FreeToastHost - Popular With New Clubs? Or have FB & WhatsApp taken over?

Hi
I am in the process of being appointed as a Club Coach, and was curious as to the take-up of FTH3 with new clubs.

I personally think that this is great platform - I used it very successfully to manage prospects / convert to members (30-> 60 members) when I was last VPM in 2016 (FTH2), and think the improvements (Agenda) in FTH3 look good.

Just taken up VPM at my club again, and have had to resuscitate FTH - seems my predecessors preferred Outlook, Gmail, multiple spreadsheets, WhatsApp Groups, pieces of paper, over the central management of information that's possible in FTH3. For now I am only using the prospect / member emailing, as my committee decided that they preferred manually compiled agendas over FTH3 (Based on memories of FTH2) ...

So - long preamble ...

Is FTH3 still being taken up by newly chartered clubs / younger TMers? Took a look at several of the clubs in my Division, and implementation is incomplete - outdated / little info, or not set up all all -some just using FB pages instead. Is this more a case of not enough FTH3 Ambassadors, rather than any problem with the platform?

If they are not using FTH3, what are they using? FB only? Got any recent testimonials of new club setups - in case I need backing on my promotion of FTH3 to the new club?

FTH is under continuous improvement, over 12,000 clubs have FTH websites.
With very little work many clubs find the website tools and agenda tools make for a better club experience.

Thanks Brian

I agree with you that it is a great platform. I was just surprised to see that several of the clubs in my Division either had only partially implemented it, or not at all. I was curious as to whether it's a lack of FTH3 Ambassadors, or a generation thing - where the non-greybeards preferred other channels. Didn't want to push a new club to use it if the modern thinking was that there were more appropriate methods.

Last used it in 2016 - so I think the new ability to email / subscribe to Agendas is pretty neat.

I will promote FTH3 to new club ... 12000 clubs can't be wrong

Check out the agenda and pathways you will find it very useful.

I think FaceBook (and others) could become more of a problem eventually from a privacy standpoint.

If you use FaceBook for your club web page, and FaceBook shares/sells personal information for members or guests, who then is liable for any consequences? Toastmasters WHQ might just be inclined to tell clubs not to use FaceBook in that scenario to avoid any liability for itself. I see this as a potential future problem, because I am aware that some clubs just blindly/naively use FaceBook as their sole source of online engagement without much regard for potential future consequences.

So, my view is that while FaceBook has certainly got benefits for clubs for online social engagement, it should not be a club's sole source of online engagement with potential new members. Clubs need to be smart about spreading their privacy risks around.

Having a FTH website is still a good idea, because we try to keep tabs on this stuff and try to provide a good balance between giving clubs useful functionality while at the same time preventing them from doing stuff that is unwise. It is a balancing act that we are frequently discussing and trying our best to maintain.