The Building of a Web Community, Part One
Shai Coggins has been writing about blog communities lately, and has tasked others to write posts on their own blogs about it. In my opinion, it’s a pretty tough subject to write clearly on. I’m going to try to bring in my perspective as one who not only blogs, but is in the midst of a community building project right now. This is part one, and I hope to follow up with more soon.
I used to believe that to become a community member, you have to participate and enter the discussion. I used to compare lurkers to people who window shop, checking out all the displays, but never making a purchase. This may have been true in Web 1.0 (ugh, did I just say that?). But with the social nature of the web, all of that is changing.
In the first month that Babblz has been live, we have had around 100 user signups, with about 20 users being the most active. But it’s community is much larger than that. For instance, we had one of our users submit a post to the site about Sanjaya Malakar titled “Sanjaya, Sanjaya, gone set this place on fiiiiah!.” It got some traffic early on from the search engines, but things really picked up as he became closer and closer to getting kicked off of American Idol. Chances are if they searched for “Sanjaya Gone”, they were being directed initially to Babblz, and then to the submitter’s site. While the traffic may not have directly led to Babblz signups, it did send traffic to our user’s blog, and maybe created a few new followers of her site. This is why social bookmarking sites are so popular. When you submit to these services, you are not just submitting a site. You are submitting a community.
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
May 5th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, Steve! I love community projects (as you know!
) and I particularly like the out-of-the-usual-web-mould stuff. And, I think what you’re trying to do with Babblz is good stuff. That’s why I hope that it goes well.
In fact, after you came up with Babblz, I even started thinking that Arts, Crafts and Design should have a similar Digg-like community too.
Anyway, looking forward to reading more about your thoughts on the subject too. And, finding out how Babblz will grow and evolve.
June 11th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Thanks for this great post, i am a newbie trying to start a blog community and thisd post helped me some
Greets
Klaas
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:27 am
I would be interested to hear how the site has progressed since you launched it. I am in the midst of launching a couple communities here real soon and it definitely is hard.
I have a blogging community that I am still programming, but have released the forum aspect of it for now to hopefully help build the community while I finish the rest of the site. I guess I’ll figure out if that was a good idea or not!
September 4th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
These tpye of current or buzz events tend to drive a lot of searches and hence a lot of traffic, so if you happened to have a post on Sanjaya at that moment of time then surely you should would see a lot of traffic as long as there’s not a more established or authoratative site doing the same.
November 13th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
This is a great post! Thank you for taking the time to write about this. Community projects can be quite successful. I had never heard of Babblz before so I will check it out. Keep posting great information and I will keep coming back!
February 20th, 2008 at 5:41 am
I’m new to the web, so it’s nice to find a site like this. Havent heard of babblz before ,but I’ll be sure to check it out soon.
March 7th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I have not heard of Babblez until now, though I’m not new to the web. I spend most of my time one Myspace and some other places. But this one here is a nice post.
May 8th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I am very interested in the concept of a community. You make a great point that I never really thought of. I compare everything in my niche market to http://www.threadless.com which is a community based t shirt site that is killing everybody in the industry. They set up contests for designers to submit their art work and the community votes on what they like and the winner gets money and the company prints the design and sells t shirts at an alarming rate. In thier case all of thier success is based on how strong of a community they have. Great post.
September 20th, 2008 at 3:03 am
solutions solution proactiv proactive solution proactiv
September 20th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
result drug tramadol drug tramadol for
October 21st, 2008 at 1:07 am
I am very thankful to you for publish this post. I love the concept of community. I would be interested to hear how the site has progressed since you launched it. I am in the midst of launching a couple communities here real soon and it definitely is hard.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
95+% of your website traffic are lurkers. These people are very important. They may not post on your website, but some will write about you and link to you from their blogs. So do not think the 5% or so of your traffic who DO post on your blog represent the rest. I think lurkers are more likely to respond to poll questions so it’s a good idea to get their opinions via anonymous polls.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Thanks for the post
November 24th, 2008 at 3:46 am
Don’t just contribute content with other contributors in mind – think about the “lurkers” – just because they don’t post doesn’t mean they’re not important. How do you know what they’re thinking? Look at who links to you. Look at what other blogs write about your blog/website.
November 27th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
An online community is only as good as its leader(s). Think about that. The more you contribute as a leader (blog owner) to your own blog, the more you cultivate your community.
November 28th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
It depends on the community and the amount of time, I’m quite comfortable contributing and other times I just lurk. Often the driver is something simple like whether I’m there to observe and learn or whether I have a specific pressing question.
December 6th, 2008 at 3:28 am
Buidling communities is over rated when it comes to blog comments. Too much work for too little return.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
great tips
December 11th, 2008 at 5:49 am
This is a great post, and as you’ve said by participating you are effectively building a community online. The power of the internet allowing us to bring the world closer together is amazing.
