Q&A with Heather Price / Bluffton ask & answer
Heather Price started the Bluffton/Hilton Head Ask & Answer Facebook page in 2015, and 31,000 plus members later, it has grown into a nexus point for the community. Here is where the Lowcountry comes to commiserate, seek guidance and, occasionally, help locate a lost pair of flip flops.
Through it all Price and her team of moderators have been there to guide those seeking assistance and swat away the trolls. We asked her about Ask & Answer’s growth, juggling the responsibilities of family and Facebook, and some of the more unique posts she’s seen in the group.
Q: What does running this page entail? We’d imagine it can be like herding cats trying to keep things civil on Facebook.
A: Herding cats is a good analogy. I would also liken it to nailing Jell-O to a tree. It was a lot worse until I put it on post approval, which allows us to monitor posts before we post them. I resisted doing that for so long and, afterwards, I wished I had done it sooner. If it is inflammatory or against rules, we can nix it out of the gate.
People say so many things I know they wouldn’t say in front of their mothers. But I work really hard on making this page a good group, a place to come, to be, to ask and to help. I can’t control people, and honestly, I don’t want to. Then it is Heather’s group, but I want it to be a community group.
Q: Why do you suppose the group has grown the way it has?
A: If you go back to when it started, it was just me and a few friends asking questions. I was so excited when I hit the first 1,000 people. Then Hurricane Matthew happened, and the media reports were scattered and conflicting and not concise. I started watching all the media outlets and taking good notes, and putting it in laymen’s terms, using my skills and experience as a first responder from my paramedic years.
I put it all together where people could know what was happening here, what the officials were saying and what it all meant. I worked on this about 18-hour days for several days and for hours a day for weeks. Our page grew so quickly, I went from 2,500 to 8 or 9,000 during that time.
Q: How hard has it been to juggle running such a successful group on top of all of your other responsibilities?
A: I work a full-time job, started a jewelry business and have an 8-year-old daughter and a grown son. There are times I need to take a break or am doing something fun and need a mental health break. I will message the moderators and ask that they take over so I can just focus on what I am doing. I am going to Vegas in July and am working extra hard to make that happen. But I am always approving posts, dealing with private messages and doing group housekeeping
Q: What’s the most absurd thing anyone has ever posted in the group?
A: The most absurd thing was the woman who wanted us to help her nail her husband she thought was having an affair. (LOL.)
