Aunt Roady

I'm part of a club that has always had weekly casual rides. And by that I mean they are somewhat subject to weather conditions, availability of people, holidays, etc. We have been contacting members via email, but the club roster is large and every-changing, so someone invariably is upset that they weren't notified.

Does anyone have a strong opinion about using Facebook versus Meetup.com or a similar system? I'd like to be able to alert riders fairly quickly and at the last minute if rain or snow forces a cancellation.

Thanks in advance

halfspeed

My group of geezers just uses a Google groups mailing list so everyone gets notified.

RJM

My club uses facebook. Private group you have to ask to join. It has worked well but some of the people are turned off by facebook and they tend to miss out. I don't think you can help that no matter what social media you use. We do have weekly rides though, and those are on no matter the weather during spring through fall. Times do change, they get later as the sun is up longer, and we notify the time change by facebook and email.

The bigger rides like annual charity rides ect. or special weekend rides we update to facebook by creating an event on the club page, and send out several emails notifying everybody of the place and time.

There just isn't a perfect way to get hold of everybody all the time, especially when some refuse to use the social media that the club/organization uses or they just don't hit the interwebs often enough.

downtube42

Maybe sad but true, for now at least, Facebook wins out.

datlas 

How about a club website?? That's what my club uses.

caloso

We have a private Facebook group and a Google group. FB tends to be used for casual things like "hey, I'm doing a ride at such and such time from such and such location, who wants to come?" The Google group is for more official things like messages from the board about team meetings, policies, clothing and equipment orders, etc. No particular reason. It just sort of developed that way.

the fly

I have no idea how it's set up, I don't do alot of texting, but our group sends out a text message a day or two before a non-scheduled ride. Seems to work pretty well. I think you ask to be added to the list on Facebook I believe, although I contacted them thru their little used internet forum.

Elvo

Meetup.com

You have to pay to set up a group though but it works very well.

JonnyHK 

The best system is the one that everyone in the club has easy access to.

Folks here keep trying to WhatsApp me - but I don't have a smart phone!

svtmike

Google group here too. We use it for rides, social events, and just general chatter. I'm the admin and it takes almost none of my time to deal with once I had it set up.

mgwilder

I've seen Twitter used effectively with team training rides. I'm a Google groups fan myself.

prathmann

Since you're currently using emails I'd suggest one of the email group lists such as Google Groups or Yahoo Groups. Either one makes it easy to add or delete members to keep the list current and you just send all ride announcements and other messages to the specified email address for distribution to the whole group.

mkadam68

Doesn't matter. Whatever you choose--if someone doesn't use it, they won't get notified.

Choose a platform, then tell everyone: "This is how we notify everyone. If you want in on the loop, it is your responsibility to join/signup."

That said, you could setup a website for this purpose. Using WordPress and a couple plugins, any time you post to the blog/website, a Facebook post can be generated and put on a corresponding Facebook group page. Also, an email can automatically go out. Last, an RSS news item can be generated. I'm sure other notification systems can be synced with WordPress. But it makes it easier for the one announcing the ride: all they do is put a post on the blog and these other notifications are generated automatically. However, in all cases, the end-users--the ones you want to notify-- need to go out of their way and subscribe to these services, FaceBook, email list, or RSS feed. Directions on how to do this can be listed at the top of the webpage/blog.

halfspeed

If you're trying to get as many people as possible, a mailing list like Google groups is going to be your best bet. Any of the trendier social networking tools is going to face a certain amount of resistance. If you've got a smaller group, ask them, not us. They know what they use.

FLvector

I ride with several groups and a few use meetup.com, while the others use an email list. Each method has its advantages, but there's no excuse if someone doesn't get it. The email message needs to be well coordinated, otherwise you end up with squabbling and too much indecision. Facebook invites seem to work better for larger event where you're trying to get a large turnout. The culture varies around the country, so what works well in one are may not somewhere else.

Ghost Ryder

WhatsApp is garbage now, its free for the 1st year
, & pay if you plan to continue using it.

GroupMe is the new "Go to" app.
You create groups, & add people thru email.
Faster, & easier than texting, or emails.
You can choose to mute notifications, when you're not available.
Best thing its free, & does the job well!

seymour1910

I agree, GroupMe is your best bet. you don't have to have a smart phone to get notifications from it. You have to have a smart phone to get the app. I find it to be a good tool for communicating with the masses.

raisinberry777

Some of the non-club affiliated racers in my area just use Strava announcements now, easy to get a message out to a big group easily.

Kopsis

28 years later and people are still trying to reinvent LISTSRV If you want to be maximally inclusive, an email based system is the way to go. Everyone has email, it's compatible with every smartphone, feature-phone, Blackberry, PC, Mac, etc., it's generally not limited by corporate firewalls, and savvy users have a huge amount of control over filtering, notifications, etc. Yahoo and Google groups make setting up a free email list absolutely trivial.

Myosmith

The groups I ride with use a mix of Facebook and text groups. There will always be the one guy who never checks his phone and who hasn't logged into Facebook for a week, who will still be upset that he didn't get notified by private messenger. On the very rare occassion when I have shown up and the event was cancelled, I've ridden alone or with the one or two others who showed up unaware of the cancellation. Not a big deal.

downtube42

The existence of social media means nobody has control of communication. Groups and subgroups will use what they want, post their rides with their favorite method, and ignore your or my attempt to use the right technology. Betamax was better, but that didn't matter either.