So what? You might think – loads of organisations have 1000 members in their online social networks. But National Theatre Wales is an organisation that hasn’t yet announced its programme (5th Nov ’09) and doesn’t begin showing work to audiences until next year. The community has grown organically, and we haven’t marketed it at any point, either. Every member has been personally welcomed by a member of the NTW team. It’ll be thrilling to see what happens once audiences start to engage with the network, as currently the make up of members could probably be defined as “fans and professionals”. The network has its own feel and personality right now: a place for colleagues to debate and develop work. We’re about to launch some research that will enable us to gather even more feedback from the network’s current members about how they feel and what they would like to experience more of.
The network however is likely to change! The destination website will launch publicly on 5th November: this site particularly to let people know what’s on and how to buy tickets, as well as pulling in content from the network. We will also be signposting people (audiences) back out to the community, and once they’re there, I think we’ll see a slight change in tone: audiences will be wanting to rate/rant/rave about the brilliant theatre they will have seen, and introduce us to their own creativity. What I hope is that the initial network listens and welcomes – what could be a more attractive proposition to a newbie!