In order to promote different types of rowing and expand the appeal of the sport, British Rowing created a new programme, “Explore Rowing”. Adding a social network allows the program to expand by providing more options to rowers and novices alike and encouraging them to get involved in the sport.

Commissioned by British Rowing, the social network aims to incorporate a range of community and web 2.0 functionality in order to break the perception of rowing being a hard and time consuming pursuit. The programme will make a major contribution to British Rowing’s target of increasing the overall number of UK rowers by the Olympic year, 2012. Explore Rowing is aimed primarily at those who have not considered rowing as a sport before by introducing ‘gentler’ routes and a more flexible way of participating in the sport.

“We hope that Explore Rowing can do the same for those over 16 - opening up the sport to a wider range of participants.” British Rowing’s National Manager, Rosemary Napp

Around the objectives emerged ideas for some robust social networking features. A very visually appealing layout was created along with events and activity feeds to draw visitors into the site and show its activeness. Integration with OpenLayer allows for precise route maps to be saved on the site, which is a key feature since rivers are not clear on Google Maps.

In the end, the site is visually appealing and presented in a way that makes it feel open to everyone. People who were already users of the British Rowing website can use their same login to be active in the Explore Rowing online community. The user generated content, especially the ability to add routes, has proved to be an exciting and active part of the community.

Special thanks to: Alistair, Rich and Edwin

Weblink: www.explorerowing.org