Website! Doesn’’t it duplicate LOWDOWN? Why duplicate something that is, justifiably, very popular with members?

The internet has become for many the preferred font of knowledge and through it they access friends or family, find friends, collect or disseminate information, and more across the globe in a flash, wherever they may be.

Following our recent AGM we established a presence on Facebook, an internet social networking site. Less than a month later our Facebook page has a ‘fan’ base of over 360, people from all over the world.

In the 9 months since mid July 2009 our site has had 742 visitors from 24 countries.

But we are the South East branch of the Basset Hound Club of England. Do we really need a worldwide audience? Perhaps not, however amongst those who discovered us via the web has been a number who have joined us as, paid up, new and very welcome members. Membership details and the forms necessary to join are provided on the site.

The website attracts new members. What else does it do? Possibly the most popular aspect of our club is its regular events; walks, picnics etc. These are announced in LOWDOWN, however on the website we can provide precise location mapping and, for those with TomTom satnav, navigation to each event. To stimulate interest and participation each one can be cross referenced with a single click to Lowdown reports etc. on similar events in earlier years.

In addition to the practical, the site attempts, rather in the way that LOWDOWN does, to reflect the nature of the branch and its membership. Back numbers of LOWDOWN are shown on the site. The site attempts to keep track of members’ show successes and, now into its 3^rd year, provides an easily accessible record 2008 to 2010. Keeping this up to date requires that members let me know of their successes. Articles on the history of the branch and the history of the Basset Hound have been provided by Tony Roberts. There are videos of walks provided by Trudy Allen. Supplemented with articles of my own, often referencing material freely available elsewhere on the web, however I believe that to truly reflect our branch; the site should include material from other members.

Any Facebook user can become a ‘fan’ of our Facebook page and can then easily upload pictures or comments onto it. Facebook is open to the world, so for exclusivity consider the Blog, a page intended to be updated on a regular basis via tools provided by Google, aimed at aiding even novice computer users. Just send me your email address and I can link you to them. Or contribute an article via me to the website itself.

My answer to do we need a worldwide audience? The Basset Hound is a breed popular globally. Basset Hound people everywhere are fascinated to know that there are others just like them in every corner of the world. Why not share something of our enthusiasm with them? The website provides links to and the Facebook presence provides easy interaction with them.

Contact Derek Harris

Since writing the article above the Blog effectively became just another method for me to say my bit albeit rarely. Actually nothing really changed there as no-one took up the offer of participation. We have frequent, very welcome postings to our Facebook page and its fan base has grown enormously. The website itself has also grown enormously. If you have any ideas for the website, that may, or may not, spark me into action, please let me know. WM