The desire to socialize on TFP
Let’s be blunt, those who are behind the curtain of TFP tend to be older and are VERY accustomed to forums. It’s what they grew up with. Let’s now take the average 25 year old and bring them into TFP, in many ways they’d be lost or at the least, bored. Right now I see more and more competition out there from pages like Facebook and YouTube. It’s simply the current trend in social media. Part of the enjoyment of these sites are the social interaction between people. I’d like to start to build this more on TFP.
TFPC isn’t just a method of cleaning your pool, it’s also a lifestyle in many ways. Every person who greatly supports TFPC raises their nose at hotel pools and other bodies of water who’s chemistry are subpar. We as a group are tightknit and can be very encouraging of others. I’d like to start to connect people who live this lifestyle with one another not just to teach them that chlorine kills algae, but also a fun place to share photos of their pool or whatnot. Profile photos and pages can be a HUGE perk for TFP if we allow it.
So take for example, you’re sitting by the pool on a sunny day, what does the average 20 sum old do? They snap a photo of an adult beverage and their feet to post on Instagram. It happens even here on TFP. What’s one of the most popular threads each year? Showing off my latest grilled piece of meat. Over the Winter I’d like to start to create a platform where members can openly BS for pure enjoyment, centered around their swimming pools. To do this I’d like to work in connection with Audentio as they setup their App on TFP and start to focus on a feature we currently don’t use, profile posts.
Profile posts are a way users can type in general thoughts and have them displayed in their profile. Once activated we can also get them displayed on other menus to show many all at once. The main purpose of these comments are simply a way for users to chat. We want them to BS and share pool stories as they spend their time on the site they enjoy, TFP. They’ve come to greatly enjoy this community, why not capitalize on the thing they enjoy the most, the members?
Now there’s very little doubt in my mind I’ll hear some push-back on this. There’s no doubt there will be those who scream how against TFP’s mission this is, and I actually get this argument. That said, it’s also helping in some ways. It is our mission to help pool owners maintain their pools, it’s not our mission to run a forum that talks only about chemicals. For years now I’ve often said that the number 1 selling point of TFP is our “Construction Forums.” We do an amazing job of bringing users to the website as they wish to share their builds plus get little tips and tricks along the way. Once their pool is done being built they’ve grown a trust to TFP and our advice so slipping in info like the FC/CYA ratio is very simple to do. This is the exact same mindset I’ve got for this new area of TFP.
Close your eyes and picture the average user whom you assist on TFP. How many of them that you interact with do you picture being in their 20’s or early 30’s?? Odds say, not many. At least if you follow my picture of people. Even look at the Mod Squad, I’m probably the baby of the group at 41. As younger people buy houses and pools they will look for info on how to maintain them. I’d like to start to build a platform on TFP that they’re used to, just like how those of you whom are older are used to the forum. Once they’re here and we’ve earned their trust, then we can focus on helping them.
The key to getting this to work is integrating it into the methods we already are used to, for both camps. We need to get profile posts to be able to get viewed easily by those who are used to simply clicking “View New Posts.” Additionally we need to look at getting third platforms like Instagram or Facebook setup where users can hopefully easily share their content from there to here. Hopefully once things die down on TFP shortly I’ll be able to start setting up some demos around this idea.