February 13th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
ty man.this is good text sozluk
February 14th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Agree with strong leadership. Lead by example by updating the site regularly etc and you will get a stronger community.
February 21st, 2009 at 8:39 am
You seem to know what you are talking about, thanks
February 26th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
The most interesting fact that today, i see same article:).
Although I do not remember there may be a link to the source,
but probably not – but your site look solid.
March 5th, 2009 at 4:07 am
Thanks for great information.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Thank you for sharing this info, this is very helpful for me.
March 22nd, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Is there a way to locate someone locally to try this?
April 5th, 2009 at 8:48 am
thanks for sharing this…great info!
April 8th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Creating interesting content and exchanging backlinks can help a lot, also encouraging people to post comments and share post and experiences
April 24th, 2009 at 3:43 am
Keep up the excellent work. Good post.
May 15th, 2009 at 5:21 am
thanks for sharing… Is it possible my blogspot do the same too
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:02 am
That’s the great thing about the web. You can interact with in your own way. Be you lurker or active participant.
June 7th, 2009 at 1:11 am
well thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!!!
June 12th, 2009 at 1:36 am
such a great info! its help me a lot..thanks for sharing all this! keep it up!
June 25th, 2009 at 7:54 am
we all know that the making of the community then discussing on any topic & several other tasks are the tasks of very big responsibility so for making & processing any community the webmaster should understand the responsibility !
June 26th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Wow, great post, i really enjoyed reading and also got great info..!
June 28th, 2009 at 5:46 am
this is a great out of the box idea. thanks for sharing.
June 30th, 2009 at 7:38 am
I like the community projects !I know these are not the game of kids because it requires a lot of hard work & entrepreneurship but still i like it because it make me to feel the responsibility towards it & by the way the community is a very great platform to share the thoughts &m other innovating ideas!
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:06 am
Making an online community involves a lot of risk and hard work. I am sure , if you have an idea in mind then i am sure that this will be of great help for you in future. This won’t be that easy bt i am sure it will help many.
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:28 am
If you foster the right kind of community, it’s easier to maintain. The easier it is to start (low barrier to join a community), the harder it is to maintain as you invite so many trolls.
July 7th, 2009 at 4:36 am
kabini üretim hizmetinize sunmaktayız.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:50 am
Creating interesting content and exchanging backlinks can help a lot, also encouraging people to post comments and share post and experiences…
July 20th, 2009 at 2:50 am
Thanx for this useful post
July 26th, 2009 at 4:29 am
This post will help me some, thanks for the great post.
July 27th, 2009 at 4:11 am
You seem to know what you are talking about, thanks
July 30th, 2009 at 2:24 am
its more interactive hen your blog has a commnity where members can interact with other members too
August 1st, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I was just googling around about this when I stumbled on your blog post. I’m simply visiting to say that I really enjoyed seeing this post, it’s very clear and well written. Are you planning topost more on this? It looks like there’s more material here for future posts.
August 5th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Building a community that lasts is quite a difficult task. the best way recommend it to try and find an established community and then create a s subset.
August 6th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
San Diego House Hunting specializes in listing, selling, and promoting residential real estate and Foreclosure homes throughout San Diego county. We strive to provide you an edge in your research and earn your trust by providing cutting edge tools, information, and world-class customer service. We are San Diego House Hunting. PROFESSIONALISM. INTEGRITY. SERVICE. FOR HOME BUYERS AND SELLERS.
san diego fixer
August 6th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
San Diego House Hunting specializes in listing, selling, and promoting residential real estate and Foreclosure homes throughout San Diego county. We have experience with unique homes, foreclosures in San Diego, Foreclosures, luxury homes, fixer properties, Foreclosures, seller financing, and IRS 1031 Exchange.
san diego fixer
August 10th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Thanx for this great post.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
This is a great blog post. . It’s really nice and informative. Thanks so much.
August 19th, 2009 at 4:45 am
This post very helpful for me,I feel it is informative and evocative too.Thanks for sharing the information.
Regards,
August 22nd, 2009 at 2:51 am
Having good content & posting quality article frequently in thir sites will also help to build the community.
Thanx for sharing the great information with us.
September 4th, 2009 at 4:03 am
buzz events tend to drive a lot of searches and hence a lot of traffic, so if you happened to have a post on Sanjaya at that moment of time then surely you should would see a lot of traffic as long as there’s not a more established or authoratative site doing the
September 13th, 2009 at 6:14 am
I like your comparison of lurkers to window shoppers – that’s so very true that it makes me giggle. Anyways, I do think when first starting a web community it is good to get a few friends to pitch in and help get discussions going. If someone comes to your community and doesn’t see anything there or anything happening – why would they want to come back?
