Google+ looks like a duck to me.
Google denies that Google+ is a social network. What it is, they cannot tell you exactly. “It’s email, Twitter, circles, hangouts, chat, documents, photo sharing, collaboration, friendship, business… all rolled into one!” And that, to me, sounds pretty social, don’t you think? Google’s track record with social networks hasn’t been awesome. If I was in their shoes, I would say the same thing, just in case it flunks like the rest of it. “ooh no, we’re not competing against Facebook or...
read moreWhat did you miss on Facebook?
After the last year’s X-Factor Australia, I decided I would try my luck the following year. I decided I would not let the audition times pass me by like so many times before, and followed the show on Twitter, joined the fan page on Facebook and figured surely I wouldn’t miss it as they’d advertise it on the Telly as well… Well. Now that Talent started, I figured it must be about time for the X auditions so I checked their website. Nothing was up for auditions so I gave it a few more days and today checked it...
read moreAvoid a culture of bitchyness
Unfortunately, it is very common for a website to create a culture of bitchyness if the administrators fail to discipline members early on. In the worst case scenario the bitchyness starts with the admins themselves, in which case the site is doomed to it. If the admins don’t know how to behave in a supportive manner, nobody else has a chance turning the site around. I have witnessed this with many websites. One that springs to mind was a community for photographers; the idea was to share your photos for “constructive criticism...
read moreFriedEggs with your Twitter?
We all love Facebook, and a lot of us like Twitter, and now there’s the next one – I believe; FriedEggs.com. It’s kind of a combination of the two, and also updates both of the above if you wish it to. Compared to Facebook If you’re like me, you like to limit who sees your Facebook, but it doesn’t mean you wouldn’t have anything public to say. That is where Twitter or FriedEggs would come in. If you want to address a larger audience and get followers that are not your personal friends, this is it. Compared...
read moreWhy are Finns so easy to hang out with online?
Tell me if you agree (if you can). This is a thought that just popped into my head and I’m not sure if my hypothesis is accurate or not, but I’m going to share it with you regardless. Over the years, I’ve ran several Finnish language communities and tried to start at least equally many in English, with very little luck. I just realised, that from the get go, the Finnish communities have a different feel to them than the English, even though the same person – me – runs them. The same feel is present in other,...
read moreNewsletter magic
If you are running an active community online, you might have considered writing a regular newsletter, then debunked the idea thinking “Everyone is here already, what possible reason would I have for a newsletter?” Check out your statistics. How many of your members have logged in since they first found your site? Quite a chunk, I would imagine. Life happens, sites are found and sites are forgotten. A newsletter is a great way to remind your non-readers that you and your community exist. I started writing a newsletter for my...
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