(MIDDLETOWN, R.I.) — Crewtoo, the world's largest online social network dedicated to seafarers, has now followed the March 2014 introduction of its jobs board with the launch of a redesigned website that aims to welcome shore-based professionals alongside the ever-growing seafarer membership. Crewtoo was founded by KVH Media Group, part of KVH Industries Inc., less than two years ago and today has more than 105,000 members.
Upgrades to the Crewtoo site include more dynamic and user-friendly news pages, a crew resources page providing useful contact information about charities and seafarer organizations, and recommended products and services of particular interest to the Crewtoo community. Crew training organizations can now promote their courses to Crewtoo's membership, and there is a dedicated area for maritime events and conferences.
"We believe this is an exciting new phase in Crewtoo's growth," says Anneley Pickles, head of business development for Crewtoo at KVH Media Group. "Crewtoo is all about giving seafarers their voice and providing them with enough information and choices so they can make informed decisions about the things that are important to them."
For example, the decision to broaden the Crewtoo community to include shore-based professionals such as crew training organizations is intended to enable seafarers to more easily gain information about the training programs they need to advance in their careers.
"Our seafarer community is key, and we keep listening and responding to them," says Pickles. "Our goal with the enhanced website is to give crew access to more information, products, and services, and, in turn, to also enable shore-based professionals to interact with seafarers."
KVH, which operates the Crewtoo seafarer social network, has a number of maritime services that address crew welfare. KVH Media Group produces a wide range of news and entertainment content for the maritime industry with brands that include: NEWSlink – daily news from around the world, in print or video; MOVIElink – new-release movies from Hollywood and other international studios; TVlink – popular shows and series from leading studios worldwide; SPORTSlink – highlights of games and teams around the world; and MUSIClink – an array of digital music. KVH Media Group's content is delivered in a number of ways, including KVH's new IP-MobileCast content delivery service utilizing multicasting technology.
KVH provides maritime broadband connectivity to vessels worldwide through its TracPhone V-IP series terminals and mini-VSAT Broadbandsm service. KVH shipped its 4,000th TracPhone system for mini-VSAT Broadband earlier this year. The mini-VSAT Broadband service is the market share leader in maritime VSAT, according to an industry report by Euroconsult released in March 2014.