See what I did there? Anyway… the idea of launching an actual website for the group has been doing the rounds for some time now. After all, although we’ve experienced rapid growth (and I don’t just mean my weight during lockdown) recently, we’re heavily reliant on social media platforms – Facebook and Twitter, in other words. This naturally means we’re finding it difficult to reach potential members who don’t use these sites. Normally we’d be printing and handing out flyers, but the minor detail of a global pandemic has put paid to this option for now, so it felt like the time was right to branch out.
Clearly, despite the easing of restrictions in England, we’re not yet in a position to hold our traditional meets, but when that becomes a genuine prospect, this will become a great place to announce what we’ve got in the pipeline. Away from that, this will also give us a chance to write more in-depth on certain topics, in a way that our regular social media presence doesn’t really lend itself to. For example, I’ve got a detailed write-up of NAG’s top Amiga games of all time in the works. We published the top 40 list and even discussed it on a live Twitch stream with One Life Left, but the subject does lend itself well to a full-blown written feature.
I’ll be looking for people to contribute articles themselves, so you won’t get bored hearing my virtual voice constantly. There’s so much to talk about, whether that’s the sheer diversity and depth that the Amiga itself offers, or what the group is up to and the sort of things we’ll be doing; this has the potential to become a worthwhile channel in its own right and in the coming months, I’m confident it’ll enable us to reach many more Amiga fans across East Anglia who otherwise wouldn’t be aware we existed.
You’ll also notice the presence of a Donate button – we’ve been spending actual cash money on promoting the group through Facebook since lockdown happened and we’ve doubled our membership as a result. This is thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of our members who are keen to see us grow and are happy to chuck in their own hard-earned dosh to make it happen. I’m incredibly grateful for such support, and every penny we get will go towards future advertising to make us an even bigger and better community – possibly the largest and most active of its type in the UK.
That’s enough for now. Keep an eye out for more content in the coming weeks…