Monday 3rd August 2009 by Lawrence Clarke

Online publishing – it’s all about niche

Publishers exist because authors and journalists cannot afford to manufacture, distribute and sell their creations. The publisher will bear the costs in exchange for taking the lion-share of the rewards. It’s not surprising that any book publisher stands or falls by backing ‘best sellers’ or any controlled-circulation magazine publisher needs to mail out to a significant proportion of the target audience as defined by its advertising clients.

Monday 3rd August 2009 by Stuart Glendinning Hall

Why member organisations need to adapt to succeed in the online world

Different types of online communities require different approaches. We hear a lot about consumer-driven communities with large numbers of members, or business to business communities for select professionals, but less of the needs of member organisation’s online communities. Understanding the needs of your audience, whether through intensive market research, creating personas of your typical audience types and their needs, or benchmarking what your competitors are offering, all has a part to play.

Tuesday 11th August 2009 by Lawrence Clarke

What is ‘social media’?

Thursday 13th August 2009 by Stuart Glendinning Hall

Heuristic tools to help community managers

One of the key challenges facing communities, especially in their early stages of development, is the need to get people engaged. Later on in a community's development this evolves into providing feedback to your top contributors, as demonstrated in recent HP Labs research.

Thursday 27th August 2009 by James Skinner

Goodbye Victoria Street

Our orange paint was shiny and new when we moved in to 100 Victoria Street nearly ten years ago, but we’re bursting at the seams now and so it’s time to move on. Things have changed hugely in the last decade.

Friday 21st August 2009 by Lawrence Clarke

What is an online community?

A nod of the head, a shared glance, a warm smile, the soft timbre of the voice, a light touch on the arm, a hint of perfume – the subtle nuances of everyday conversation can never be replaced by a stark screen and the clatter of a keyboard. So why should I give up some of my precious time to join your ‘online community’?

Monday 24th August 2009 by Stuart Glendinning Hall

Common pitfalls of Communities of Practice

When addressing how best grow communities of practice (CoP) it’s wise first to consider what type of communities we are talking about. Typically these communities are by definition common professional, situational or vocational groups, for example professional trade and industrial associations. They are often relatively small in size, especially in comparison to large consumer-driven sites where the social ties are much looser, but the number of members far greater.