Scandinavian Stamps on Facebook

There can be few who would deny that we live in a technological age.

Whether you like it or not, computers, the Internet, online forums and social networking web sites like Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn have become "a fact of life" not some "passing fad."

Sadly, many philatelists "reject" these modern technologies, for any number of reasons... ranging from the point of view that "computers are killing stamp collecting" to simply not being interested.

Personally, I don't believe that we-- as stamp collectors-- can afford to sit idly by, if we hope to see the hobby continue to be enjoyed by future generations. It may be very true that we are collectors of something very "low tech," but we will need these "high tech" innovations and venues in order to reach the younger collectors of the future... people who grew up in an age where they have never experienced a world "without the Internet" or without Facebook and twitter, or without a computer and cell phone in every house.

There are those who would argue that "that isn't the way to get new collectors."

That statement can be both "correct" and "not-correct," at the same time. The statement might be 100% correct if you are a collector "of retirement age" and are looking to make contact with people within your peer group to interest them in stamp collecting. However, if you are more interested in "recruiting" new collectors from the age 10-30 set, a different approach is needed. As one friend eloquently phrased it "You have to meet people in THEIR comfort zone, not in YOUR comfort zone."

As part of "doing my bit," I have recently created a Scandinavian Stamps page on Facebook. It's a fairly simple page that affords users of the world's largest social networking site (as well as those who are simply searching the web) to connect with other collectors of Scandinavian stamps.

I hope you'll take a few minutes to visit... and to "like" the page, if you have a Facebook account!