Karate Community Packs a Punch Online
In a paper published in July this year, “Structural differences between open and direct communication in an online community”, the authors present the results of seven years’ study into the differences in one-to-one (messaging) and many-to-many (forum) communication in a population of over 35,000 users. Their results match our experience of the development of online communities, as in this case study.
Open communication engages members
The first forays into this community, for 67% of users, were through comments in open discussions. It is natural human behaviour to prefer joining in with a group rather than taking the plunge to contact someone directly, and this doesn’t change online. This means that if an organisation wants to build engagement but doesn’t offer a forum for open discussion, they are excluding two-thirds of their potential active user base.
We spoke to the Assistant Chief Instructor of GKR Karate, Shihan Stacey Karetsian, about his experience of changing the way students could communicate with eachother and with the highly respected senior club members. What he told us really bore out the research evidence.
Case Study: GKR Karate online
GKR Karate is an international club spread across three continents. The club has always encouraged direct communication with senior instructors, publicising first individual fax numbers, then email addresses, to its 30,000-strong cohort of students. Club members formed a close-knit community through meeting at regional classes and national tournaments.
The club recognised that the online space offered an opportunity to build engagement and retain members across the three continents in which it operates. As the majority of students, or their parents, are within the Facebook user demographic, local regions were given branded pages, and Shihan Stacey Karetsian was also persuaded to set up his own Page in September 2013. Within the first 24 hours he had 100 likes, and now has over 4,000 followers. He has been amazed by the much higher volume of people who have responded to posts and asked him questions in this open forum, against the small number who used to pluck up the courage to contact him directly.
Building your online community
Whatever your organisation, the world is moving online, and it’s impossible to ignore the way communication is changing as you watch. However, this research confirms that to build a successful online community you have to take a deep breath and open up the discussion. Giving your members a platform for open discussion is vital to your success – and identifying the right platform for your members is just as important.
When you have a wide age and digital skill range, there is no existing public platform that will engage everyone. You need Ambix: private, intuitive, and built to engage all your members – the essential business tool.
