In the second installment today of our “Don’t Suck At Facebook” series, we’re taking a look at a topic not many feel comfortable broaching in the social sphere — the abuse of crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe and Kickstarter. (Earlier, we explored the habit of exploiting friends financially in a similar fashion in regards to marketing on Facebook.)
Times are hard, and there are some great legit ways to use GoFundMe or Kickstarter to propel a worthy cause to social solvency. Other reasons, not so much.
Quite unfortunately, the bulk of GoFundMe and Kickstarter use seems now to be (while infrequent) a bit frivolous, with usage of the sites for campaigns such as “trip to Australia” increasing, while the more appropriate “saving for surgery” ones are on the decline.
Even worse than the frivolous use of crowdfunding services is the entitled kind — and hopefully, you’ve not seen a situation where a Facebook friend descends into angry rages that their cross-country move has not been funded. (“If everyone on my list just donated $500, I could buy a house!”)
If you’re thinking of Facebooking a GoFundMe campaign for one of these reasons, please reconsider:
- Weddings;
- Vacations;
- Material possessions;
- Moves;
- A new car;
- To avoid getting a job;
Basically any financial undertaking most people would choose to fund for their own selves were it not too prohibitive is one they’re going to feel pissy about being asked to fund for someone who isn’t them. We all want an ice self portrait at our reception, and to go to Hawaii, and a better place to live — but we accept that if we can’t afford it, Kickstarters are not the path for us to pursue.
Have you seen GoFundMe abuse or shady Kickstarters on Facebook?
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