Don’t let your comments get lost in the scroll

Since we’ve launched the website we’ve realised that there are a few things that we need to bring under the attention of our readers. Some changes have to take place and I urge you to please read the following carefully and make sure you understand what is said. This will be both to your benefit as well as your favourite Barberton newspaper, De Kaap Echo.

I want to clearly explain why we’re changing the way we share our stories, so you fully understand the reasoning behind it.

First of all, we recommend that all our readers download the De Kaap Echo app. It is easy to do, free and does not take up a lot of space on your phone. Look at the video posted on our Facebook page so that you know exactly how it is done. This way you can immediately click on it and read the articles without having to open our website. No need to go into google, type the address and then link to the site. You can also follow the step-by-step instructions in the screenshots below.

Secondly, when we publish a new article on dekaapecho.co.za, we still share it to our own Facebook page. In the past, we also shared those stories into various Facebook groups. That was necessary in the beginning to help build awareness when we launched. But it’s now becoming a problem.

Here’s why:
When stories are shared into outside groups on Facebook, people tend to comment there, not on our website and not even on our De Kaap Echo Facebook page. That means the conversation is happening in a space that doesn’t belong to us and where it quickly gets buried and lost.

Even more importantly, many of the people we write about don’t have Facebook, so they never see those comments or messages of support, as was the case with the recently published article on Marlies Liebenberg, which had a huge feedback and comments, that she cannot see as she is not on Facebook. That’s a major issue when the goal is community connection and involvement.

We want to encourage our readers to comment directly below the article on dekaapecho.co.za, in other words directly on our website. Those comments stay permanently linked to the story, so future readers can see and join the discussion. It keeps everything in one place and builds a proper archive of local voices.

We’re also urging people to subscribe to the website, it’s easy to do and completely free. Once they’ve subscribed, they’ll get an email notification the moment a new article is published.

That’s important, because we don’t always post to Facebook right away. It might be a few hours, or even the next day, before a story is shared to Facebook.

We’re not chasing likes or trying to game the Facebook algorithm. While we’re truly grateful for all the likes and follows on our page, but our goal is not about Facebook popularity. It’s about growing a Barberton publication, one we own and manage, where all local stories will live permanently.

To thank our readers, we’ll be sending a stunning free eBook to everyone who has already subscribed and to everyone who subscribes from now until the end of August. The front page is hand-sketched by a Stellenbosch artist and written by humans, not AI, in 2021. We won’t reveal the title just yet. We’ll send out the full batch at the end of August, so people have time to subscribe.

Take Note | Starting within the next two weeks:
We’ll continue posting all articles to dekaapecho.co.za
We’ll share them to our own Facebook page, but as a rule we won’t share into other groups anymore
The public is welcome to share wherever they like, but we won’t be doing that ourselves
We will still occasionally share the homepage into a group, or to help new readers discover the site and subscribe

This is about sustainability and focus. De Kaap Echo should be the home of Barberton's positive stories and conversations, not scattered across Facebook feeds we don’t control.

Until next time, happy reading and keep those stories coming.
𝓛𝔂𝓷𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓮.