There is often:

o too much focus on features and technology – whilst these can be interesting and relevant, they’re not the driving force of a vibrant blog community

o lack of focus on how to get new visitors/members and get dialogue going – again, too much focus on the shape of the site and its clever structure can detract from what’s really important – the community itself

o poor attention to why people would just in the first place – is your community supposed to be cutting edge, information, fun, a mix of things?

Above all else, the community has to have ‘stickability’.  Whilst new visitors and users = great, remember that repeat, loyal visitors are like gold dust to your community.  And to get people to come back, they must get some enjoyment as well as benefit – we really feel that the ‘fun’ piece is crucial.

Do not underestimate that people are generally ‘lazy’ when they use the internet.  I know I am. That comes from the vast number of competing sites/offerings.  E.g., if one forces you to login and share your details, will you use that or will you use the one which has no ‘barriers’ to entry.  Generally, unless the first one has real ‘gravitas’, you’ll go for the second one.

Your target audience – and the real demographics of your traffic – must never be forgotten or confused.  You simply cannot be vague about who you’re trying to reach out to, how old they are, what their interests really are, where they’re based.  To be vague about this is like a business being vague about its core business plan.

Unless you’re a mega-brand (in the world of consumer electronics, Apple would be the obvious example), your products or service offerings are unlikely to have enough kudos for people to want to build a community discussion around them.  Your community must be held together by another type of glue: a common interest which, although it may link in some way to commercial activities (if you’re in this for business), is actually driven by something bigger than that.

You may have an online community in your stable of websites already.  Or you may be nurturing one.  Either way:

o don’t play the big ‘moderator’ and be too restrictive about topics and discussions.  It’s a turn-off for users to be told off – think “school kids”!

o don’t be too restrictive about topics – the best communities set and police their own rules

o invite and maintain the right users, not everyone you encounter or know simply to build the community – otherwise what are you really building? the community, its essence, is its users

Remember, online communities will typically mirror real life.  They won’t be perfect, but very little that’s of interest is perfect.

See you, CB

The forum would usually cover a broad topic and each conversation or “thread” would then funnel the topic down to a more specific conversation title. Well, that’s whats happening and with a bang at the Blog Social Networks like Ning and Wetpaint!

People are gathering all of their chosen “colored blocks” from the Internet bin and putting them all in a handy sorting tank set up as a Blog Social Network. What am I saying about these bin blocks? Each category or “color” block, sorted out into music, sports, business, photography, art, beach lovers, snowmen, or any topic really is either kept as a large category or narrowed down even further into sub categories. All blue blocks for instance, or all sky blue blocks. Sub categories could include things like a specific band or music style, a type of health and wellness business, a site for marketing or a site for marketing home based businesses, computer software or software specific to learning.

Blog Social Networks, the Reverse Social Networking sites, or group topic Social Networks are growing by leaps and bounds and are quite on fire these days, where about a year or so ago they were usually smaller sites interactive with existing reality groups, meaning teachers and their students, sports teams, hobbyists in the here and now who get together regularly to meet but needed a site to communicate through when they were apart.

The Wikis at Wetpaint and the Group Social Ning Networks are varied, cover many topics, and are classic Reverse Social Networking sites. Over one million Wetpaint Wikis today and growing and many Ning sites as well. Most sites like this have a discussion or forum area, messaging between members, friending capabilities, a personal profile area, community home page, a page to keep you up to date with the sites “Whats New”, pretty much the same sorts of set ups as the MySpace and Facebook mega sites.

The drawbacks are minimal at this point, but some of these drawbacks to the “Minor” Social Networks can be devastating. What if the owner of the site suddenly decides to shut it down? Yes, delete it off the Internet. Well, it happens but this leaves you with the choice to then create your own. This particular drawback does not and will not readily happen with the MySpaces and Facebooks of the net.

The “Have It Your Way” Blog Social Networks are cool to join because you are focused upon attendance. For instance, at a “Major” Social Network like MySpace, you are generally on different discussion topics with many different types of friends. Some may be business type friends, some are in the gardening group you belong to, some talk to you about photography, others you met through Twitter or through blogging. So, you are faced with many topics and many people all at the same time instead of talking about only one or two subjects and focusing on the issues. After about an hour or so (maybe less), you may feel a bit scattered with the larger Social Networks.

With the smaller “Have It Your Way” Blog Social Networks, there is a given discussion line. You visit these sites to see whats happening on that particular topic, not scattered through a realm of topical discussion at a “Major” Social Network. Are you planning to visit New York, New York City, or Central Park? Are you going to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida or the Magic Kingdom? A much more narrow spectrum where you can usually find the information you seek quite readily with the Blog Social Networks.

Stephanie Haile enjoys teaching new people to the Internet how to navigate and become comfortable with their computers. She is a business owner, wife, mom, pet lover, and beach enthusiast who writes, reads, and helps others create a residual income for financial stability. Google Stephanie Haile and get in touch or give her a call and find out about how her business can help you! 321-745-6202

Stephanie Haile AKA Wavecritter

http://www.GenericMLM.info

Author: Stephanie Haile

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Yes it’s true: Digg is keeping trend with FaceBook. All from a site that Kevin Rose initially spent a few thousand dollars developing with a freelance coder. That’s why it’s even more stunning; he doesn’t even really have the ‘geek coding engine’ under his hood.

Use one of our favorite sites, here, to get into the real nitty gritty of this. Really great stuff and definitely worth 10 minutes, whether you’re in this industry professionally or are just blown away by it.

We’re really excited about this one.  We know, you know, WordPress is a very versatile platform.  Read on to see how it’s taken a huge step forward to keep its head up with the Facebooks and MySpacessss of this world.

Below are some of the options available to you if you want to put some social aspects on your blog and/or grow your own social network.

WordPress themselves have built a plugin buddypress.  This is designed for creation of a social network on/via WordPress. Bear in mind that it does need, however, dedicated hosting.  That’s likely to be an option for most of ClubBlogger’s regulars.

It’s worth taking a look at these:

WP-Polls

This plugin adds AJAX polls to your blog (whether to the posts or to the sidebar). It encourages participation, amongst other powerful features.

OpenId

Allows users to register in order to post comments. OpenID is a universal authentication protocol which many of you will have come across. OpenID is obtainable from many big names like Yahoo (and WordPress).

FV Community News

Brand new blogging trend.  It’s up-and-running on a lot of current wordpress blogs. The plugin permits user-submitted news items (with a short description and a link). Again, interaction is great and freshness (is that even a word? ) is right up there.

Social Interaction without plugins

Bloggers are currently increasing social interaction on their weblogs without plugins. How?

Well, we’ve done this before, too. It’s really great to post ’shout-out’ posts which mention top commenters. The possibilities are endless – competitions, prizes, you name it.  This is really one of the great sides of blogging.

We’d love to hear more about your experiences and anything you have to share with ClubBlogger.

All the best, guys.