Facebook works in mysterious ways. On my latest update to the banner image on Pedal’s Facebook page, I received a few comments from people who haven’t “like”d Pedal Fort Collins. This has happened before. More often than not it’s clear that the person adding a comment is, if not antagonistic towards bicyclists, at least not very sympathetic towards them.
So how do they find the page in order to add their comments? It’s because of you! When you “like” the Pedal Fort Collins page, Facebook will (through some algorithm known only to Mark Zuckerberg and God) decide to reshare that “like”d post onto our friends’ feeds with a note that you “like”d the item. You won’t even know that this is happening because nothing shows up on your own feed saying that Facebook is resharing this post in your name.
So when you “like” something, it turns out that you’re sometimes being a bicycle evangelist to your Facebook friends who might be… well, let’s just say they’re probably followers of a mono-transportationist (as opposed to a poly-transportationist) faith.
It’s frustrating when Facebook reshares something we’ve liked without checking in with us first, but in this case I think it’s a good thing. Sometimes it’s hard to evangelize those that are closest to you. Perhaps they’ve already determined that you’re just a bit of a “bike freak.” Maybe they think you’re just going through a stage and you’ll grow out of it. No matter what they think of you, my goal when they show up on the Pedal page is to educate them. I don’t always do a bang-up job of it, but I do my best. And other Pedal followers are always welcome to join in.
So when you see a post on the Pedal Fort Collins Facebook page, or on Twitter for that matter, that you think is worth passing on, I’d encourage you to “like” or reshare it, especially if you think it might catch the attention of the currently unevangelized.
It’s time to spread the good news. As traffic and congestion increases, alternative modes of transportation are going to become more and more important. And alternatives are already available! You don’t have to be stuck in traffic. Allelujah!