The internet has had a devastating effect on associations. Today, there is no shortage of content or ways to digitally reach out and meet someone else in your field – for free. There is a shortage of quality however. The internet’s weakness could become association’s opportunity.
Sure there’s no shortage of things to read. Google returns hundreds of thousands of matches for nearly every search we make. We can search LinkedIn and find hundreds of second and third degree connections in a given field. What we can not easily do is sort through the thousands of search returns or hundreds of potential connections to decide what to read or who to connect with. This is something that associations could do however. It wouldn’t be easy but it would be useful.
Associations can develop ways – staff curated or member curated ways to flag the handful of important ideas, authors or resources that members should pay attention out of the barrage of noise. Even better would be for associations to find and offer to members information that they don’t know they need -but they do.
The internet, the very thing that is weakening associations can be the very thing that provides associations the most opportunities.
Related articles:
- Developing a culture of innovation [on Jamie Notter’s blog]
- Everything is going to change
- Your case for association change