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| RVillage.com is the new Social Network for RVers |
It's no secret that one of the potential challenges of life on the road is finding lasting community. Many RVers have likely had conversations like the following, either internally or with loved ones: “How do I/we meet and stay connected with fellow like-minded travelers? After all, it’s not just about the places we go, our real joy is in the friendships we forge along the way”. A new social network designed for RVers and campers, RVillage.com, has emerged and has created the solution to meeting others on the road by removing chance from the equation. With over 11,000 members in just a few short months, this social network for RVers seems to be gaining some serious traction among RVers.
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| RVillage Founder and CEO, Curtis Coleman |
RVillage is a free online social networking site that allows members to create a personal profile, make posts to a live home feed, find each other through some impressive mapping tools, upload photos, and create meetups.
One of the most unique functions of RVillage.com is the ease in which an RVer can virtually “check-in” to the RV Park they are staying at and see if there are others in the park as well. Members of the site, AKA “Villagers” can then explore other members up to 250 miles of their location, up to 250 miles around a destination they are going to, or within 25 miles along their route to a new location. Nothing like this has existed for RVers until now. Members can also find each other based on similar interests, itinerary mapping tools, discussion forums, and event-planning functions. They can also communicate with each other in real-time on the site’s home feed.
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| Create a route and see the other members along your way. |
RV Parks have had an especially keen interest in spreading the word of RVillage as well. Villagers can organize potlucks, mini-rallies, and meet-n-greets wherever they are and the RV Parks benefit greatly from this increased revenue. These “Get-Togethers” are common occurrences among members, and RV Parks are encouraged to create their own and can reach out to RVers up to 100 miles of the park’s location to offer deals and specials. “As an RV park owner, RVillage.com provides a simple way for park administration to communicate with guests who have “checked-in” using the RVillage site communication tools, and to reach out to the other RVers in the surrounding area. This free service for our parks encourages guests to connect and socialize with each other, and we all know that when guests are having a good time, they tend to stay longer! Of course having our parks easy to locate on the site provides excellent publicity too”, says Cathie Carr, President Escapees RV Club. Park owners and managers can simply “Claim” their RV Park page on the site for free, and introduce RVillage.com to their guests at registration. “As an avid RVer, I enjoy keeping up with my friend’s travels, locating where they are in case I am in the vicinity, and easily coordinating an impromptu lunch or dinner with them. In my opinion it is a “no-lose” option all the way around for the RVer and the Park”, explains Cathie.
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| There are a variety of Groups to join on RVillage.com |
RVillage is built for RVers, by RVers as well. Curtis Coleman, founder of RVillage, has vast experience in the RVing world. As a fulltimer himself, the website has all the characteristics of a real community. “We are not just creating a tool for RVers to be able to find each other easily. We are creating a true ‘Village’ where everyone can feel comfortable connecting with strangers that we all have so much in common with. A common conversation on RVillage is that the people who are joining are so nice, helpful, and have a genuine desire to see it grow and flourish” says Coleman. “We love that so many of the large RV Clubs like Escapees and Passport America have embraced RVillage and see how it can enhance the lifestyle for their membership and participating parks.” Coleman explains further, “Since RVillage.com launched in Spring 2014, pages and pages of blog posts have been created about RVillage. Similarly, over 800 member-created discussion groups based on various interests exist on the site. RVillage is currently hosted in the ‘cloud’ for scalability and we have recently launched a mobile experience for smart phones as well. We are building this to last. We want it to be around for a long long time, and from the feedback we are experiencing so far, the RVing community is seeing a valuable need being met”.
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| RVillagers enjoying a meetup in Elkhart. (Photo credit: Geeksontour.com) |
“Fabulous evening meeting up with fellow RVers we discovered in our own campground via RVillage! We all arrived as strangers.. and leave as friends. That's what it's all about!”-
-Chris and Cherie/ Technomadia.com
“[W]e can see the RV-Dreamers all over the country, see who's in our area, and see who all may be close to each other. We've been hoping for something like this for a long, long time.”
“So, we think RVillage is a wonderful concept, and we're excited that RV-Dreamers can use it as a tool to connect more easily, organize get-togethers, and keep track of each other.”
-RV-Dreams (Howard and Linda)
“Check it out, I think this new social network is going to be a winner!”
- Nick Russel, Gypsy Journal
To see if RVillage is a useful tool for you on your travels or to claim your park, you can sign up for a free account at www.rvillage.com
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