As we at Chatwee have seen time and time again, online communities have the tendency to crop up around all sorts of ideas and projects. It’s so inspiring seeing people being able to unite around a common topic despite physical distances between them. In this case study we’d like to introduce one of our clients who’s a well-known American radio host, and who also built a community around his political podcast available on his site with a bit of help from Chatwee. Curious to see who this is? Keep on reading.
As information and communication technologies spread at an ever-increasing rate, there’s more and more discussion going on in the virtual world. Social platforms like reddit and Twitter may be at the forefront in terms of sheer numbers and hosting many prominent users, however, various forums and chatrooms are still going strong.
A major advantage of the latter two is that as their host, you’re not subject to terms and regulations which may be strictly enforced on social media and thus hamper completely free and open exchange of thoughts.
Discussing politics online can be tricky and if you’d like to create conditions for it, you’d be better off installing a chat room than creating a Facebook group.
This is the route our client went, making Chatwee a part of his website to encourage visitors to stay longer, engage, and build a community. Let’s have a look at the details.
The client
The Hugh Hewitt Show is a radio talk show covering politics. It’s based in Southern California and has been on air since the year 2000. The team is comprised of a 5-deep production staff and the host, Hugh Hewitt.
Mr. Hewitt is a professor of law and a broadcast professional, who’s had an illustrious career in media and politics, notching many TV appearances, being a contributing columnist at Washington Post, and authoring 16 books.
The show is broadcast Monday through Friday on the morning radio. Mr. Hewitt is also a host of two daily podcasts – Highly Concentrated Hugh, which is a condensed version of the radio show, and The Interview with Hugh Hewitt, which is an interview done with a guest from politics or arts.
The challenge
Some of the show’s audience can’t listen to the live broadcast, so they head over to Hughniverse.com to access the streams on demand. Moreover, there’s extra show content available only to subscribers.
The team considered the idea of developing their own chatroom within the website, but decided there’s an easier way to go about this if you’re trying to build an online community.
The solution
The bonus content just mentioned earlier is exclusively available to the show’s subscribers. There are thousands of downloads but there are about a hundred or so people watching the podcast being produced live, who use Chatwee to engage with each other and the staff.
On weekends, the team also streams a music program during which people come in to the chat to interact.
The team at Hugh Hewitt Show has been using Chatwee for several years now. According to them the app has all the features they require to make their listeners stick around longer, hang out on the site. It basically turns their website into a bit of a hub for discussion and not just a place you come to download your files and be gone.
Final word
The Internet undoubtedly affects political systems and views across the globe. All in all, it’s a positive thing that people have digital spaces to engage in and discuss politics. It provides for a more democratic and balanced society where people can freely express their opinions on policies affecting their lives, among other things.
The Hugh Hewitt Show team has decided to expand their operations by adding a chatroom to their site for informal political discussion to get more engagement from the members.
The chat has seen a steady inflow of users eagerly debating political issues and other matters important to them for several years now.
If you’re looking to set up a chatroom as a space for political discourse, on your own terms, consider Chatwee. Feel free to sign up for a no strings attached account using the form below to give it a try or contact us with any questions you may have.
PS. Special thanks to Duane Patterson for helping me develop this case study.
