As some of you have already noticed, there are numerous orchid society websites that are rather shoddy. These websites reflect poorly on their orchid societies because they are rarely (if ever) updated, navigation is confusing, and their design is hard on the eyes.
Just recently I created a group for my
Orchid Society on Flickr and it dawned on me that a flickr group can function as an orchid society website.
Here are a few benefits of utilizing a flickr group as the society’s website…
- It’s free.
- Easier to update. Usually, one person is in charge of updating the orchid society website and they have to know HTML. In the flickr group anybody can announce an upcoming presentation or event without having to know HTML.
- Photo sharing. Orchid society members can add their photos to their orchid society group.
- Forums. Each group comes with its own forums.
- Standardized layout makes navigation easier.
- RSS Feeds. Subscribe to receive new forum posts and new orchid photos uploaded by society members.
- Networking. Internal messaging and commenting system makes it easier to get to know other society members.
- Officer system. Flickr groups already have a built in admin system for society officers.
Orchid societies are great…but they only meet once a month. During that month most hobbyists will have orchids bloom and have orchid related questions. Even if the orchid society has a decent website, a flickr orchid society group can provide a great resource for society members to share photos and exchange information at any time. A flickr orchid society group would differ from a traditional orchid forum in that the group would primarily be for local orchid society members.
Additionally, for those orchid hobbyists who don’t live anywhere near an orchid society…it would be easy enough to start a local orchid society by creating a flickr group for orchid hobbyists who live in their general vicinity. Then it would just be a matter of
publicizing their new society.
MySpace and Facebook are other popular sites that also provide much of the same group functionality as flickr…but they focus more on the social networking side of things while flickr focuses more on photo sharing.
Speaking of flickr... here’s a couple of sets I recently uploaded…
Orchid Society of Santa Barbara Show
Orchids at the San Diego Zoo
Flickr for Orchid Society Websites?
Threaded Mode
