Women Crowdsourcing: gyms and social media

[Flyaway]

I'm investigating the use of social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram, in gyms and would love feedback from parents, coaches, gymnasts, etc. I feel like this is an uncharted area and expect there's not a "standard" approach. I'm using this info strictly to gauge our own gym's use and determine the most effective way to harness the power of social media without abusing it. I'd specifically like responses to the following questions and I apologize in advance for the length:

1. Does your gym have a Facebook/Instagram page and do you follow it?

2. If yes, approx how many followers does it have?

3. What sort of posts are posted in general? (i.e. gymnastics related articles, gym announcements, team announcements, videos/pictures of team, etc.)

4. Do you find the types of posts to be enjoyable? Do you wish for something different?

5. How frequently is new content posted? Is it too much? Not enough? Just right?

6. What are your thoughts on posting videos/pics of the gymnasts? If your gym does this, do parents sign a release? Are names revealed?

7. Do you feel the use social media improves gym morale (for example through praise for new skills obtained) or does it cause problems (jealously over who gets featured, etc) or is it neutral?

8. Does your gym do any fun promotions or features through social media?

9. Are you a parent, coach or gymnast?

10. Any final thoughts?

Thank you!!!

 

[skschlag]

We have a private facebook page for our men's team. It is mostly informative articles, notices of practice changes, meet schedules, and results. Parents post as do coaches. The only followers are team members and gym members and families. Content is posted as needed. We do use pictures/videos as it is private but not sure I would like that if it was public.

I follow another gym in the area that does post a lot and they are public. Not sure about releases or anything like that.

I am a parent

 

[kitkat]

My responses are within the questions...

1. Does your gym have a Facebook/Instagram page and do you follow it? yes it has both

2. If yes, approx how many followers does it have? 600 on FB You can view the page without being a member.

3. What sort of posts are posted in general? (i.e. gymnastics related articles, gym announcements, team announcements, videos/pictures of team, etc.) upcoming functions, tryouts, upcoming meets. No videos are posted on it. Our head coach posts everything on his and its private.

4. Do you find the types of posts to be enjoyable? Do you wish for something different? Doesn't really affect me either way

5. How frequently is new content posted? Is it too much? Not enough? Just right? Something everyday is posted - sometimes more

6. What are your thoughts on posting videos/pics of the gymnasts? If your gym does this, do parents sign a release? Are names revealed? No names - its their nicknames posted on HC FB. To me it really doesn't matter. In Canada all their names and clubs are posted on GO - so there are no secrets. We have to sign saying that we are ok with posting pics. I do not think that photos are considered private under PIPEDIA. I could be wrong.

7. Do you feel the use social media improves gym morale (for example through praise for new skills obtained) or does it cause problems (jealously over who gets featured, etc) or is it neutral? I think it can work against the cause sometimes - if a child never gets the video or picture posted. They may think they are doing an awesome job and never get recognized publicly... so in that regard... could be a problem.

8. Does your gym do any fun promotions or features through social media? Not really

9. Are you a parent, coach or gymnast? parent

10. Any final thoughts? The internet is a big space of information and I think any child in sports of any kind will not be able to keep themselves confidential or private. I think that you have to be careful what gets posted for later years to come and I think that you have to properly educate kids on how to use and protect yourself on the internet or in person.


I was at a work session one day and one of our guest speakers was a police officer who investigates internet crime. He showed us how easy it is to find someone on the internet knowing very little information. He was standing in line at a mall food court behind someone and the two ladies were speaking about doing a large marathon. The food lady called out the girls name to pickup her food. So all the police officer had was her name and that she was going to do a marathon. Within 15 minutes - he knew where she lives, that she had a sibling, she had a cottage, she was running at the boston marathon and so much more. All because he had a little big of information and she had nothing private.
So for me...its teaching safety in general around internet safety.

Cheers

 

[MILgymFAM]

1. Does your gym have a Facebook/Instagram page and do you follow it?
ODDs gym has both and YDDs gym has neither. I follow the fb but don't have Instagram. ODD follows both.

2. If yes, approx how many followers does it have?
Unsure

3. What sort of posts are posted in general? (i.e. gymnastics related articles, gym announcements, team announcements, videos/pictures of team, etc.)

Photos, videos, skill videos, gym updates, gymnast updates (recruiting/ college visits, proms, etc).

4. Do you find the types of posts to be enjoyable? Do you wish for something different?
Yes, no complaints.

5. How frequently is new content posted? Is it too much? Not enough? Just right?

Daily to a few times a week. Just right.

