In my last post, I pointed out the opportunities in niche social networking. Today I want to balance that post with a description of the effort and work that needs to go into creating a social network. Almost every opportunity comes with a downside and so it is always best if you start a project with your eyes wide open so you will not get stuck part way through the project. Social networks have their own peculiar challenges and while they can be very rewarding when they work, it can take an enormous amount of effort and oversight.
Before I start, I should say I have not started a social network website. The closest I got was the creation of a bulletin board system but I have watched and talked to friends who have created such networks and in some cases succeed quite well. I also know the toils and tribulations they went through and it didn’t always guarantee success.
Formation of communities
Communities generally do not spontaneously appear though sometimes they may appear to. Neighborhood communities form because of proximity and/or a motivating issue e.g. crime. The same is true with online communities. It is not a case of “build it and they will come” but has to be nurtured, fostered and promoted.
Before you start an online community
Before you even start, imagine the time that creating and monitoring such a community is going to take and then triple it. The biggest drawback to creating communities is the time and commitment it takes on a continuing basis.
- Do you have that sort of time available?
- Are you ready to spend months creating content yourself before any significant traffic comes?
- Are you ready to be a true leader?
- Do you have the customer service mentality?
- Are you able to enforce the rules when necessary?
- Are you ready to deal with hacked software and abusive users?
Where to start planning on online community?
The concept is the obvious place to start.
- Do you have competition?
- Do you have a unique concept?
- Can you find enthusiastic potential members of your community?
- Can you monetize?
A little market research goes a long way.
- What would your members be looking for?
- What tools would help them?
- How do they currently organize their hobby/interest?
- Do they form tight offline communities already?
It is well worth investigating any related offline community and talk to the members. You can learn a lot about what works and what is missing this way. One friend created a yachting community and being part of that community before starting this project allowed him to understand what worked well already in that community and what people were always complaining about or wishing they had.
Rules and regulations
Communities need to be policed because there will always be members who cross the line and if not dealt with, they can destroy the community and all your hard work in short order. The place to start is with a good set of rules and regulations. You can find a good template by looking at other community website’s rules especially mature communities. You can then adapt their rules to your community.
Of course, all members should have agreed to abide by these rules as a condition of membership. Enforcing these rules can be difficult with admonished members claiming the right of free speech and trying to divide the community. Quoting the well established rules helps give a sense of fairness and independence. In many ways a community is like raising a child where you give consistent warnings and punishments (bans) to all members without playing favorites.
Over time, you will identify trusted members of the community and you can have them act as moderators to ease your burden but you can never let your moderators take over running the community.
Software for online communities
There is a huge spectrum of software to create online communities that I couldn’t cover them all. Also I would not feel comfortable recommending any particular software package without having truly build a community with it though I have played with some. Elgg was one that seemed good but don’t forget that social network plugins exist for established content management systems too. A search for software for social networks will turn up a lot of options.
Seeding the community
No one is going to want to come to an empty community so you have to create a feeling of community. There are various ways to do this:
Multiple personalities
You can create multiple identities and then create a dialogue between your own various identities. To do this, you will need to plan ahead. I know one person who had a card for each personality and had written their personality characteristics on each. When it came time to be one of those identities, that card would come out to make sure the identity was always consistent. This had a much more authentic feel than a mishmash of random comments.
A kernel of enthusiasts
If you are a member of the equivalent offline community, then try to get some interested people to join your new community and set up an online exchange with them. Make sure that there is some divergence of opinion and that any criticism is gentle enough to encourage others to participate.
Paid posts
If you cannot implement either of the previous two ideas, then you may have to hire people to post for you. Finding people who know how to do this is not easy and can become expensive if you are paying by the post. If you can avoid paying for posts, you should.
Collect feedback
Having a place in your community for your members to talk back to you about the website gives them a greater sense of community and control. It can help you gather new ideas and suggestions to improve the website. It can also help you identify members who are trying to contribute to the website and who may be useful as community helpers.
Encourage positive behavior
Communities need a nudge in the right direction and so you should encourage and highlight good consistent behavior. Point systems are common but beware just giving points for the number of posts made because that can result in members posting a lot of low quality content just to get points. Another method is to pick a top post of the week and highlight it on the website encouraging thoughtful quality postings and behavior.
Allow your members to have fun
Remember your members are there to enjoy themselves so allow them to have fun and not always take themselves so seriously. Allowing them many ways to express themselves encourages them to develop online identities within your network. You can employ avatars or photos for that purpose for instance.
The bottom line
The bottom line is that online communities are no small undertaking and you will need a lot of time, effort and patience to see if the community will take off. Even when it is thriving, a community can easily become divided and fall apart without strong mentoring and moderating. Communities cannot be neglected either so they will consistently require your time to ensure they continue to florish. The pleasure of seeing a community you created grow up and become a vibrant rich community is the reward for all the hard work.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Ning.com is an amazing tool most people don’t know about. If you really want to make a social network, I recommend you check that site out.
Thanks, Daniel. It looks interesting but looks like a hosted network. That works for some people and not for others. Just as standalone bloging versus hosted blogging.
Social networks are not profitable…. They may be one day… But why would you want to start one and compete with the big dogs? Facebook, MySpace, etc. There are already thousands of micro-niche social networks as well.
There is potential there, but it is really a lot more work than what it seems.
I was in charge of monetizing a couple of “social network” type websites a few years back, more like local geo-based communities and dating networks, and let me tell you… It was nearly impossible to make anything off the traffic.
Display advertising was about the only option that paid the bills.
Best,
Mike
Mike,
It is not easy as I said in this post but some people love creating these. Geo or dating based is not the way to go. Hobby or sports networks are much better. People in those networks are looking for equipment for instance.
Careful selection of a niche and a bunch of hard work can make a network successful. The part that puts me off is that I want websites where I can reduce the amount of time I put in as it matures. Networks require constant babysitting.
Wouldn’t you think that with a social network that reaches a lot of members (how ever that is defined), it would in essence be something that grows continually from the members interacting – vs. you having to continue working like you would on a blog?
Check out a couple of our social networks we’ve built:
http://bulldogvoices.com
(one url removed because of material linked to)
Robert,
Yes absolutely. Getting it started though and everyone contributing is not easy. As time goes by, content will be generated by members and then the job is to monitor the community to make sure it thrives.
With anything on the web, getting started is the most difficult thing – building an audience, and getting to what I call the tipping point (where growth compounds on it’s own) is the difference between success and failure on the web.
Having a budget for advertising, upon initial launch of a social network, is the most desirable path. However, even with a niche social network, you will have a blog within the network itself that will drive organic search traffic and growth.
Great conversation by the way…
Robert,
I think a lot of people either fail or give up getting to the tipping point.
I agree completely that advertising is a good way to build up enough momentum and get to the tipping point quickly. It seems to me many people have a great idea but don’t have the budget to get where they want to be.
Thanks for your helpful insights.