How do we make The MITX Exchange Thrive?
Hey all you Web 2.0 Innovators. How can we work together to get this community active? What are some ideas that will engage like minded media, marketing and tech folks? How can we add a '0' or two to the number of members?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dean Whitney on -
Maybe we should organize a barcamp?
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Permalink Reply by Thomas Obrey on
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Well, starting with a perplexing question or topic or ten would be cool - like - how does everyone feel about the Gartner view of Web2.0/Enterprise2.0 and the Googlzon concept that they presented last fall? While Social applications (for one) are the rage, right now, businesses are still struggling with properly embrace their brand in the digital space (Armano talks in detail about this), let along the changing tide to more social applications. And I'm not talk about us, as agencies or A-list brands, but the regular folks, the masses?
I mention this because I recently went to a meeting (group of liked minded folks) where this was discussed (Enterprise 2.0/Googlzon)- and the group listening (business owners) were horrified at the implications, which came across as an 'adapt of get ravaged by those that do' perspective. Anyway, I'm rambling. Good times. -t
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Permalink Reply by Dean Whitney on
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That's great advice all around. Ask a Question in the Title. I always ask a question in the closing and publish wondering if anyone will even notice the question. That's really touch for subject matter experts (SMEs) like myself; because you are hoping you will make some mind splitting empirical statement that will get 500 diggs; ask a question. The advice goes back to Dale Carnegy's book "How to make friends and influence people".
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Permalink Reply by vanessa dimauro on -
Hi- For starters - thanks for asking the question.. few do and it is important to engage the users - the members of any community to find out what their needs are as the major foundation for the community strategy. In order for an online community to be engaging for users there are three things i can recommend before we skip the light fantastic with great social media marketing and evangelical ideas.. as even the most well twittered community will not survive if the foundation is not present and solid... so with that said
1) .. to grow in numbers and in value, the community needs to solve a compelling business problem or need. Even the busiest member will participate if it helps them do their job better! So be sure to continue taking an active lead in helping members further professional needs.. the groups idea is a great start and there is more you can do to support professional needs by bringing a lot of the great value you have in your membership organize to this community .
2) The second most important thing to get a community active is be trustworthy - new and prospective members especially in the B2B community world need to understand the rules of engagement and the mission of the community from a strategic perspective. What are you building and why? In the consumer world ad revenue etc. offer some degree of transparency, but with B2B community, members are more skeptical. Is the goal to generate revenue from sponsorships- which is fine- members just gotta know, is it to increase member retention/ acquire new members - again- fine but be trustworthy and clear. While MITX is a trusted brand, you will need to reinforce that message in this community space.
3) A combination of personalized an programmatic outreach to members and a strong moderation effort- well crafted purposeful member outreach is critical to the success of a community- remind us of value, of new things, of opportunities to co-create - but in moderation (pun intended!) - i recommend that b2b communities dont outreach to members more than once every 6 weeks (in addition to the weekly newsletters).
These are my top three but could go on and on.. there is some good stuff on my site and blog about running B2B community if you are interested or feel free to outreach :) Hope that helped!
best
Vanessa DiMauro
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Permalink Reply by Dean Whitney on
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Great ideas. This site is definitely run differently than I would a well funded client project. Getting a sponsor to underwrite some of the work is definitely something I'm interested in.
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Permalink Reply by Ed Lyons on -
Hi Dean (et al)!
I have two types of thoughts about this (visual and functional).
Visually, it's hard to know what to look at. The landing page is completely overwhelming! I can't imagine what the result would be if you had people do the now-popular eye-tracking tests on the front page. Someone needs to eliminate half of what's there or else people won't know what to do, and they can't focus on high-value tasks. So I am attaching a screenshot of a developers' social networking tool (for insoshi) that is pretty bare-bones - which is one reason I like it. Compare that to the landing page of MITX exchange and you can see the appeal.
As for functionality, one of the problems in adopting a social or collaborative tool that is already full of features (Ning, Sharepoint, Facebook) is that you get unnecessarily influenced by what's there for for the whole world - and not tailored for your community. I often prototype with bare-bones open source tools (Elgg, Insoshi) and then talk to my users. That's easier to digest.
I think that MITX Exchange should take what I call a "transactional" view of social networking - where you focus on accomplishing tasks rather than just adding features or creating new contexts. So I think most people, when asked, would say LinkedIn is for:
- Getting an introduction for a sales or hiring opportunity
- Checking out the qualifications and experiences of a potential hire or partner
- Maintaining professional relationships after you stop working with someone day-to-day
It's not that it doesn't have a lot of other uses; it certainly does.
I don't know what MITX exchange is trying to be. Is it a more intimate and geographically-focused version of LinkedIn? Facebook for Boston creative tech types? Something else?
Here is what I would like out of it - but this may not be what others see as valuable:
- A way to take the pulse of interactive tech trends in Massachusetts (what is being worked on, by whom, and to what degree) There should be a big tag cloud on the front page indicating what's hot. I would love to see what the MITX cloud looks like.
- A way to get more out of the MITX experience: so for instance, I'm going to the awards thing by myself tonight, and have no one to go/sit with. Would be nice if there was a Web 2.0 table where we could all talk shop! (This could be applied to the before/after part of other MITX events - we could meet before, after, or continue the conversation from an event on this site after it ends)
- A way to find and use local resources to help with various endeavors in interactive technology. Sure, I have a close-knit group of 20 people I trust in this area - I want MITX to be the next circle beyond that where I can find people, ideas, real-life networking, and partners.
And that's about it. Sure, there are other things (I have a lot of other ideas), but for me - the site's features, navigation, etc should be simplified to highlight this kind of stuff first. - Attachments:
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insoshi.jpg, 132 KB
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Permalink Reply by Dean Whitney on
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Thanks Ed!
These are really great suggestions. I love the idea of a Web 2.0 innovators group table, I wish I would have read this earlier; next year that will be certain. Crowdvine provides functionality around events providing the 'want to meet' button or 'fan of' button. The whole friending thing can be a bit awkward but it natural for a community group to meet up.
I agree with making the site more simple; the site is built on Ning and there's lots of ways to customize. Fohboh is another community built on Ning that's quite impressive. The create a points system to reward participation.
We are in the process of establishing a steering committee to help lead the overall exchange roadmap, define 'what we want it to be' and establish regular communication with members such as email updates polls and surveys (to keep ideas like these rolling).
I'll be looking for you tonight at the MITX event; I will be at table #2 if anyone wants to say hello.
Anyone else have some great ideas?
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Permalink Reply by David Cutler on -
I love the need for human contact to build a digitally interactive community... let's get together more often to determine options to share and grow our knowledge and businesses.
Let's agree to get together before (and after) key events around town... MITX, BIMA, AMA for sure - but Web events like www.webinnovatorsgroup.com have an ideal environment for grabbing a drink and good conversation... see you at at 5:30 PM at the bar at the Sonesta!
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