6. What are your thoughts on posting videos/pics of the gymnasts? If your gym does this, do parents sign a release? Are names revealed?

Yes, names (first) are revealed. Parents all signed a release. I like it.

7. Do you feel the use social media improves gym morale (for example through praise for new skills obtained) or does it cause problems (jealously over who gets featured, etc) or is it neutral?

I do think it improves morale- but only because it showcases everyone eventually- not only "stars".

8. Does your gym do any fun promotions or features through social media?

No, but they aren't fully operational yet. Wouldn't be surprised if they do in the future.

9. Are you a parent, coach or gymnast?

Parent

10. Any final thoughts?

I actually wish that my YDDs gym had a fb and showcased the kids and their hardwork. It also has helped me connect with other gym parents, which I also appreciate.

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

1. Does your gym have a Facebook/Instagram page and do you follow it? It has both. I follow Facebook.

2. If yes, approx how many followers does it have? Over 3,000 on FB, over 200 on Instagram.

3. What sort of posts are posted in general? (i.e. gymnastics related articles, gym announcements, team announcements, videos/pictures of team, etc.) On FB it is announcements, promoting events at the gym. The Instagram is devoted to the team and the things they are up to.

4. Do you find the types of posts to be enjoyable? Do you wish for something different? I would like if the FB offered a little more of what the Instagram does. I like glimpses into what everyone is doing, funny things the coaches say/do.

5. How frequently is new content posted? Is it too much? Not enough? Just right? I hate when an announcement for one event is posted a dozen times because they're trying to drum up interest, but I wouldn't mind more posts.

6. What are your thoughts on posting videos/pics of the gymnasts? If your gym does this, do parents sign a release? Are names revealed? I love pics of gymnasts, but I understand that there can be concerns about that. I believe when rec gymnasts are photographed for the site or FB, the parents sign a release. I believe team signs a release as part of their contract, but I'm not 100% sure. I know they don't sign releases each time. Team girls have names mentioned, but rec kids only sometimes.

7. Do you feel the use social media improves gym morale (for example through praise for new skills obtained) or does it cause problems (jealously over who gets featured, etc) or is it neutral? As far as I can tell from comments and things, it improves morale.

8. Does your gym do any fun promotions or features through social media? Rarely

9. Are you a parent, coach or gymnast? Parent. And mostly parents watch the FB page, while mostly gymnasts follow the instagram

 

[raenndrops]

I'm investigating the use of social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram, in gyms and would love feedback from parents, coaches, gymnasts, etc. I feel like this is an uncharted area and expect there's not a "standard" approach. I'm using this info strictly to gauge our own gym's use and determine the most effective way to harness the power of social media without abusing it. I'd specifically like responses to the following questions and I apologize in advance for the length:
Thank you!!!

1. Does your gym have a Facebook/Instagram page and do you follow it?
We have a TEAM Facebook Page. It is private.

2. If yes, approx how many followers does it have?
We have 53 members of the page group.

3. What sort of posts are posted in general? (i.e. gymnastics related articles, gym announcements, team announcements, videos/pictures of team, etc.)
Team announcements, meet schedules and results, gymnastics related articles, notices when Snowflake has Grab Bag leos available or GK is having an awesome BOGO sale, offers to sell/ trade team related items, questions from parents, pics / videos of the girls.

4. Do you find the types of posts to be enjoyable? Do you wish for something different?
I do a majority of the posting, so I think it's fine, lol.

5. How frequently is new content posted? Is it too much? Not enough? Just right?
Posted when necessary… just right.

6. What are your thoughts on posting videos/pics of the gymnasts? If your gym does this, do parents sign a release? Are names revealed?
Since it is private, it isn't an issue (and the parents are usually posting pics of their own kids). I have only posted one video… or rather a link to a You Tube video from a meet the team went to (the host gym had a new facility and they were interviewed… and our girls were in several frames).

7. Do you feel the use social media improves gym morale (for example through praise for new skills obtained) or does it cause problems (jealously over who gets featured, etc) or is it neutral?
I think it improves gym morale because I post positive things about the girls!

8. Does your gym do any fun promotions or features through social media?
nope

9. Are you a parent, coach or gymnast?
yes, lol … parent-type and coach-type

10. Any final thoughts?
Thank you for asking

 

[chalkbowl]

1. Does your gym have a Facebook/Instagram page and do you follow it?
Yes, both. The instagram is private.

2. If yes, approx how many followers does it have?
Facebook has 1,750 & Instagram has 300 I believe.

3. What sort of posts are posted in general? (i.e. gymnastics related articles, gym announcements, team announcements, videos/pictures of team, etc.)
Facebook is a little of everything...gymnastics related articles, gym closures, session reminders, meet results, photos from competitions, very few videos. Instagram is mostly for the team kids to follow and has videos of new skills, inspirational quotes, etc.

