Nick Oniel Should blogs have their own communities?
Suzanne Lainson
I’ve been online since 1993 and have been part of BBSs, usenet groups, mailing lists, web bulletin boards, MySpace, Facebook, etc.
The problem I’ve had with all of the topic-based forms of communication is that someone always screams “off topic.” Building communities around blogs seems to be similar to building communities through mailing lists, … Read Moreusenet groups, etc.
What I like about Facebook is that through my self-selected friends, I’ve created my own community. The conversations go where they want to go. Some are business-related. Some are personal. My “community members” don’t necessarily know they are part of the same community because they don’t see the same mix of status updates, posts, and messages that I see, but it feels like a community to me.
Igor Berger
U think you having a hard time. Check me out
http://www.igorthetroll.com/blog/
Raj Kumar Dash
Excellent point, Suzanne. Facebook does feel like a community of sorts. (Odd that I’m just finishing off an article on social networks with their own communities, as I read this thread.)
Igor Berger
I think most people come around the center and that is the host or host idea. Keep building your communities, but you are still the host. Some members may overlap communities. You should read the theory of Social Network
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network
Stew Brennand Jr
Creating a community is hit or miss, but being part of one is as simple as looking up similar interests, the rest falls into place. The one particular community I’m a part of is a niche area in the MMORPG gaming world and no, it’s not WoW for those that are wondering.
One person in particular is a serious blog fan. Many in the community had not … Read Morehad a focal point or congregation area, until now, to meet and collaborate outside of the game, other then the game forums of course, which can lead to much headaches and drama bombs. This guy started posting links to other peoples blogs in order to keep track of the very few that were out there and share his thoughts.
What started out as one man and his desire to share sites he visits, has turned into a community of over 130 Blogs, where everyone knows each other from cross comments, RSS feeds and site links. His “Blog Pack” features the top 20 blogs.
It’s a very thriving community that now has an estimated subscriber base of 200,000 readers
Suzanne Lainson
But isn’t the trend to consolidate your postings, via FriendFeed for example, so you are no longer having to visit separate sites for separate conversations?
It is good to have blogs and other places for specific content, but the community building seems to be happening in a more freeform way.
Igor Berger
Depends on your community. I have Friend Feeders who do not like Face Book and visa versa. Same goes for Twitter and other places. Some people just like my content and conversation in one pace but not in another. Try having this dialog on FF, you will get a bunch of LOLcats laughing at pics. Or you will have Scoble comparing Twitter to Friend Feed. There is always Dave Winer, the Big Boss! LMAO
Suzanne Lainson
Yeah, I can see your point. Most of my social networking has revolved around music. There’s always the question of how many sites you need to set up and how many you can maintain. You do your own website, MySpace, Facebook, and maybe ReverbNation. And maybe you also post (or have someone post on your behalf) various other music blogs and bulletin … Read Moreboards.
You end up weighing to what extent you try to reach all the potential fans, and to what extent you’re just wearing yourself out trying to be all places at once.
How many communities can people actively participate? For me personally, I’ve found Facebook a good way to bring together the various networks I want to stay in touch with. And I haven’t tried to add unmanageable numbers of friends (in contrast, numbers have been the game on MySpace for music promotion– you add as many people as you can). I keep the Live Feed running on Facebook and actually look at all of it.
Igor Berger
I do not know if the future in online. Many posers who join the community but hardly contribute. I think there is a lot of competition of everyone in their mothers trying to do the same. I think take this off line would be interesting. Like people do conferences etc, how about building a small community off line that maybe connected to your online foot print. For example, a gues house, restaurant, a bar, a commune?
Josh Elman
I think communities are great when they gather around topics and causes, and where everyone is mostly equal. I’m not as sure about blog communities since you have a case where there’s a clear leader (the blogger) and then the community forms more in response to that leader rather than as equals. Now communities of bloggers, that’s a different story - those, like BlogHer, are awesome
Social Network
I was having this conversation with a few Social Media friends on Face Book. I thought the conversation is very valauble to blogger as well as commentators, so I decided to share it with my community.
Face Book Note’s origins
Love Google, & their seemingly unlimited power 
