With the unfortunate demise of Pownce, I’ve felt a little bit like Princess Leia after the destruction of Alderaan. Here’s a little bit of advice, anecdotal and otherwise, about finding a good home for the content you create on the web.
You could be the smartest, most interesting guy or gal on the Web, but if you don’t have a place to share your ideas, conversations, and content, you’re no better off than the average Joe. If you’re a content creator, there’s little better you can do for yourself than make sure you call a responsive and nurturing community home. However, your time is limited, right? In the potentially time-consuming world of social media, you can’t devote equal attention to all the networks and communities out there. Instead, you’ve got to be choosy about where you take your digital business. This article will talk about the sorts of questions you should ask yourself before settling down in an online community and provide answers to these questions for some of the most popular options.
Five things to think about
Here are five questions you might want to ask yourself before you get settled.
- How big is your potential audience? If you’ve got things to share, you want the largest possible community that can relate to what you’re sharing. If you write about social media technologies, you probably don’t want to engage an audience on MySpace, even though it’s a top social network. In the same way, if you’ve got an indie music group you want to promote, you’re less likely to encounter admirers of your art on FriendFeed.
- How easy is it for individuals to interact with your content? You want it to be as easy as possible to engage with community members. If users need to go through complex sign-in rigamarole just to post a comment on your blog, for instance, you might be losing valuable input from those unwilling to enter their website one more time. You’ll also want to think about your primary form of media, as well; if you’re a video producer, for instance, you’ll want to select a community that has strong video support.
- What personalities will you have to deal with? Communities are defined by their members, and often, a few big names can control the growth and evolution of an entire network. If you don’t mesh to a certain extent with these individuals, you may find an angry mob confronting you at every turn. Disagreements may inspire personal growth, but flame wars and more serious arguments don’t do anyone any good.
- What sort of time investment is required? Top members of many social networks spend hour after hour closely monitoring the success of their brand or content. If you don’t have this sort of time to spend, make sure to avoid these services. Although they can provide greater investments in the long run, you don’t want to have to sacrifice the time you’d spend creating micromanaging a low-return network.
- Is the community here for good? Needless to say, don’t invest in a network that might disappear when times go sour. You want all your hard work to last, right?
Five communities to consider
Let’s consider five popular community options within the framework of these five questions.
Facebook is one of the largest and most successful social networks, surpassing over 90,000,000 users as of the summer. As many of the individuals on Facebook will be your own real-life friends, you’ll enjoy higher conversion rates for your content, especially thanks to Facebook’s rich friend tagging features. Interaction is simple, as well, and you have fine-tuned control over who attends to your content. Although it’s a solid service, though, it’s difficult for those that don’t already know of your content to discover it, as search and other tools are somewhat lacking. It’s my personal hunch, though, that this may soon change.
FriendFeed
FriendFeed, an up-and-coming service announced at the close of 2007, is already becoming the top choice of many. Although the userbase isn’t optimal size-wise, its highly engaged users will be sure to interact with your content if it appeals to them. Search, commenting, and sharing are all extremely simple. Unfortunately, it’s tricky– and time-consuming– to use FriendFeed properly as professional and personal content can be difficult to tease apart. The clout carried by certain users, as well, can make it tricky to find a following. It’s likely FriendFeed is here to stay.
Another popular network, Twitter is the rising star and eclipsed by the greats such as Facebook. Although Twitter’s simplicity makes interaction easy, becoming an advanced user can begin to take up large amounts of time and energy. Additionally, Twitter’s search and other tools are limited; however, this is in part made up for by the strong user-created tools. There will always be room for your content on Twitter, but will discussions be meaningful?
Blogs
Want ultimate control? You can have it with a blog. Your potential audience is the entire Internet, but beware: interaction can be inconvenient for users that aren’t regular visitors. Once you have an audience, however, blogs carry a more permanent, authoritative feel– possibly much more rewarding in the long run.
Roll Your Own
Don’t like any of these options? The last quarter of 2008 has introduced two new ways to gather a community around your site, rather than have individuals come to you. Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect both put tools directly in your hands for community control. The downside, though, is that unless you’re already a popular authority, it’s unlikely more than a handful of users will be drawn into your community. If you’re already a household name, though, the possibilities are endless; just consider the heft of Leo Laporte’s TWiT Army.
Share your own advice
What do you consider to be your primary community on the Internet? How rewarding have your experiences been with this group or service? As I mentioned earlier, I considered Pownce my main digital home away from home. Now that it’s gone, I’ve had to ask myself the exact same questions I shared above. I’m still not convinced on what I’ll be calling home next.
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