This day in age everyone understands the value in having a large social prescense on the web. Similar to the idea of woofies, our social capital determins the value of your netowork and therefore anything you have to say. How do you help build that and capture that value? Today’s default answer is an online community or social network. This isn’t news to anyone; however, it is a space flooded with startups and services sure to “be the best online community platform” our there. After spending far too much time testing and evlauating alternatives for Startup Weekend over the last 9 months, I figured that I could share the process, and hopefully save someone else from pulling out there hair over some trivial feature.
Lesson 1 – Look for the 80% solution. Don’t waste your time trying to ensure that every little feature is exactly how you envision it. Identify your needs vs your wants. You will waste A LOT of time and money otherwise. Life isn’t perfect, and your network wont be either unless you can invest $70k+/yr for a full-time admin and a custom platform.
Lesson 2 – Build a network not a webpage. Your webpage and your network are two separate things. Don’t make the mistake of trying to replicate your existing website in a social network. A social network is literally a forum for your community to connect, share ideas, create content, and ultimately interact with your brand. Map our your architecture so that everything points back to your website. Your website or blog needs to remain at the backbone of your operation since this is what you own and have the most control over.
Lesson 3 – It’s about your brand. Sure, the dozenens of options out there look the same, have the same features, and generally have comparable pricing models. Don’t waste your time worrying about every feature or tiny nuances in CSS. Take your time to ensure that you create content that is relevant and ultimately offers an experience around your brand.
The A-List – The largest point here is to pick a brand that allows for open developement and an API so the world can contribute to building custom features for the platform. There are a few giants in the relm of out-of-the-box online communities and the truth is that if they don’t have the features that you want right now, they probably will in 6 months time. They have the staff and the money to give their users what they want to see.
Ning, Socialgo, YouNoodle, BuddyPress, Boonex, OneSite, SocialSpring, and Presently were the top contenders.
We wasted so much time on BuddyPress trying to implement a nice solution that integrated with WordPress MU nicely, but that is a lost cause. The features just are not there quite yet. YouNoodle is great for networking just the companies. This is important for the Startup Weekend network, but it is missing the community aspect of other netoworks. Boonex is a great option if you have an admin that can invest the time into getting the network live and customizing it. There are a number of others that I looked into that cost anywhere from $30k-$70k to get a custom build-out that pretty much had the same features as the out of the box solutions.
We settled on Ning just the other day. Why? They have the most robust set of features currently, an open store for apps and widgets so we can continue to add our own custom features, the ability to export user’s data, and probably the biggest reason – they have the most funding and largest community already. They have the best ability to meet the demands of community organizers around the world without having to cater to clients that are shelling out $30k.
Lastly, make sure that you even need an online community. I saw far too many groups with only 3 members which is just a waste. Focus on establishing your following and giving people a reason to want a community. Start with a blog and a mailing list.
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