@danieldekay

The tango network has been using Facebook for more than a decade, and many are using Facebook predominantly for their tango life, which doesn’t just include the dance as an activity, but also a great way to make friends, participate in community, or travel. Tango has been proven over and over again that it becomes part of a dancer’s identity.

Over the years a large fraction of tango dancers, especially more advanced dancers, or dancers who travel, have joined Facebook, often using pseudonyms and a separate Facebook identity from their “real world” identity. As a consequence, the identity-building personas have built their networks and sense of connectedness on Facebook, and despite everything that is wrong with Facebook, being there is essential and not replaceable.

Or so many think. An alternative “place” to feel connected to the tango communities, to what is happening, and to stay in touch with friends and acquaintances needs to have these users or a large fraction of them. Critical mass counts. So while many don’t like being on Facebook, they can’t leave because everyone else is there. Instagram or other platforms are no replacements, but just additional places for different kinds of experiences.

But is that the case? The worse Facebook gets, the more attractive other platforms can be because they don’t compete with a fully strengthened monopolistic platform anymore: spam, chaos, complexity, and content that people don’t want to see or engage with but comes along via the algorithms, and more have weakened Facebook’s position. For example: many events in Turkey are being promoted on Instagram and not Facebook. The younger generation considers Facebook to be for “boomers”, and not for them.

Systematic Listing of Use Cases

For Dancers

1. Events
   • finding them
   • signaling via RSVP so that your friends see you are going,
   • you can see who else will be going
2. Social sharing of
   • text
   • images
   • videos
3. Exchange in groups
   • Regional groups
   • Topic-based groups
   • Special-interest groups
4. Staying in touch
   • with friends
   • with favorite dancers
   • with acquaintances

For Professionals (i.e. Organizers/Teachers/DJs/…)

1. Marketing of events
   • Announcements
   • Advertisement
2. Targeted Audiences
   • “Friend”-lists
   • Page Followers
   • Group members
3. Event-specific groups for event-based communication (“Participants of Event”-groups)