4. Do you find the types of posts to be enjoyable? Do you wish for something different?
I'm in charge of both

5. How frequently is new content posted? Is it too much? Not enough? Just right?
Instagram is updated daily to weekly. Facebook is updated weekly to monthly.

6. What are your thoughts on posting videos/pics of the gymnasts? If your gym does this, do parents sign a release? Are names revealed?
Videos are mostly on the private instagram. Pictures are on both and parents sign a release. Pictures are not labeled with names on the Facebook page for the most part. When they are it's first name only.

7. Do you feel the use social media improves gym morale (for example through praise for new skills obtained) or does it cause problems (jealously over who gets featured, etc) or is it neutral?
Positives & Negatives!!! The kids get so excited when they see their new skill posted on instagram. However, we always have the issues of parents saying a certain child was shown more or a certain group of athletes (JO versus Xcel versus boys) gets more posts.

8. Does your gym do any fun promotions or features through social media?
No

9. Are you a parent, coach or gymnast?
Coach

10. Any final thoughts?

 

[Deleted member 18037]

1. Does your gym have a Facebook/Instagram page and do you follow it? Yes and yes, I only know about Facebook as I am not on Instagram

2. If yes, approx how many followers does it have? Don't know

3. What sort of posts are posted in general? (i.e. gymnastics related articles, gym announcements, team announcements, videos/pictures of team, etc.) pictures, schedule information, advertising for fundraisers, videos, news clippings, meet schedule, meet results and pictures. Any note worthy info like former gymmies college athletic kudos. And visitors (typically family) can post video and pics, usually friends of the families will then comment. They do keep the content rather tame and gym related. Us parents have a team page that is private, member only. There we post more laid back fun stuff, pool party or sleepovers. School kudos. I would not be OK with that kind of stuff on the public page.

We have the gym website with a parent portal for more detail and specifics as it pertains to gym.

4. Do you find the types of posts to be enjoyable? Do you wish for something different? Yes, what could be different??

5. How frequently is new content posted? Is it too much? Not enough? Just right? Not really invested in how much, it is active and current.

6. What are your thoughts on posting videos/pics of the gymnasts? If your gym does this, do parents sign a release? Are names revealed? If it's posted by the gym releases are obtained yearly as in the way our gym does it you would have to opt out, otherwise you are in. Names not typically shared, where its searchable, but could be in the press release. But that is local paper. It's usually a bunch of kids with trophies/medals. Names associated for things like a state win or regional qualifying. Not a biggie to me since you could look it up on meet scores. And most folks visiting a gym page know how to do that.

7. Do you feel the use social media improves gym morale (for example through praise for new skills obtained) or does it cause problems (jealously over who gets featured, etc) or is it neutral? Neutral and the kids could care less, especially since most are too young to have accounts. I gues to gauge improvement to morale you would have to know what morale was like before SM

8. Does your gym do any fun promotions or features through social media? Fun promotions no, features yes if you include thir advertising and fund raising for causes. Again what's to promote besides the gym?

9. Are you a parent, coach or gymnast? Parent

10. Any final thoughts? Perhaps it's my age but since gymnastics ( sports) in general is limited in who participates. I think SM has limited use other then keeping themselves visible. It's not like a restaurant where customers are turned around quickly and often. The presence doesn't need to be as in the moment. It's not like you want 100 new customers every week. It should however be better then the competition, as in other gyms. That however doesn't matter to me as we are not gym shopping. It would matter if we were.

And if we were thinking about a gym change SM presence would be a factor. I would expect it to be current but too much information shared publically would be a negative for me. I care about the quality of the training and equipment, the hours, the success of team, that they are not excessively over sharing more detailed info and moments of minors, not their SM so much. So their webpage and SM presence needs to get that across.

 

[Splash123]

Does your gym have a Facebook/Instagram page and do you follow it?
- yes we have a Facebook page for the gym and all the coaches are on Facebook too.

2. If yes, approx how many followers does it have?
- approximately 500-600 followers.

3. What sort of posts are posted in general? (i.e. gymnastics related articles, gym announcements, team announcements, videos/pictures of team, etc.)
- we post videos of our open days/ team displays, announcements about upcoming comps and activities, announcements after competitions about the results, sometimes articles and in the summer/between comps little clips of gymnasts getting new moves etc.

