Comments on: Can you afford not to offer community features?

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:47:16 +0000

The current site I am working on does not need a community element… why? Simple, because of the niche area it covers does not lend itself to active members impassioned about the company. Without this you really have nothing.

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:06:16 +0000

Ray – Am I right in understanding that you removed your forums because you didn’t want people to discuss topics in a negative fashion? If so, that is a real shame. If people want to be critical of local services, why is that a bad thing? As long as the discussions don’t descend into abuse with individual members attacking one another, then this should be seen as a positive; nothing gets people more passionate than criticising local government!

How are people going to communicate in your community now you have removed the forum? If you are going to move the discussion to blogs, how is this going to be any different? If people start blogging about ‘negative’ issues, are you going to remove blogs from the community, too?

If you want discussions to be more positive, lead by example and encourage your members to do the same. Don’t remove the communication medium altogether!

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:38:17 +0000

This is all true, but I am looking at ways of building communities, without a forum such as Twitter, Facebook and chat rooms. For me, I found forums to be incompatable with my ‘city site’ and I am in the process of removing the forum from my site. My research from other area based communities showed to me that communities based around a location frequently wanted to discuss local issues. I found that these discussions were frequently negative, political, critical of municipal services and so on. Discusions reflected the unusual, the extreme and the injustices of city life. I wanted my site to create a positive spin on life in the city and having a forum that discusses the harsh realities actually damages my brand.
I’m not rulling out trying again in the future with a more restricted range of discussion topics, but I think, at the moment things like Facebook and Twitter, and the comment sections on my site offer me a lot more control.

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:26:59 +0000

Nicole – It’s better to recognise the fact now, than further down the line when you have already invested in setting up the community and laying down the groundwork!

Uptake – I guess that is true to a certain extent, although I would argue that pretty much any topic will find an audience these days.

By: UptakeInOH

UptakeInOH — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:27:12 +0000

I think a lot depends upon the focus of your forum. Some topics lend themselves more to a community than others.

By: New “Managing Online Forums” Reviews, Interviews and Mentions » iFroggy Network Blog

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:57:25 +0000

[...] Reed of Community Spark gave the book a quick mention in a post about the value of community features. Martin will be reviewing the book in the future, hopefully, and an interview is coming, as well. [...]

By: Nicole Price

Nicole Price — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:08:29 +0000

Absolutely. You should make the commitment of a forum or a chat room only if you have the time or the resources to devote to that, and as of now i certainly don’t think that it is merited in my case.

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:02:40 +0000

Reverse – Well I guess that so long as you are satisfied, you made the right choice. I personally feel it is a shame you closed the community which seems to have been thriving simply because you didn’t want to address the issues you were having with some of your members. Although your site is being picked up in the industry, I can’t help but feel your site would be richer if you still had the community aspect.

Patrick – You’re welcome. I am looking forward to reading the book in July.

Mr Woc – This article wasn’t about continually introducing community features; I was talking about merely introducing a community feature. If you keep adding features just for the sake of it, you’ll soon have a site that is impossible to use and navigate!

Ramana – Not everyone has the desire to start a community, and it’s a good thing that they recognise this fact. The worst thing that can happen is someone that can’t really be bothered to develop a community but goes ahead and introduces one anyway!

By: Amish Made Furniture

Amish Made Furniture — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:32:19 +0000

I personally do not intend to start a community and I really do not have the time to get involved with even popular ones like myspace. I however see your point. For instance, a personal blog meant for family can grow into quite a community blog with members wanting facilities.

I should however imagine that it will be demand driven and not something that one can plan ahead for.

By: Mr Woc

Mr Woc — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:30:35 +0000

Hi there

Some good common sense points on there, hard to say if its important to keep introducing community features, as myspace and other sites have hardly changed in years.

Personally I like to keep adding things, to keep people interested, but its really a trial and error thing, some things i add dont capture peoples imagination and some do.

Woc