Communications Lust

Lust: overmastering craving; intense enthusiasm; zeal

I feel communications lust for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts Web site. And not just because it is based out of the home of the Red Sox. No, I lust after it for real communications reasons. IT IS BEAUTIFUL. And I will tell you why it is beautiful. (Go ahead Haila, laugh. Laugh that I am at home and in love with a Girl Scout Web site. But you look at it and tell me it doesn't make your inner communicator just squeal with glee.)

• Photography: Look at the pictures! They are clear, pretty and each one tells a story. The smiling accomplished girl, the mom-daughter team painting. I mean really, it's just beautiful.
• RSS Feeds: OMG! I can get council news to my homepage! Girl Scout news comes to me! Hello, this is amazing.
• Camp Search: Holy camp cow! I can search by Girl Scout level, grade level, camp theme and zip code. Are you kidding? That is actually user-friendly and presented in a clean fashion.

Many moons ago, in the pre realignment world, I volunteered with the Girl Scout council in Boston. Back then it was the Patriot's Trail Council. Their Web site was pretty sorry. Now in the realigned world, I am very impressed. I love it.

The only flaw I see is there's no easy way to navigate back to the homepage. I noticed this 1) because I was trying to do just that and 2) because we recently did an evaluation of our own Web site and this was something we did well.

Now speaking of my own council's Web site we're not so bad. We have lots and lots of content. Soemtimes we think its too much but then our volunteers tell us they want even more. I feel quantity and quality of content is our biggest strength.

We have some weaknesses too. Our department has many ideas for things we want to have happen, like adding RSS feeds and n more user friendly calendar, but development is both expensive and time consuming. One day we'll get there. But at least we have a clear way to navigate back to the homepage.

PS I told Ross I was in lust with the Eastern Mass. Girl Scout Web site and he looked at me like I was a freak.