Airsoft Action magazine has had a presence on Facebook pretty much since the day the original paper magazine was launched 13 years ago, and over those same years has built up a loyal and genuine following with many thousands of airsofters around the world.
Our daily and weekly posts initially achieved substantial amounts of “likes” and “shares”, with many of our industry partners providing us with complementary news, often weeks ahead of our other publishing platforms out there. Since our move to digital publishing we have seen the magazine grow again, with tens of thousands of reads each and every month!
However, as many of you will already be aware, we have watched our “Facebook reach” curtailed time and again, and our interaction with the airsoft community globally has inevitably been degraded on Facebook to the point it is hardly worth us posting. We know that we are not alone in this as many of our airsoft media colleagues have suffered the same censure. Facebook/Meta have decided that airsoft no longer fits their (very narrow-minded) narrative, and their opinion of what is “acceptable to the community standards” of their platform.
We have also watched as airsoft companies, individuals, fan pages, news feeds, publications and blogs, all have had their presence on Facebook either severely curtailed or, like Airsoft Action, “unpublished”.
In other words, banned by woke puritans trying to control what we see and read, because, of course, they know what’s best for the rest of the world, and this has been reflected in the the way airsofters use Facebook as a valid and trusted information source.
We could, of course, continue to ask Facebok/Meta for review after review of their decision but, just like in-game when you realise the way forward is blocked, you have to hold for a moment, regroup and find another way through, and that is exactly what we are doing at Airsoft Action.
With this in mind we have taken the decision to not recreate/renew our news page on Facebook.
As far as Airsoft Action goes we are quitting the platform entirely as it has become less than useless as a viable communication tool for friends and community, and in fact appears to solely glorify all that is worst in human nature as an echo-chamber for dissatisfaction and vitriolic ranting.
That doesn’t mean we are going to disappear from “social media” altogether and we will continue to post direct to our friends in the fabulous airsoft groups around the world, and across all the other platforms we currently appear on. For example, we will amplify our output on Discord, so watch out for more info on that as it happens.
We will also continue to work closely with the excellent media teams out there, and especially with the team at https://airsofter.world/ as we believe they have the passion, like us, to create a meaningful, open and positive airsoft community. We will update our content output there more regularly as we feel very strongly it is time for the airsoft community globally to have a “homespace” where we can talk openly about airsoft in all its forms without the threat of arbitrary censure!
Airsoft Action is produced and published here in the UK by Calibre Publishing Limited, who have a small company presence on Facebook and so we will be using that for any general, or business-related news.
We have big plans for 2025, especially in terms of how readers can communicate directly with the magazine and its contributors, so please do subscribe to notifications direct from the AA website (www.airsoftaction.net) for regular updates.
Thanks to you all for continuing to be part of our journey! The last 13 years have been fun and massively rewarding, but we are very aware that without you we would not even be in the position to “quit Facebook”; we hope that you will continue to travel with us as we move forward again, be a part of sharing airsoft adventures from all over the world, and enjoy the very best of what our thriving global airsoft community can REALLY offer!
