The North Carolina Massage Therapists Network on Ning.com
The licensed massage therapists of North Carolina now have a free online community in which to network, share experiences and brainstorm for future opportunities through the NorthCarolinaMassageTherapists.ning.com network.
Massage therapy as a health resource for Americans has really grown in popularity and recognition in the past decade. The Massage Therapy Foundation in Florida conducts and publicizes research results about the genuine health benefits of hands on therapeutic touch. Many states in the United States have now licensed the profession, whether at a state level, or county or city level, to ensure protection for the public by setting minimum education and training standards. Massage therapy has arrived.
Yet although the profession is gaining in visibility and respect, there is no one on-line forum for the profession nationwide. Furthermore, massage therapists have the choice of belonging to one of at least four associations that provide some form of liability insurance for the profession. Many states do not require any liability insurance to work as a massage therapist, so many therapists do not even belong to one association. So not only are massage therapists as a profession divided across different associations nationally, many are not even part of any association.
The American Massage Therapy Association is the primary voice for the profession in the United States. A second very popular association that includes massage therapists, as well as other professions like estheticians, the American Bodywork and Massage Professionals association has a lot of members. While it supports its professional members well, because it is a multi-profession association, it isn't a strong voice for the profession of massage therapists.
This lack of common platform for dialogue for the profession creates a vacuum which deserves a response. Enterprising individuals and groups can create forums with the free social media so readily available in this era. The necessity is to have one main forum per state, and perhaps for the nation, so everyone who wants to be part of, and wants a voice, can have one. This doesn't take away from other associations, it is a complement to them.
The North Carolina Massage Therapists Network was created because the state licensing board is a licensing board, and does not have the mandate to also provide a forum for the state's licensed therapists.
In September 2008, inspired by the tremendous success of the inSide AreaCodes network on ning.com, in particular the inSide919.ning.com, the network for NC massage therapists was created. Ning.com, a site that provides easy creation of free social media networks, was a prime candidate for it.
Initially promoting it to massage therapists acquaintances, growth was slow, then in December, 2008, the outreach expanded with direct and indirect emails to massage therapists whose email information was available on the web. Membership grew to 40 from less than ten. Two months later, in February, 2009, membership had doubled. The outreach was working.
The North Carolina Massage Therapists Network is open to all actively licensed massage therapists in the state of North Carolina. There is value and opportunity in creating community.