October 19th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this,A web community may take the form of a social network service, an Internet forum, and another kind of social software web application. I cab say this is the best way to get traffic with in short time.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:49 am
This post very helpful for me,I feel it is informative and evocative too.Thanks for sharing the information.
October 21st, 2009 at 8:17 am
San Diego House Hunting specializes in listing, selling, and promoting residential real estate and Foreclosure homes throughout San Diego county. We strive to provide you an edge in your research and earn your trust by providing cutting edge tools, information, and world-class customer service. We are San Diego House Hunting. PROFESSIONALISM. INTEGRITY. SERVICE. FOR HOME BUYERS AND SELLERS.
October 21st, 2009 at 8:18 am
I was just googling around about this when I stumbled on your blog post. I’m simply visiting to say that I really enjoyed seeing this post, it’s very clear and well written. Are you planning topost more on this? It looks like there’s more material here for future posts.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:01 am
Great idea. Maybe i stop writing just for me self and start publish
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:25 pm
great information ..awesome post …
October 27th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Great idea. thanks
October 30th, 2009 at 10:08 am
great information
November 9th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
excellent idea !! keep it up.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:36 am
I never knew we could search like that it’s interesting and something I might look into when I find some free time!
Works great for other bloggers and myself!
November 12th, 2009 at 11:32 am
I’ve only used blog catalog so far will definitely give some of these tips a try.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Nice! Great post, i really enjoyed reading and also got great info..! keep writing.
November 15th, 2009 at 3:40 am
Thank you and what a great idea
November 17th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Thank you very much for your amazing story.
Regards,
December 1st, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Awesome post! Thanks for sharing!!
December 2nd, 2009 at 7:55 am
Nice information about building a web community. Now days it has become a best strategy to market their products and services by building a web community.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:46 am
Building a Web community is the most important and necessary strategy to be adopted to get good online business.
December 9th, 2009 at 8:04 am
h?mmm nice informations thanks all !!
December 10th, 2009 at 1:36 am
hi, i am from india. is there any web community in usa and europe about india and indian culture? i want t be the member of that web community.
December 12th, 2009 at 9:21 am
thank for good post story
December 18th, 2009 at 4:25 am
i am unable to build community to make in orkut does any one knows the procedure
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:03 am
Interesting post, it’s good jobs
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Good post, it is even more interactive if there is a community on your blog. This wasy members can interact with other members too.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
It is hard to do in my industry because it is very competitive and on top of that it is very ‘out sourced’ so most people online working in the field dont have much of an interest. That is why I really just participate in blogging communities in general not ones dealing with a specific industry.
December 29th, 2009 at 1:06 am
Being a community member also has take care of some responsibilities. Some people forget about it. I agree that members should contribute. Without it the community will slowly fail and fade away.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:33 am
Thanks for sharing you thoughts. I really felt that this was real good work. I am very glad to have read your post.
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:43 am
I think you have a lot of knowdledge about this subject and you know what your talking about. Thanks for sharing.
January 8th, 2010 at 10:50 am
nice post, Thanks for sharing, need this post for my assignment. I am very glad to have read your post.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Thanks a lot for this comment..
January 30th, 2010 at 1:49 am
Great blog to read. The comments posted it self is saying this.
January 30th, 2010 at 9:45 am
I have not heard of Babblez until now, though I’m not new to the web. I spend most of my time one Myspace and some other places. But this one here is a nice post.
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:42 am
thanks for the posting , that would be great to see
February 5th, 2010 at 2:02 am
Nice blog with useful post,thanks for updates
February 5th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Does anyone else think Twitter may be short lived?
February 11th, 2010 at 4:50 am
I have a blogging community that I am still programming, but have released the forum aspect of it for now to hopefully help build the community while I finish the rest of the site. I guess I’ll figure out if that was a good idea or not!
February 21st, 2010 at 3:19 am
I would be interested to hear how the site has progressed since you launched it…thank you for the sharing
February 24th, 2010 at 5:04 am
It all depends on person to person from my point of view.
February 27th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Building a web community thrives is vital to build relationships and grow your website
March 1st, 2010 at 12:14 am
very thanks for your post, really its very informative…
March 1st, 2010 at 4:28 am
very thanks for your post, really its very informative…
March 9th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Hi, maybe i’m being a little bit off topic here, but I was browsing your site and it looks fascinating. I’m writing a blog and trying to make it look neat, but everytime I touch it I mess something up. Did you design the blog yourself? Could someone with little experience do it, and add updates without messing it up? Anyways, good information on here, very useful.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
That’s a very good post.It’s very well written.I am interested very much in the subject matter of your blog.Thank you so much for sharing this information.keep blogging.Looking to reading your next post.
