favorite film clips without adding questions to turn them into "Movie Memories." No one noticed or cared, and it allowed me to 1) Post more often, 2) Share videos from youtube, and 3) share copyrighted films (all Movie Memories use public domain clips). A turning point came Nov. 20, 2016 when I posted the following excerpt from an Amos 'n' Andy TV show:


There was WIDE interest in this TV show and it was re-shared by many fans all over Facebook such that the video currently has more than 13k Reaches. I followed up with several more Amos n Andy videos and my Reaches for the week soared over 20K.

In December I posted a MMT clip about Christmas every day. This routine turned to twice a day in January after I found the very supportive FB group 1950s America. In February I am posting a black musician or comedian tribute every day for Black History Month, plus second posts.

Discoveries I have made about Facebook and me this past year:

• It is like a game to maintain 10K Reaches every week.
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• I enjoy interacting with everyone who comments on a post by Liking their comment or replying to it.
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• Youtube is something of a mess. Yes, you can go there searching for Amos n Andy and watch lots of them, except many are so poor as to be unwatchable. However, if a decent quality episode (from me) shows up on your FB Timeline or in a group you check every day, you are much more likely to watch it, enjoy it and re-share it.
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• Many Groups that I share to mostly post pictures from the members. So my videos stand out and are appreciated, so far as I can tell from the comments.
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• I have learned a lot about the films by scanning them for clips to use. For instance, I did not know Mantan Moreland was so funny in King of the Zombies until two weeks ago when I made this:

What do my daily MMT posts get me? When will the money start rolling in (LOL)? A growing presence on the web? Reputation as a film enthusiast? Building "Movie Memory Time" into a brand I might someday be able to sell? Well, it has brought me new friends for sure, and perhaps greater respect from many who have known me for years at the unique film clips I post. Posting is a new hobby I enjoy more now. I do get a daily sense of winning or doing good by maintaining 10K+ Reaches each week.

To join the fun, please visit facebook.com/moviememorytime/ and LIKE the page.

Here is a final film clip posted a month ago. I found out it was Phyllis Coates' birthday, realized I had this trailer to Panther Girl of the Kongo serial she starred in, posted it quickly and it has had 2,855 reaches to date. That giant claw in the thumbnail must have intrigued viewers.