Post on 22-May-2015
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Social Networking on a Shoe StringConcurrent 2D: Building Social Collaboration Tools…
Dr. Philip D. Roberts
Business Innovations Executivep.roberts@cabi.org
What is a social networking?
“A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency.”
“Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology with social interaction, through the construction of words, pictures and video”.Source: wikipedia
The old communication model was a monologue – from publisher to consumer
Image source: Flickr
Put simply social networking is:
People having conversations
online…creating new
content, providing reviews and feedback.
It’s a dialogue
Cartoon characters from xkcd
By 2010 the “Digital Native” will outnumber the “Baby Boomer”
By 2015 ~96% of the online population are predicted to have joined 2+ social networks
Image source: Flickr
Why would you create a social network?
● Offers a great opportunity to connect with your users.
● Create a community and facilitate the conversation around your content, rather than just selling to a customer – create a brand loyalty.
● Allow the provision of content that enhances your traditional offerings.
● Gain feedback from the online world.
● Crowd source additional content.
● The most popular and active sites on the web.
Social Network Options
Option 1 – Purchase Internal hosted
High Cost $30,000- $50,000 (one off purchase)
Continued cost for Support
Server traffic load
Option 2 – Open Source Internal hosted
High IT dept. input
Server traffic load
Option 3 – Externally hosted
Little IT dept. input
Free/Cheap (monthly charge)
Social Media – what tools are out there?
Image source: Flickr
What is Ning?
www.ning.com
Why we chose Ning?
● It is cheap – with a FREE option
● Familiar interface – a la Myspace
● Customizable platform with lots of features
● Easy WYSIWYG editor
● Benefits of external hosting
● Multiple security/privacy options available
● Good developer network – regular updates
● … did I mention that it is cheap!
A sample of Ning social network sites
Case study: CABI’s social network trial
www.cabi.org/biofuels
Driver : Member country feedback for information
“Assist in the provision of information to provide knowledge on the issues surrounding biofuels”
● Research Information
● Expert contacts
● Conversation area
Setup
Choose the features that you want on your social network.
Setup
Establish the appearance of your site.
These themes are fully user customizable to give you the look and feel that you want.
Creating our community
● Mined our Biofuels database for contacts
● Filtered for relevance
● Contacted key authors
● Profile required for registration
● ~1/3 sign-up rate
● Continued organic growth
Map of Members
Our hook, is the Biofuels subset of CAB Abstracts database
● Updated weekly scientific abstracts
● Full text linkage
● Additional full text scanned print sources
You require a community coordinator
● Someone to oversee memberships (if closed site)
● Raise initial conversation points (in the beginning)
● Stimulate discussion and champion the site (an expert)
● Workload ~1 day/wk
Dr. Carol Ellison – Senior Scientist
Invasive & Biofuel species expert
Remember, it’s a dialogue
The goal of your social network is not to control the conversation.
The goal is to:
● Enable
● Inspire
● Influence
● and above all Engage in the dialogue
Give your users something to become involved within
Content, content, content
Ning allows numerous content types:
● Documents
Content, content, content
Ning allows numerous content types:
● Documents
● Events
Content, content, content
Ning allows numerous content types:
● Documents
● Events
● Pictures
Content, content, content
Ning allows numerous content types:
● Documents
● Events
● Pictures
● Video
Content, content, content
Ning allows numerous content types:
● Documents
● Events
● Pictures
● Video
● Slideshows
Content, content, content
Ning allows numerous content types:
● Documents
● Events
● Pictures
● Video
● Slideshows
● Applications &
Widgets
Mobile readyNo added expense of producing mobile enabled site
Slideshow on the iphoneHomepage on ipod touch
The cost of a mere shoestring (if that)!
Options available for all budgets:
● Free version – you still have all the features.
● “Go Ad-Free” or “Run own Ads” service ($24.95/month).
● Remove Promotions Links ($24.95/month).
● Premium Support (Starting at $10/month).
● Get More Storage and Bandwidth ($9.95/month/unit).
● Use your own domain name ($4.95/month).
The cost of a mere shoestring (if that)!
Options available for all budgets:
● Free version – you still have all the features.
● “Go Ad-Free” or “Run own Ads” service ($24.95/month).
● Remove Promotions Links ($24.95/month).
● Premium Support (Starting at $10/month).
● Get More Storage and Bandwidth ($9.95/month/unit).
● Use your own domain name ($4.95/month).
Total cost ~$50/month
A couple of Ning tips
● Use RSS to keep tabs on your site
● Change the generic message
● Free Support use http://getsatisfaction.com/ning
Thank youBiofuels Information Exchange:
www.cabi.org/biofuels
Philip D. Roberts p.roberts@cabi.orgBusiness Innovations Executive
Connect with me on:
www.twitter.com/PhilDRoberts
www.delicious.com/PhilDRoberts
www.linkedin.com/in/philipdroberts
Also thanks to the other members of the CABI Business Innovations Team:
David Smith and Tim Holmes