Hubs
The world has changed a great deal with the rise of social media and internet markets. Where once we depended on 3rd parties to represent our work, we can now have a professional presence in many different places, interacting directly with potential customers and new friends all over the world.
TAFA's strategy is to create a hub wherever our members are. Some might be on facebook, others on LInkedIn, while others might roll their eyes and declare allergies to the whole social scene online. Whatever the case, we are there for those who want to use those platforms as tools for their textile and fiber art businesses. If you are there, too, we hope that you will join in our greater TAFA community!
Private Member Forum: http://www.tafaforum.com/
TAFA could not have grown as quickly as it did without facebook. We have a private group there for members and a public one for the larger community. We have used facebook from time to time when we needed to have a place to discuss projects, like this website.
We welcome our community to post about fiber/textile related topics on our public page. Come join us!
Our private group for members only:
Google+
We're there, but still trying to figure out how to use it effectively:
Connect with our members over there! TAFA Tweets
Our member, Jo of peaceofpi studio, manages our account there.
This is an open group to the community at large. We often have some lively discussions there. Our focus is on the business side of being an artist or selling online.
Flickr
Many of our members are on Flickr and TAFA has a group there, too. You can visit the group, add images to your favorites and connect with TAFA members. Our group there is monitored by TAFA member, Arlee Barr.
Yes, we do have a presence on Pinterest. However, please respect this: Many of our TAFA Members DO NOT WANT TO BE PINNED! In fact, they will be really upset if you pin them. If you like their work, please respect their wishes.
Why don't they want to be pinned? For many reasons, but mostly due to copyright issues surrounding their images. They also don't want to be posted on blogs or anywhere else without their permission. Click on the image to the left to read TAFA's position on Pinterest.
On the other hand, many members DO want to be pinned. What to do? Well, we created a page which we are calling the "SAFE BOARD" where a sample image of each member who wants to be pinned is there. It is, basically, a list that you can work off of. If you see a member there that you like, you can visit their member profile and then go to any of their sites and pin away. Visit the Safe Board. We also have a board where TAFA members can add their own pins. This board is also a safe one and you can re-pin any pin that is there: TAFA Group Board.
We also have a group board for our Etsy sellers who want to be pinned. They can pin their own work to the board, so anything you see there is safe. TAFA on Etsy Board.
Etsy
Half of our members have shops on Etsy, so we are active there, too.
If you shop on Etsy, you can find our members by typing TAFA into their search bar as our members tag their items that way: TAFA Search Results. We also have formed what is called a "Team" which has a hub on Etsy and a blog. Our blog has all of our shops on it, so go and explore. Lots of eye candy!
Ravelry
New in June 2012, if you are there, join us! Our TAFA Group on Ravelry is open to the community at large.
Who knows where the internet will take us next? But, if our members are there, we will be there, too! And, we are the nice ones on the block!
