Social Work

Social networking is not just for teens and pre-teens. It has become a successful way to get the word out across the wires.

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You might think of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as places to connect with family and friends, catch up on the latest gossip, or kill time by playing online. You might even be wary of such sites because of safety and privacy concerns. Disabled-sport organizations, however, are learning that social media sites are useful for a different purpose: to connect with new athletes, fans, and volunteers and to keep in contact with the ones they already have.

More than 400 million people are on Facebook and about 12 million on Twitter, so chances are the next star junior athlete or volunteer of the year your organization has been searching for is already online updating their Facebook status or tweeting to their friends. Better yet, because people on social media sites have "friends" or "followers," one single fan can recruit hundreds of other fans, who will then spread your message in a branching pattern across the Internet. And the cost of all this publicity? Completely free.

For these many reasons, organizers of the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships, which will take place in Vancouver, Canada, on September 17-26, turned to social media to publicize their event and connect with new supporters.

"Social media offered us the opportunity to stay in touch with our members using technology that is current and widely used by our members and potential participants," says Kathy Newman, co-chair of the local organizing committee for the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships. "It's the wave of the future as far as communicating goes."

The organizers of the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships created sites on Facebook ("2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships") and Twitter (@2010wwrc) and designed a Web site (www.2010wwrc.com) to act as the official source of such information as schedules, directions, and player profiles. They also created a blog (www.2010wwrc.com/blogs) where guest bloggers provide a behind-the-scenes look into the wheelchair-rugby community. Then, they exploited the interactive nature of social media by creating quizzes like "Are You Tough Enough for Wheelchair Rugby?" for their fans to take and posting articles, photos, and videos for their fans to comment on. They even created a "free gift" application on Facebook where fans can send each other wheelchair-rugby-themed "gifts" such as "a heavy hit" or "new wheelchair." As the world championships grow closer, they also plan to partner with their sponsors for contests and giveaways.

The results so far have been extremely positive. In the first six weeks of their campaign, the Web site had 2,200 visits and accumulated 1,200 Facebook fans.

"I think the plan is working extremely well," says Newman.

Even though the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships is months away, social media is helping to ensure the stands will be filled with fans. According to Newman, however, the best is yet to come.

"Look for more interesting initiatives as we get closer to the event," she says. "I think social media is an area organizations should give some attention to. I'm sure it will enhance program and service delivery for organizations. I would definitely encourage organizations to educate themselves about social media, develop a plan, and implement it."

Check out the complete article in the July 2010 S'NS.

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