Figure Skating Clubs Getting Social

Figure Skating Clubs across the country seem to "Like" Facebook and many are finding it's pretty "Tweet" to post on Twitter too. Two of the top social networks are becoming popular in the skating world, and hundreds of clubs are using both.

Dina Gold, vice president of the Washington Figure Skating Club in Washington, DC saw Facebook as a powerful resource when she became a Facebook member herself, two years ago, and watched its popularity rise. Gold saw it as a way to reach out to club members and others who might be interested in the Washington Club and figure skating.

"I saw that companies and organizations were spending increasing efforts on maintaining a Facebook presence, and noticed people were increasingly turning to Facebook for information," Gold said, who also administrates the social networks for the club. "Facebook also seemed like an easier place than our website to provide updated information quickly, and it had a more casual format that would allow us to provide more information than might be appropriate for our website. Facebook also offered the opportunity not only to provide information to our members, but to get information back from them."

All of these factors encouraged Gold to take the plunge and start a Facebook group. After a short time, she realized Facebook pages were a better format for visibility and transitioned their group to their current page.

The approximately 900-member Washington Figure Skating Club uses their Facebook page to complement their website.

"The website includes basic club information and reports club-specific news," Gold said. "On our Facebook page, we include that information, but also post information from U.S. Figure Skating announcements of competitions held by other clubs, general skating news and sometimes we try to spark discussions."

Posting good luck announcements before and during tests and competitions and posting official results is also popular.

"While some users visit both our Facebook page and website, in general, the two sites appear to attract different users groups. The Facebook page is frequently visited by our teenage skaters and the parents of teenage and youth skaters, while the website seems to be primarily visited by adult skaters," Gold said.

The Washington Figure Skating Club also has a Twitter account.

"Twitter is less interactive, approximately 230 followers currently, but it is still a handy resource for getting current information on the go from a Smartphone or handheld device," Gold said.

Members of the Ogdensburg Figure Skating Club pose during their club's ice show. Skaters and families find Facebook a great way to promote their annual show.(Photo courtesy of Gia Witmer)

Large clubs, however, are not the only clubs with Facebook pages. Smaller clubs are also discovering the many benefits of the popular social network.

The Ogdensburg Figure Skating Club in Ogdensburg, NY has a new Facebook page according to club president Jessica Montroy.

"We just created it in September," Montroy said. "We decided to start a Facebook page as many of our older skaters and parents of our basic skills skaters are online."

Montroy said the page was created to provide information for the parents.

"We post if there are schedule changes, or cancellations, registration dates, information about our upcoming shows, or during the summer months, we post regarding parade floats that we do," Montroy said.

Both clubs agree their Facebook pages benefit their clubs as a positive communication tool.

"Our club members think of their club as being very current with figure skating information and technology as a result of our actively maintaining our Facebook page," Gold said. "Our skaters look for competition updates on the page so they can congratulate their friends on their accomplishments and bask in the good wishes they themselves receive from their friends and fans."

Although the Ogdensburg Club does not have too many "Likes" yet because the page is so new, Montroy feels it will become a good outlet to promote their club.

"I have had great feedback from the parents that have used it," Montroy said. "We hope that it will be an avenue for parents, board members, coaches and skaters to post information, concerns or general comments or pictures."

Gold also encourages members, parents, and guardians of members to visit their Facebook page even if they do not have a Facebook account of their own.

"They can still benefit from the information we post such as test dates and competition deadlines. We get a lot of positive feedback from parents of skaters who obtain information from our page and appreciate the good wishes and congratulations we share," Gold said.