All photos on this page were taken by Mark van Stokkom
Herenboeren Brings Member Communication Together in a Community App
“If you’ve run a successful poster campaign, you’ll want to share that success: ‘We did this—take advantage of it.’”
At Herenboeren, members work together to grow their own food. They join a local Herenboerderij, share the costs, jointly employ a farmer, and harvest food from the land every week.
There’s a lot going on around a farm like this. Members help out in the fields, contribute ideas in working groups, and share knowledge on topics such as biodiversity, communication, and landscape features. For a long time, communication among members took place via mailing lists, WhatsApp groups, and Signal groups. That worked, but it also led to fragmentation.
That’s why Herenboeren set out to find a way to better organize their communications with members. Several locations are now using the Socie app. The Socie app is also being tested nationwide to facilitate communication between farms. We spoke with Anneke Comello of the Association of Herenboerderijen. We also spoke with Bert van der Horst (Socie administrator and Herenboer) and Irene van Oosterhout (Socie user and Herenboer) from Herenboeren ‘t Tullse Veld about their experiences with Socie.
Can you tell a little more about your community?
Herenboeren consists of local cooperatives. Members share responsibility for a plot of land and, whenever possible, help produce their own food. Irene is a member of Herenboeren ‘t Tullse Veld. She picks up vegetables every Saturday, is active in the landscape features working group, and also participates in other groups, such as the biodiversity group.
“The idea is that you’re a community together, you have a piece of land, and you have a farmer working there who is paid by all of us collectively.”
Many topics come together within a Herenboerderij. Not every member needs to follow everything, but everyone should be able to easily find what’s relevant to them. There’s also a need for information sharing at the national level—for example, regarding harvest distribution, communication campaigns, or biodiversity.
“If you want to do something about the environment and biodiversity, you might also want to know: How are others doing it?”
Why did you choose the Socie app?
The reason was the need for a clear overview. There were many separate groups, but it wasn’t always clear which groups existed and where information could be found.
“We never really got much further than mailing lists or small groups.”
WhatsApp and Signal also had their limitations. Conversations can quickly get jumbled, information easily disappears from view, and group management is limited. Bert sees this as a major advantage of the Socie app.
“What WhatsApp and Signal can’t do is guarantee that only members have access. From an administrative standpoint, I’ve been very impressed with Socie.”
How do you use the Socie app?
At Herenboeren ’t Tullse Veld, the Socie app plays a key role in day-to-day communication among members. Members use features such as groups, the calendar, documents, photos, tasks, the bulletin board, and recipes. For Irene, the working groups are particularly important. That’s where they coordinate, share, and review information.
“In the Socie app, the topics remain separate. You keep them more side by side rather than all in the same thread.”
For Herenboeren, that’s a key difference from regular chat groups. On WhatsApp, an important message can quickly get lost because the conversation has already moved on to something else. In the Socie app, information stays more closely tied to the topic it belongs to.
Nationwide, Herenboeren primarily uses the Socie app for exchange groups. People from different farms can connect with each other there around a specific topic, without having to create new, separate groups every time.
How did you get started with member communication in Socie?
Herenboeren Landelijk did not begin with a single large-scale rollout. First, a few local farms started using the program. Then, the national association launched a pilot program for a number of exchange groups.
“We’ve launched a pilot program. Not with all the exchange groups right away, but with just a few groups at first to test the waters.”
That approach fits well with Herenboeren. Local farms make their own decisions, and the national association does not require the use of the Socie app. Anneke does note, however, that the locations inspire one another.
“It’s really a personal choice, but they do influence each other.”
The setup also appears to be user-friendly. Anneke heard from another organization that someone had set up the Socie app on their own and said it was easier than expected.
“He said, ‘I didn’t really need you anymore, because it was actually pretty simple.’”
Want to start your own online community? Read more here about how to successfully launch your community.
What were the initial reactions?
The feedback has been positive, but also honest. The Socie app provides a clear overview, but takes some getting used to. Members need to learn that messages no longer come in automatically via WhatsApp; instead, the Socie app is now the central hub.
Irene checks the Socie app several times a week. She has deliberately turned off push notifications because she doesn’t like them.
“I watch it a few times a week. Not every day, but definitely about five times a week.”
In some discussion groups, things are still a work in progress. Not everyone notices right away when a new message has been posted. Still, Irene doesn’t want to go back to the way things were.
“No, I wouldn’t want to go back. This is exactly where you have everything in one place.”
What are the benefits of the Socie app?
For Anneke, Bert, and Irene, the Socie app primarily provides clarity and ease of use. Groups, documents, calendar items, tasks, and conversations are all in one place. Members can follow what’s relevant to them without everything getting mixed up.
Bert also cites the ability to find information as an advantage.
“Being able to look back at your history is very important. It also makes it much easier to save documents there.”
For the national association, the value lies in knowledge sharing among farms. When a farm has successfully implemented a particular approach, that experience can be shared more easily. In this way, the Socie app helps Herenboeren better harness the power of the community: locally within their own farm and nationally among people working on the same issues.
How do you keep the community active?
The community stays active thanks to everything that’s already happening on and around the farm. There are working groups, activities, calls for help, and times spent together. The Socie app provides a dedicated space for these elements.
Irene does realize that it’s important not to rely on multiple channels at the same time. When the same message is also shared via email or WhatsApp, it creates fragmentation all over again. It’s still a bit of a trial-and-error process, though, because not everyone is equally active on Socie as an additional channel alongside WhatsApp and Signal.
“Then you’re communicating everything three times. That’s kind of chaotic.”
According to Bert, it helps when important information is consistently posted in the Socie app. That way, it becomes clear to members right away where to look.
Would you recommend Socie?
Anneke has already recommended Socie to other associations. She recognizes the same need outside of Herenboeren as well: a central place where members, working groups, and associations can connect with one another.
“I actually see some added value in that, too. It’s nice to be able to ask other organizations, ‘How did you do that?’”
For Bert, the strength lies in the structure, the management, and the way the Socie app fits into a member community. For Irene, the value lies primarily in the overview: working groups, topics, and information are all organized in one place.
It can take some getting used to, but the basics are clear. Herenboeren uses the Socie app to reduce communication fragmentation and better support member engagement.
“This is exactly where you have everything in one place. It’s great that you have all those working groups and can look at everything.”
