An evaluation of social media use in a golf club

Jonathan Bishop
Centre for Research into Online Communities and E-Learning Systems, Swansea, Wales, GB.

Abstract - This article looks at the social media strategy used

in a golf club, namely Pontypridd Golf Club. It compares what
it was like prior to the advent of social media and afterwards.
It does this through interviewing one of the clubs former golf
captains, who was involved on both occasions. The study finds
that one of the factors most affecting whether the golf club
took up social media was the skill of the officers that ran the
club. It was expected that a technology office would exist in
order to update the website. It was not expected that officers
with a particular portfolio would update the parts of the
website within their own remit. Understandably, systems like
WordPress were deemed complex, but even Facebook was
updated by an individual rather than the officers concerned.
The study concludes that increasing digital literacy will be
essential to making social media use common in golf clubs
and potentially any social or recreational group.
Keywords: Social media, golf clubs, Facebook, WordPress

Introduction

Social media is a term used to refer to social networking

services that are based primarily around user-generated
content. Comparisons can be drawn between current social
networking services that use a single-tree structure and those
that use a two-tree set-up. Single-tree websites are those that
are either content-based or community based, whereas twotree websites are those which mix content with community [1].
The earliest social networking websites, namely A Guide to
Robin Hood and Northern England (1999) and Llantristant
Online (2002) were two-tree, but were not popular [2]. The
buddylists on the first were manually populated and on the
second were user-generated, which was the same with
Facemash and Facebook respectively [3].
Facebook became popular when it opened for non-student use
in 2006, which was the same year as Twitter. At this point
ADSL was taking off as the main means to connect to the
Internet. Social media could thus be considered to consist of
post-modem social networks, on the basis that services like
Twitter and Facebook did nothing that the social networking
services from the 1990s and 2000s hadnt done previously, but
which were popular in the era of ADSL and optic fibre-based
routers, as opposed to dial-up modems.

Evaluation and Analysis

The evaluation and analysis consists of an investigation that

analyses and evaluates the use of social media practices within
a golf club.

2.1

The organisation and interviewee

The organisation chosen was Pontypridd Golf Club. The

gold club was chosen because the researcher designed and
built a website for it prior to the advent of post-modem social
networking services, such as Twitter and Facebook. It was
therefore possible to have a convenience sample in the form of
an interviewee that was involved with the club at the time and
still active within it.

2.2

Methodology

To investigate Pontypridd Golf Clubs use of social media

and interview methodology was used. This involved designing
a semi-structured interview around the criteria known to assist
with the effective marketing of websites, namely online
servicescapes [4, 5].

2.3

Results

The investigation showed how the use of social media by

the golf club has been used or not used to aid the
organisation and its communication with members of the
public and members.

2.3.1
Practices
Asked why the content management system adopted prior to
Facebook was not successful it was suggested it was a human
resource issue. I think at the time, they had a secretary didnt
they?, the interviewee suggested. And she wasnt very
technically minded, she couldnt use the Internet or
anything. For a long time, it was the norm that anything to do
with IT was done by a technology officer, rather than the
officer responsible for a portfolio. A membership officer
might expect an IT expert to post a membership newsletter
online rather than do it as part of their role. This was
confirmed by the interviewee, who said that the secretary,
didnt have the capability and eventually even though the
website gave them some presence, they werent able to do it

themselves and that he thought that was the only reason

really, that they needed something that was simpler.
The interviewee made clear this made a big impact on the
adoption of the earlier website. [T]he reason was the club
didnt have the digital capability it has and thats why the site
failed.
2.3.2
Effectiveness
The effectiveness of those social media practices adopted by
the club was an issue. After the original content management
system was abandoned, the club then turned to another web
designer. The former captain interviewed said that they came
along and offered to do one again for them, and that was
when [they were] gone from there and thats when they had
nothing but trouble from that company. This shows how the
problems of low digital literacy can impact on an
organisations success, especially when it comes to their use of
social media. The former captain said how even now he was
still responsible for social media, rather than each club officer.
They dont bother to update it (Facebook) and Ill do it for
them, but theyve got a website now havent they?
The interviewee was asked why the club is not using a system
like WordPress. Well I dont know if they, uh, the website is
WordPress, but a lot of us dont understand, I dont even
know how to use WordPress, he said. Ive not looked into
it; you know they say its simple, its only simple if somebody
shows you how.

Discussion

This study has looked at the social media policies of a golf

club between 2004 and 2007, and what has happened since
then. It found that a big problem in the adoption of social
media was the technical skills of the office holders. Even
today, with platforms like Facebook and WordPress, the

person with IT skills is doing the job that a dedicated office

holder should do as part of their role. If they can do something
offline one might think they should learn to do that online.
Without digital literacy being something everyone has, this
study has shown that the burden of using social media will not
be shared, but continue to lie with one person responsible for
IT, rather than the person who would do the offline equivalent
of the task.

References

[1] Derek M. Powazek. "Design for Community: The Art of

Connecting Real People in Virtual Places". New Riders,
2002.
[2] Jonathan Bishop. "Evaluation-Centred Design of ELearning Communities: A Case Study and Review". The 2nd
International Conference on Internet Technologies and
Applications (ITA'07), Wrexham, GB. 6-9 September 2007,
V. Grout, D. Oram & R. Picking, Eds. University of Wales
Press, Wrexham, GB, 2007. , 1-9.
[3] Jos Van Dijck. "Facebook as a tool for producing
sociality and connectivity"; Television & New Media,
1527476411415291, 2011.
[4] L. C. Harris & Mark M. H. Goode. "Online
servicescapes, trust, and purchase intentions"; Journal of
Services Marketing, 24., 3, 230-243, 2010.
[5] Antje Cockrill, Mark M. H. Goode & Daniel Emberson.
"Servicescape mattersOr does it? The special case of
betting shops"; Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 26., 2,
189-206, 2008.