March 11th, 2010 at 5:44 am
Yep,I do agree with the importance of blog communities as well as social bookmarking sites.In addition to this forums would be a good place to build communities.
March 13th, 2010 at 4:09 am
Great point !It’s really useful.I really like to read.Thanks a lot,for sharing such an awesome list.Keep blogging…
March 17th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
This article is really nice. Outdated but really nice. Thank you for posting.
March 27th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Is the Babblz blog still updated? Coz the last time I check the latest post was not entirely latest. Whatever the reason be, I do hope that Steve will always be active in blogging.
March 30th, 2010 at 12:22 am
To get successful with building website community, we must know about lots of things about social bookmarking sites, forum and directories. Increase the value of website. And the content must be good too in order to draw attention from visitors.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Right now, Facebook take most of part in social networking cloud
April 23rd, 2010 at 3:19 am
@getjobfor
Yeah your right and also twitter these two social networking site are the number 1 now.
May 3rd, 2010 at 8:30 am
Hello to all I can’t fully grasp how to include your site in my rss reader. Support me, please
May 11th, 2010 at 2:53 am
I really enjoy reading your blog.The keyword sniping links are awesome.Keep it up.Thanks for sharing with us.
May 12th, 2010 at 2:14 am
This is perfect information for me to forward to new clients, heck even existing clients. Thank you for your work on this article!
May 12th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Airsoft is the name of our game. me and my 3 brothers always play airsoft in closed quarter battles.;~:
May 13th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Its a really very exciting post.I found your post.Funi-fondue its a really very good site.I need some information in this article.
May 28th, 2010 at 3:41 am
Thanks a bunch for the informative post. Have more power regarding this.
May 28th, 2010 at 5:13 am
The blog was absolutely fantastic! Lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need. Keep it up….
May 31st, 2010 at 7:18 am
As of today, facebook has it.This is an article that businessmen should be reading about. With the emergence of online marketing, this is an article that can be a great help.
June 1st, 2010 at 1:44 am
Thanks for sharing your ideas!As am a newbie in the internet and going to start a community project hope this will help me a lot.Thanks again.Keep up post continue and stay tune with us.
June 12th, 2010 at 2:33 am
Hey this is Great information for bloggers & thanks for sharing with us.
June 17th, 2010 at 8:06 am
There’s been a marked shift in the philosophy of developing successful Web sites.
June 29th, 2010 at 1:37 am
A wonderful article…. this is just what I needed to read today. Thanks for describing the way you work and how you structure your writing projects. I’ll go read that article now. Keep blogging.
July 1st, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Thanks a bunch for the informative post. Have more power regarding this.
July 21st, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Thank you very much for sharing. It great information and will help me out a lot.
July 24th, 2010 at 1:37 am
This is a very good blog.The way in which you have described all the things are great.Thanks a lot for sharing.Keep blogging.
July 31st, 2010 at 6:47 am
ebvaxniutvcnmfijedem, Ultram, RPJTxwV, [url=http://www.musicdefs.com/ultram.html]Ultram[/url], otnOlXk, http://www.musicdefs.com/ultram.html Ultram, mewrhMr.
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:26 am
Well, this page looks way better than my blogengine blog. I think I will use Wordpress aswell.What do you think? Regards.
August 2nd, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Another great community – thats what the web is all about. Lurkers are somehwat looked down upon, but if you think about it – lurkers still receive your message, and are indirectly part of the community.
August 13th, 2010 at 2:09 am
Hi, I must admit that today is my first time I visit here. However, I have found so many interesting in your blog, especially how you determine the topic. I really like it. Keep up the good work.
August 13th, 2010 at 3:00 am
communities are the best way to promote your message to your friends and relatives. your idea for community really interests me. thanks
August 18th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
thanks for this great post
August 21st, 2010 at 9:40 am
Great post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
August 25th, 2010 at 4:19 am
I totally agree with Sports Archive’s word that communities are the best way to promote your message to your friends and relatives.So thanks a lot for the great idea of this community.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I am in the midst of launching a couple communities here real soon and it definitely is hard. Lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need.
August 30th, 2010 at 6:26 am
This is one of the finest site and I really appreciate for this.Thanks for the blog. Looking forward to reading your next upcoming post.
September 1st, 2010 at 10:40 pm
Hi, I love your article. This is a informative site and I wanted to post a comment to tell you, good job!
Greetings, I enjoy your blog. This is a nice site and I wanted to post a note to let you know, nice job! Thanks kim
September 4th, 2010 at 2:42 am
Your writing style is super.This is Easy to read that any blogger can follow.All of your magic word really works for the newer blogger.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:20 am
The blog was absolutely fantastic! Lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need! Thanks. Keep blogging.