Originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal by Karen Maserjian Shan
Nov. 2, 2014
Marshall Seddon is a regular participant onwww.paddling.net, an online forum for the paddlesport community.
“People are sharing their experience, looking for paddle partners, listing gear for sale, looking for solutions to their (situations); it’s a pretty active forum of which I am a frequent contributor,” said Seddon, owner of The River Connection in Hyde Park, a year-round resource for paddlesports, including equipment, instruction and more.
He also connects with fellow paddlers through www.meetup.com/The-River-Connection-Kayakers; his blog, http://hudsonriverpaddler.org; and his company website, www.the-river-connection.com. But that’s not all. Seddon also uses an on-board Spot GPS tracking device during competitive races to provide his friends and family with intermittent email or text alerts that show his boat’s GPS coordinates plus a link to Google Maps that pinpoints his location.
“I like it,” said Seddon, particularly of his blog and website. “I find it’s a good personal method of connecting with people and putting an online voice — a personality —that people can go to and match with The River Connection business.”
According to The Outdoor Foundation’s Outdoor Nation Special Report: Technology and Social Media, outdoorsmen and women find social media makes it easier to plan activities and access news.
The report also showed cellphones can make the outdoors more enjoyable through enhanced GPS, beacon and mapping technologies, image recognition, improved image quality, solar power, waterproofing and weather forecasting.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation serves the public through a variety of social media outlets, as do its individual 70-plus parks and historic sites. Combined, the agency and its sites have 180,000 likes on Facebook, while the agency, alone, has 8,000 Twitter, 700 Pinterest and 750 Instagram followers, along with 175,000 YouTube visits of instructional and nature videos, said Randy Simons, public information officer of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
“Social media, to us, is really like a cost-effective way to engage and share with our visitors,” Simons said. “It allows us to gain insight from visitors, one-on-one, and improve on our parks.”
One of the agency’s Apps, Oh, Ranger! NY State Parks, has information on state parks and historic sites, giving people a handy way to explore the outdoors.
“This tool is a great use of technology and the perfect customer service enhancement,” said state parks commissioner, Rose Harvey, in a released statement. “More and more of our 58 million visitors each year are utilizing smart phones, and this new app will provide accurate, up to date data to explore the outdoors.”
Other agency Apps, the Pocket Ranger Guide for New York State Parks and the agency’s new Avenza App, allow for mobile access to state parks’ trails and other information.
Alison Lynch, social media coordinator for the State Office of Parks, said visitors also use Apps that aren’t specific to the agency, such as Geocaching and AllTrails.
“We’re constantly scanning all of our channels,” she said. “It’s very apparent to us that they (visitors) also want to share their great times,” whether it’s wildlife sighting or a trail trek. “They will send us pictures and they will tag us on Twitter and Instagram,” she said.
Simons said while state parks are a great place for people to disconnect from their phones and other tech gear, the parks also allow for people that want to stay connected to do so. In fact, he said, the availability of social media, which the park agency has amped up over recent years, has helped state park attendance hit some 60 million visitors each of the past three years.
“It’s providing that resource,” Simons said. “When you come to a park, you can connect and find out an activities and programs that you otherwise might not have known about.”
Birders are among other outdoor enthusiasts that also use Apps to enhance their experiences.
“Apps are not only making it easier for birders of all levels to bird, it’s helping us increase our understanding of the distribution, richness, and uniqueness of the biodiversity of our planet,” said Claudette Thornton, director of strategic communications at Audubon New York, via email. “This of course is a great asset as we develop programming at our centers, like the Rheinstrom Hill Audubon Center and Sanctuary (in Craryville, Columbia County) in an effort to focus on conserving and restoring habitat for birds and other wildlife of (New York State).”
For instance, the Audubon Guide to North American Birds’ App, Audubon Birds Pro, serves as a portable field guide, providing birders with bird identification data, such as its appearance, behavior and range. Another App, ebird, by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, offers a means to collect and store real-time bird observation data, as well as share recorded data with educators, land managers, ornithologists and conservation biologists.
Social media sites also are birding resources, said Thornton, with the Audubon New York Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages receiving regular postings from members and fellow bird lovers, including information and pictures from personal sightings plus birding trips.
“Social media has also made it much easier for individuals to connect with peers who might be able to help with a bird identification that they’re unsure of,” Thornton said. “It’s helping to revolutionize how birders connect, learn and explore the world of birding and conservation.”
Erin Crotty, executive director of Audubon New York, said having the ability to use a smart phone in the field can make citizen science more accessible and allows for easy, on-the-go birding, while providing tools for tech-savvy birders.
“In addition to contributing greatly to the scientific data we need to prioritize conservation efforts, bird watching is a great stress reliever, can be enjoyed by individuals of all ages, and is a strong economic driver for many communities that rely on eco-tourism,” said Crotty via email. “Apps and social media are showing bird enthusiasts and conservation minded individuals of all ages how easy and rewarding bird watching and conservation can be and we’re looking forward to seeing where the technology takes us from here.”
Karen Maserjian Shan is a freelance writer: mkshan@optonline.net;
Insights
Social media and technology among people that enjoy the outdoors:
• Ninety-six percent of have a cellphone, but only 46 percent have broadband Internet access.
• Among those with mobile broadband access, two-thirds download apps to their phone, with Facebook the most downloaded app, followed by the Weather Channel, Pandora radio and Google Maps.
• Most engage in social media websites, primarily Facebook and YouTube. Only one tenth use Twitter.
• While social media makes it easier to plan events and access news, it also can be addictive and time-consuming
• GPS, iPods and MP3 players and mobile phones enhance outdoor experiences by providing practical benefits but also create distractions.
• Favored marketing efforts include those that feature bright colors and images of sunlight, adrenaline pumping excitement, sweeping landscapes and a sense of oneness.
• Mobile Apps have the potential to initiate and reward outdoor challenges, with Twitter and Facebook groups providing good ways to mobilize outdoor activities.
Source: The Outdoor Foundation’s Outdoor Nation Special Report: Technology and Social Media,
www.outdoorfoundation.org/pdf/Research.OutdoorNation.Technology.pdf
For some top-rated outdoor apps, visit:
• mashable.com/2013/05/25/apps-great-outdoors/
• www.backpacker.com/gear/electronics/gps-units/10-best-iphone-apps-for-the-outdoors/
