Delta Sigma Phi announces today that it will be closing its members’ only online community called the Delta Sigma Phi Circle effective December 31, 2009.
According to Executive Director, Scott Wiley, the Fraternity’s rationale for closing the community was twofold. “We have found that a great deal of our members are already connecting and communicating in more trafficked online communities like LinkedIn and Facebook. In order to avoid duplication of our efforts, we have chosen to push members to our presences on those already popular platforms as opposed to forcing them to come to us to make their connections,” he said.
To replace the Circle, Delta Sigma Phi has developed presences on both Facebook and LinkedIn, with growing constituencies in each of these platforms. Delta Sig’s Facebook Fan page has nearly 5,500 followers, and the Fraternity’s LinkedIn group has over 2,500 members connecting on a regular basis. These two social media platforms have essentially the same capabilities of the Delta Sigma Phi Circle, and allow members to easily connect and network much in the same way as the Circle.
To answer some of the likely questions that will arise from this message:
How will we connect with fellow Delta Sigs without the Circle? Delta Sigma Phi has established presences on the two most trafficked online communities today, Facebook and LinkedIn, and also has presences on a number of additional social media tools like Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. All of these tools offer outstanding opportunities to regularly connect with your fellow Delta Sigs – likely a better opportunity than the Circle since only 7% of brothers even created a profile in the initial three years of its existence.
Is Delta Sig planning to develop something similar in the future to replace the Circle? No, not at this time. Tools like Facebook and LinkedIn allow members to connect in much the same way the Circle did, thus duplicating those capabilities within another online platform really doesn’t make sense.
If cost was a factor in this decision, what will be the annual cost savings we will see? The Fraternity will save $10,000 in annual licensing fees that instead will be redirected towards other social media initiatives consistent with our mission of building better men.
If you have any questions regarding this decision, please contact Bruce Hammond at Hammond@deltasig.org.
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