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Whatsapp club proposal


thejanullrichdietplan
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Not sure where feedback for the whatsapp proposal is to go. But here is mine.

Personally i'd be reluctant for things to move to whatapp for a couple of reasons. First,  large whatsapp groups can quickly become overwhelming (a bit like a chaingang!) and the messages with relevant content (in this case details of the club ride) often get lost. Second  it is also not good for prospective members wanting to see what is happening with the club. Even if they are not yet signed up many will still read the forum before deciding to come out on a ride, if the club rides are organised and discussed in private then it excludes those not already in the group from participating (even if just as an observer at the beginning).

Perhaps if an information group could be set up so only those who are admins can send messages then it might work out better? The messages would then include the details of the weeks ride (route, where and when to meet) but with discussion about it then being directed towards the bunch forum.

 

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I’m in agreement with the above comments. Specifically:

1. I don’t personally have a problem with ‘The Bunch’. It works fine. The pre-2.0 version was a bit poor, but the newer 2.0 version is fine. I have the shortcut on my phone screen and it is very easy to connect . It is not great for fancy stuff such as sharing files,  but that has improved as well, but for messages it is great. 

2. Not everyone has FB and not everyone uses WhatsApp, either.

3. I personally would rather not have stuff pushed to my phone from FB or WA. What is hard about looking at the forum, or posting up there?

4. Having said all that, I am not ‘opposed’ to change, it is just that I don’t think there is a problem.
 

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I think a WhatsApp group would only work for those who regularly post rides, just to agree a route and leaving time (not to say no one else can post a run, of course they can, this is just for club runs) Then the agreed route gets posted on The Bunch and linked to from the club's social media, so the main place for anyone to check for a ride will still be The Bunch (not everyone has FB, insta, twitter - some people don't even have Strava lol) so this is still the best place to check.

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10 hours ago, thejanullrichdietplan said:

Not sure where feedback for the whatsapp proposal is to go

I asked that people write to me so I could take to committee but am delighted to see it here too.

What is hard about looking at the forum, or posting up there?

I don't know but lots of people don't do it. Wishing it won't help. They look at stuff sent to them, that's how every ad campaign works. They don't browse forums to find out what to do.

I spoke to about twenty people at prize-giving and they all thought the Forum was not the best way of telling people what is going on. I am but a mere servant of the club members and agreed that we need to look at this more closely.

My email was not a WhatsApp proposal, it was really a request for ideas to help publicise rides rather than have people look for them. I chose WhatsApp as an example, other media messaging services are available.

As Membership Secy I receive lots of requests from new members who cannot work out where the info is on the bunch. For me it is difficult to use from a phone and most importantly the Bunch is passive and does not alert people to rides and events.

For instance the Prize-giving was initially buried in Announcements. Confirmed attendance at the prize-giving doubled in 24 hours after we circulated an email to all members. I'll bet this thread is only seen by a few people, most will never look for it because it is an unknown unknown.

Please post here, write privately to me or, better, come to committee meeting to discuss if you think there is a problem and, if so, how to fix it. And let me know if you can help.Ohyadancer!

Personal view: If there is no problem then we can continue with a passive Forum based on 15yo tech.  I think that's a mistake. I know that many club members are in a lot of other media groups and receive a LOT of ride notifications so I think JWCC should be one of them.

Alan

Secretary

 

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This is interesting reading, very much on the pulse.  We are a great club with lots going on and this needs to be communicated, it is why we are members.  We all love cycling and we are busy people (so many Strava segments) and this will always have people collectively seeking convenience. Right now I use a WhatsApp group to organise my Tuesday runs, it works well.  But I have become aware that it is not in the spirit of the club so I will be posting my runs back on the Bunch as well, where all club members can view and participate.  I am open to progress in the future, if needed, so let’s have the discussion to find out what people feel they need to get the most from the club.

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14 hours ago, Alan McLean said:

I asked that people write to me so I could take to committee but am delighted to see it here too.

What is hard about looking at the forum, or posting up there?

I don't know but lots of people don't do it. Wishing it won't help. They look at stuff sent to them, that's how every ad campaign works. They don't browse forums to find out what to do.

I spoke to about twenty people at prize-giving and they all thought the Forum was not the best way of telling people what is going on. I am but a mere servant of the club members and agreed that we need to look at this more closely.

My email was not a WhatsApp proposal, it was really a request for ideas to help publicise rides rather than have people look for them. I chose WhatsApp as an example, other media messaging services are available.

As Membership Secy I receive lots of requests from new members who cannot work out where the info is on the bunch. For me it is difficult to use from a phone and most importantly the Bunch is passive and does not alert people to rides and events.

For instance the Prize-giving was initially buried in Announcements. Confirmed attendance at the prize-giving doubled in 24 hours after we circulated an email to all members. I'll bet this thread is only seen by a few people, most will never look for it because it is an unknown unknown.

Please post here, write privately to me or, better, come to committee meeting to discuss if you think there is a problem and, if so, how to fix it. And let me know if you can help.Ohyadancer!

Personal view: If there is no problem then we can continue with a passive Forum based on 15yo tech.  I think that's a mistake. I know that many club members are in a lot of other media groups and receive a LOT of ride notifications so I think JWCC should be one of them.

Alan

Secretary

 

Hi Alan

Apologies for the misunderstanding about WhatsApp. It did sound like you and the people you spoke to were advocating this.

If new members are having trouble finding information then of course we should address this. I’m not sure how, but as I said  above, most existing members don’t have a problem accessing the bunch - even from phones (I’m writing this on my phone). 

It’s true that people use social media. I do myself. It’s primarily for those impromptu rides that are out with the club structure.  

Perhaps an alert service for new members until they realise the structure of the cycling week - rides on Sundays with mid week events - might be a good idea.

cheers

Darryl 

 

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Some of the best tech is >15 years old. Wheels for example.

I would tend to agree with Iain regarding WhatsApp - its not designed for a club with such large numbers as JWCC but works well for small informal groups. If too large the thread can easily get lost or highjacked (so unlikely I know), plus having a system that pushes notifications for potentially such a large number of club members is likely to become intrusive and then ultimately lack utility. 

I'm not surprised at all that there is such varied feedback about the utility of the forum. In reality using digital tech tends to rely on multiple sources of access to accommodate inclusivity and diversity of users preferences, experiences and needs. Some people will be quite satisfied with the Website access via computer, others accessing the bunch forums via their smartphone, others news updates via facebook, strava or instagram or tinder (George).

Obviously one relatively accessible solution is to have access to push style notifications via your smartphone. It would be interesting to survey members, regarding their use of mobile phone to access bunch content online, their preferences for this or if current they do use a smartphone but do not access JWCC content via this then what would encourage this sort of usage. 

One solution, depending on users preferences would be to have a JWCC Mobile App that could push notifications in a more controlled way to users, for example social events, club rides, club events (e.g. Reliabilities, Chocolate Series). However, this would require central administration time and resource to update. There are some off the shelf products on the market that are worth exploring can can be made available via App store and Play store. I'm not sure the costs but basic 'fit all' platforms are likely to be economical for small businesses, clubs and societies. I did a brief search online but to give you an example check out:

appsmakerstore.com

https://youtu.be/zkQPHX0wJJE

 

Anyway just a thought

 

Andy

 

 

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