WDYWTK answers: Online Networking Tools – Intro
Bill Sims of the Nevada Small Business Development Center asked a great question (read full comment):
As you know we have been considering adding a forum to our site, for exclusive use by our clients, our “Alumni”. The purpose would be to provide a networking system so that they could share experiences, trade stories, seek assistance and advice from each other etc. Web 2.0 stuff, social networking, etc.
My own hesitation lies in the fact that I have never seen, nor participated in, a forum that seems to work out as intended. Most of them just sit there, great tools that are little used, or are often abused.
Are there better models out there, tools that are working? Or, is it simply another case of proper marketing, using all available channels, to make folks aware of the system and get them engaged in the conversation?
At the recent symposium we attended in New Orleans, Wiki’s, or the use of a system such as InCircle was suggested.
I think that your choice of tool for this problem depends on your goal. The three most common online networking solutions (Forums, Wikis, and Social Networks) are related but have different foci. They are not mutually exclusive. Just because you have a forum doesn’t mean you can’t enhance it with a Wiki etc.
If your goal is to create a knowledge base for alumni to tap into then I would go with a Wiki which is better designed to organize knowledge based information. This will need to be heavily moderated to prevent bad data.
If your goal is to share experiences, trade stories, seek assistance and advice from other alumni then I would go with a forum which is designed to promote threaded conversations, feedback, and advice. It can be harder to mine for information and is easily abused – the squeaky wheel can hijack conversations of value – so it to will need to be heavily moderated.
If your goal is to provide current students and alumni an online network to promote themselves or their businesses and possibly give them an ‘in’ into other industries –then a social networking service is the way to go.
One or more of these will accomplish what you want – all three have the high possibly of becoming, as you said, great tools that are little used, or are often abused. Again you hit the nail on the head – in order for them to succeed you must get your alumni engaged in the conversation and then be patient until your forum, wiki, or network gains momentum.
I’ll create five mini posts on this subject:
- What is a wiki? and what are its strengths and weaknesses?
- What is a forum? and what are its strengths and weaknesses?
- What is a social network? and what are its strengths and weaknesses?
- How do you get your audience engaged in online tools?
- What are the perils of user submitted content?
