What began just 13 years ago as a small community of people united by a common desire to celebrate Jerry Garcia‘s music has transformed into a powerhouse.
In this photo, courtesy of the Vibes, fans huddle around the event's stage.
The Vibe Tribe, as the individuals are known, is a growing group of folks who take a single weekend out of their busy summers to simply enjoy life to the soundtrack of great music at the Gathering of the Vibes.
Event organizers have made it easier for the tribe to connect ahead of this weekend’s festival at Bridgeport‘s Seaside Park with an increased focus in social networking.
“We’ve always had some online social networking,” Kevin O’Brien, marketing director of the Gathering of the Vibes, said. “But as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter has really blown up in the last couple of years we’ve realized we needed to be in that world.”
The Gathering of the Vibes recruited two recent University of Colorado graduates to help.
Jason Mitchell and Eric Dieter, co-founders of Movement Strategy, created a Twitter account and managed the Vibes’ other social networking sites.
“They came through for us,” O’Brien said.
Mitchell said he and Dieter attempted to get people talking.
“We wanted to build a community around the Vibes and what people are interested in,” he said of Movement Strategy’s efforts. “We wanted to give fans a place to have a conversation and I think we’re pretty successful with that — particularly on Facebook.”
In all, Movement Strategy has managed the Vibes’ Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube accounts.
“People are really sharing their stories and uploading their photos and videos,” Mitchell said. “One thing that was very successful for us was getting people to upload videos from previous shows.”
Just hours before the event kicked off, there were 6,172 fans on Facebook; 2,561 followers on Twitter and 7,760 friends on MySpace.
“We definitely focused a lot on Facebook because when you look at numbers around social networking, that’s where people are — and it allows you to share tour photos and videos,” Mitchell said. “I hope we can continue to build the community.”
In addition to the social network aspects, the Vibes also have a very active forum with 18,002 threads, 326,648 posts, 12,522 members and 2,736 active members.
The Vibes have also hosted weekly streaming video conferences with an average of 40 “dedicated fans” regularly attending, Mitchell said.
“The Gathering of the Vibes community has definitely gathered around social networking more than other communities have,” Mitchell said. “We understand better than other people that social media is about asking people to participate.”
Users input through the social networking sites have been noted and have directly affected decision-making, O’Brien said.
He pointed to one item in particular — the passing of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas.
“It was a huge concern,” O’Brien said. “So we have implemented strike forces and a 24-hour call line.”
He said if people are scared to come to the festival, they just won’t attend, so feedback is always considered seriously.
Mitchell said he will be at this weekend’s event shooting video and still photos and regularly uploading their materials throughout their social networks.
“We will encourage people there to upload their own stuff,” Mitchell added.
He said he hopes to have a contest of user generated materials following the weekend-long concert.
“The idea is to get people to become part of the Gathering of the Vibes community — not just the weekend or the week leading to it,” he said.