4. Do you find the types of posts to be enjoyable? Do you wish for something different?
- I like the posts we do, it shows people from the gym what is happening and allows the public to find out about our fundraising events.

5. How frequently is new content posted? Is it too much? Not enough? Just right?
- every day or so. Sometimes 2-3 times a day if we are at a competition for the day. I think it's good because we get a steady flow of posts, which keeps people informed.

6. What are your thoughts on posting videos/pics of the gymnasts? If your gym does this, do parents sign a release? Are names revealed?
- we post videos of gymnasts learning/competing skills for the first time. We also take photos of the gymnasts after a competition with their certificates. We have to get the parents verbal permission before we post it online, but all children in development or elite squad have already had the release signed for us to film them for training purposes. When we post videos, we generally don't name the gymnasts, rather we name the training group being filmed. With the competition photos, we only name gymnasts with distinctions at grades etc so it's 2-3 gymnasts out of 15+ in a picture being named so you can't link the name to the face unless you know them.

7. Do you feel the use social media improves gym morale (for example through praise for new skills obtained) or does it cause problems (jealously over who gets featured, etc) or is it neutral?
- I think it's good for gym morale, because in my experience gymnasts at my gym are generally happy for each other when they get a new skill.

8. Does your gym do any fun promotions or features through social media?
- yes
9. Are you a parent, coach or gymnast?
- coach and gymnast.

 

[vbdb]

1. Does your gym have a Facebook/Instagram page and do you follow it? Yes. We have a public FB and IG account and a private FB account for parents/gymnasts.

2. If yes, approx how many followers does it have? 400 for public FB, 170 on private and 170 IG but it's a fairly new account. You have to be verified to be able to join the private group.

3. What sort of posts are posted in general? (i.e. gymnastics related articles, gym announcements, team announcements, videos/pictures of team, etc.) News about the club, atheletes' achievements in meets, rec classes and summer camp. The private one is used to communicate amongst parents, sell leos and home gym equipment etc. it's not very active.

4. Do you find the types of posts to be enjoyable? Do you wish for something different? Indifferent, the IG account is nice because it features photos sent by parents of the girls

5. How frequently is new content posted? Is it too much? Not enough? Just right? every couple of days if there's something going on.

6. What are your thoughts on posting videos/pics of the gymnasts? If your gym does this, do parents sign a release? Are names revealed? No last names but we sign a release that the club can use the kids' pictures.

7. Do you feel the use social media improves gym morale (for example through praise for new skills obtained) or does it cause problems (jealously over who gets featured, etc) or is it neutral? The kids really like the IG account and "like" pictures of each other prolifically. No issues with jealousy at all so far. The facebook page mostly features news or good luck messages to the athletes competing, no videos of kids doing skills or anything so there's no favouritism.

8. Does your gym do any fun promotions or features through social media? No

9. Are you a parent, coach or gymnast? Parent

 

[3gymgirls]

1. Does your gym have a Facebook/Instagram page and do you follow it?
Our gym has a Facebook page, a public group for team parents, and a private group for the preschool gym. I follow the page and am part of both groups. I am also friends with a few of the coaches.

2. If yes, approx how many followers does it have?
I have no idea.

3. What sort of posts are posted in general? (i.e. gymnastics related articles, gym announcements, team announcements, videos/pictures of team, etc.)
All of those types of things are posted.

4. Do you find the types of posts to be enjoyable? Do you wish for something different?
I find the team group to be especially helpful. The coaches are good about putting competition schedules on there as well as reminders about schedule changes. Everything is in one place so it isn't a problem if I lose the paper, and sometimes the information is there before it gets sent home with the kids.

5. How frequently is new content posted? Is it too much? Not enough? Just right?
Information is posted as needed. There is more in the team group during competition seasons, but during the off-season, the coaches will post when a girl gets a new important skill, like ROBHS in L3.

6. What are your thoughts on posting videos/pics of the gymnasts? If your gym does this, do parents sign a release? Are names revealed?
I am sure we must have signed a release, but it is mostly in the group that we all have access to. Some parents will post pictures of tag the coaches.

7. Do you feel the use social media improves gym morale (for example through praise for new skills obtained) or does it cause problems (jealously over who gets featured, etc) or is it neutral?
I think it has helped improve the team spirit. I feel like I am getting to know my daughters' teammates better.

8. Does your gym do any fun promotions or features through social media?
No

9. Are you a parent, coach or gymnast?
I am a parent, and I coach a couple preschool classes during the school year.

10. Any final thoughts?

Thank you