Facebook has become one of the most important promotion and communication channel in AEGEE over the past decade. However, it seems that the big chase for Facebook likes has become more difficult – especially for weaker locals.

Altogether 158 out of 162 locals and contacts have a Facebook page – and with the new Contacts in Zürich and Zenica that number will probably increase even more soon. In the past years, some locals even abandoned their traditional website and moved their information to Facebook. At the same time, Instagram has become the main promotion channel for some locals. However, this article is not dealing with Instagram, this will be the topic of another analysis.

 

It seems that the big chase for Facebook likes is over – or has become more difficult. This is especially visible on a year-to-year comparison. One year ago, an antenna needed 3164 likes to be among the top 40 in the AEGEE Facebook charts, now the number is 3203, which is just 1.2 percent higher. Three years ago, the number was still 2575. In other words, the growth slowed down. In the past 12 months, nine of the top 40 antennae on Facebook had an increase of less than 100 likes, three even a shrinking number. Although, to be fair, one antenna (AEGEE-Peiraias), has been deleted last year and three others were downgraded to Contact Antenna at Agora Istanbul or Agora Bucuresti. Here the lack of information and PR is expression of the general crisis of these antennae.

Dead locals on the Internet

You might say: “Wait, there are locals which were deleted and still have a Facebook account?” Yes, there are. Altogether, 33 deleted locals and contacts still preserve their Facebook account. From time to time, a page of a deleted antenna gets deleted, but often this is not the case. In fact, there are different opinions whether they should be deleted at all. Some argue, it might be better to hand over the admin rights to the CD or Network Commission, which then makes a post like “We are recruiting” – this might actually help to resurrect the local in case someone searches for AEGEE in this particular city. In addition, some posts about upcoming European events might not harm. However, it is surely harmful if we see that the latest post on AEGEE-Ogre’s Facebook page is from June 2014 and on AEGEE-Macerata’s page is from May 2010.

Let us come back to the existing locals that struggle on Facebook. If we take a look how many of those non-deleted locals gained 50 or less new Facebook fans since May 2018, then the number is surprisingly high: it’s 44. Considering that many old followers quit AEGEE and therefore a regular increase is necessary to reach the same amount of people, this is not a good number. Altogether 15 locals and contacts have not published anything on their Facebook page at all this year – although this is so easy, taking into account Summer University promotions and other event opportunities.

The fast-climbers

However, there are also success stories. Three of the top 40 antennae gained more than 1000 new followers: AEGEE-Torino, AEGEE-Yerevan and AEGEE-Firenze. The last mentioned antenna managed to increase the number of fans by 1184. Altogether 18 locals gained more than 300 new Facebook followers over the past 12 months. And 107 of the 158 locals and contacts in Facebook posted at least one new post in May 2019. This includes the deleted AEGEE-Banja Luka, by the way, which posted two non-AEGEE-related posts this week – their first posts since October 2018.

Finally, Facebook remains a tool, which is popular mainly in Southern and South-Eastern Europe. AEGEE-Kraków on place 15 is the highest-ranked non-Southern local. The top ten are dominated by Italian locals – there are seven of them!