Knife Groups, Social Media Platforms

As a member of one or more of the above, I feel I am qualified to comment on all of them.

On Facebook, boasting over 1.5 Billion users, there are thousands of public, closed or yes even secret groups. Everything from a Forged in Fire group, to hundreds of knife groups, one for every Brand of knife, Buck, Case etc one for virtually every custom Knifemaker, one for every knife dealer as well as a group for old knives or left handed knives, or country knives or Regions of the country, yes, budget knives, exclusive knives….I’m exhausted just thinking about all this.

The point is there are as many knife groups on Facebook as there are knives. Pretty sure every tid bit is covered. Always wanted to use that word and finally got it in. And each has an admin or two whose only job is to get posts about knives.

YouTube, with a user base of 1.5B, also has a variety of knife related sites. Again many knife companies as well as dealers  have a “channel”like CRKT and AG Russell, Smoky Mountain Knife Works. Yes even guys like Mayor Fuglycool, Knife review channels like the Apostle or Nutnfancy or more recently Nick Shabazz are there by the thousands some of which I feature on my blog.

Speaking of blogs, a favorite of many authors is WordPress, probably at least several hundred knife blogs if not thousands. If you had absolutely nothing better to do with your time you could read them all!

Of course Instagram with an active user base reported to be 400 Million or Twitter with an active user base of 300M, or how about Pinterest with a user base of 100 Million. All have individuals  who love knives or make them or just admire them. You will find knife companies, knife magazines, yes manufacturers too, all with questions or pictures or Giveaways to encourage participation.

Or how about independent sites like Blade Forums or All About Pocket Knives (AAPK) or iKnifecollecter, or maybe Blade Ops, or EDC Forum all independent sites on there own platforms with their own moderators and owners.  I’m quite certain I’ve left some out, I apologize!

All these knife related locations operate somewhat exclusively in other words if your posting in one you might not post in another. You end up learning something, but here is my question …do you learn everything you can about knives and the hobby we love by restricting where you go? Maybe, maybe not.

I’ve joined some group or social media sites, become silent in others, and along the way acquired new friends in the process. When you join and participate you make many new “friends or followers”. Ah but if you leave well there go those tried and true friends/ followers. But wait,all is not lost that new place you landed has new friends/followers, new adventures and many laughs. The process is repeated in social media over and over again, every day.

And let’s not forget the live venues for knives like Shot Show every year which features guns and knives and that’is followed by Blade Show Atlanta! Except this year it’s not enough so there will be a second Blade Show Portland! Hoping they rerun Portlandia at that show.

Also what about the hundreds of knife shows held all over the world, every year.

Your choices for knife posting and viewing is as varied as the knives themselves. My advice is to pick one or more and enjoy, after all whether you make or collect….it’s all about the knife.

If there is one thing Blade Magazine Editor Steve Shackleford and I agree on , there are just way too many groups and maybe too many Social Platforms….