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Facebook vs. Clubster

By Paul Hattimer, CCM

As an independent social media seminar leader I have led a total of over 2,000 individuals through Social Media seminars. I have fielded hundreds of questions and concerns about Facebook.  I also have the unique perspective of several decades of country club management experience.  My combination of Facebook knowledge and years of experience garnered me this comical compliment at one of my seminars:  “I didn’t know that someone so old could know so much about Facebook”.

In the past year I have also been directly involved with the development and marketing of Clubster – the private social media network for private clubs.  Clubster harnesses the power of inbound marketing and two-way group and individual communication without sacrificing a club or organization’s privacy or security.   Clubster is a “scalable platform”, that will continue to add features the will benefit clubs and organizations well into the future.

With this perspective in mind, let us take a look at Facebook vs. Clubster:

Privacy and Security:

• Facebook is open to the world and has over 900 million users.
• Clubster is open only to invited club members and staff, generally less than 1,000 users per club.
• Facebook is searchable on the internet.
• Clubster is not searchable on the internet.
• Facebook can be restricted to allow no posts.  But that defeats the two- way communication of social media. If no restrictions the whole world can post on a Facebook page.
• Clubster does not allow use or posts by anyone outside the club. Club members cannot post to the entire club membership but only to their club friends.
• Clubster is a social networking site built exclusively for Private Clubs.

Ease of Use

• Facebook has become increasingly complex especially since the adoption of Timeline.  Desire to remain competitive and monetize Facebook will only increase rate of change and complexity.
• Clubster is one of the easiest social media platforms to use.  Simplicity is the cornerstone and improvements and new features will be gradual.

Groups

• Facebook groups do not connect directly to a Facebook Business Page.  Groups are only available to Facebook members and are visible unless designated as a secret group.
• Clubster groups are easy to create by either club members or the club and are not visible on the internet.
• With Clubster…our Club can form private sub-groups of members within in your Club like (Senior Golfers, or Ladies Tennis League)
• With Clubster Club Members can form private groups, their Golf buddies, Tennis partners, etc.
• With Clubster Club can Post separate categories of Club communications: Club News, Club Events (with RSVP), Club Alerts, Club Shared Links to groups or to the entire Clubster membership.

Events

• Facebook has a good events feature but a club can only directly invite the friends of the Facebook Business page creator
• Clubster has an equally good events feature plus the club can invite every single club member who is on Clubster with just one click.  Plus Clubster allows you to turn on and off the RSVP feature.

Advertising

• Facebook has multiple ads throughout the page and a club has no control over the type of ad that will appear on their page.
• Clubster has just two small areas on the page for sponsors.  Clubster selects only high-end private club related sponsors.

For a private club or an organization concerned about its privacy and looking for a user friendly social media platform Clubster is a better choice than Facebook.

Clubster launches Clubster Connect!