FTC:Social Media
Social Media is used by FIRST Tech Challenge teams to connect with the FIRST community and their fellow teams. It isn’t necessary for a team, but it can be very helpful when finding friends and communicating with other teams. Teams should also keep in mind that the different platforms have different audiences and will be more receptive to different kinds of content. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Discord are the platforms most often used by the FIRST community. Each social media platform has its own audience and benefits.
Instagram is the most popular social media platform teams use. It's used mostly as a way for teams to show other teams what they have been up to. For example, Instagram is great for posting about outreach events, quick robot updates, and tournaments. It is used for fun posts and announcements, not questions or information-dense content. If a team wants to start your social media presence Instagram is a great first step.
Most robotics teams have a Twitter account and it is a great way to keep up to date with them. Twitter is restricted to shorter posts so team announcements can be posted, but if there is too much information you can include some of it as a picture. Pictures are really good to add to a post regardless as they are more likely to grab someone's attention than a text post. This is a great place to post updates about your season, detail upcoming events, or even send out some fun team posts.
Facebook is probably the best social media to use when making announcements for adults. It generally has an older audience so you can choose to use it less frequently, especially if they aren’t your target audience. Posts containing information about tournaments or outreach events can be posted here if you want people to attend. It’s okay if these posts are more information-heavy, but it’s always recommended to include a picture as they are more likely to catch people’s attention. Facebook is also a good place to check for teams looking for mentoring opportunities as coaches will sometimes ask for help or post questions here.
The robotics community on Reddit is a mix of forum questions that people can answer as comments and FIRST-related memes. It is worth asking the Reddit community if you have a very specific or creative question that might not be answered in the rules forums. People will ask about how to create different subsystems or troubleshoot programming issues in these subreddits. While questions are almost always answered on Reddit they often aren’t immediate and can take a few hours to days. The main subreddits that relate to the FIRST community are r/FTC, r/FRC, r/FLL, and r/FIRSTrobotics.
Discord
The FTC discord server is probably the most active and relaxed social media in the FTC community. It is a messaging platform with moderators and members on the server constantly answering questions or just chatting with other people. There are several discord servers relating to FIRST robotics including, FTC, FRC, and FIRST Updates Now servers. In these servers, there are many different channels that relate to specific topics. There are hardware, software, and CAD channel with many more as well. These are great places to ask questions and talk with members of other teams. There are also some regional or local discord servers meant for specific regions and joining these can allow for closer teams to connect.
