So, you have an idea for building an online community. The problem is that your technical capabilities aren’t very strong. In this day and age, however, the lack of technical savvy is no longer a deterrent for creating and maintaining an online community.
You just need to know where to go. Here is a small sampling of some of the sites that can allow you to get up an running without having an advanced degree in Computer Science.
Blog Sites – The most popular sites these days, WordPress, Blogger and LiveJournal, give users to express their opinions and post news, while at the same time allow for feedback. Depending on the size of the community you want to build, creating a blog may be the best first step.
Message Board Hosts – If you are more interested in primarily eliciting comments and opinions from your community, rather than you generating the content yourself, message boards sites, the most popular being Yuku and ProBoards, may be the way to go. A word of caution, however. You will want to closely monitor your postings, as message boards are notorious havens for spammers.
Ning - If you’re looking for a solutions that provides for everything under the sun, from personal user space to discussion boards to event announcements, Ning is your answer. Created in 2005, Ning takes online community building one step further. It allows you to create your own social network, much like MySpace or Facebook, with the ability for users to share both opinions, photos, videos, and the like.
Ning’s usability and popularity has attracted community builders of all ability levels, from social media clubs to aspiring writers to celebrities as diverse and Bonnie Hunt and Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em (whose social media exploits we’ve mentioned previously).
With so many possible venues for online community builders to choose from, it may take some time to figure out which format is right for you. That’s OK, because a good starting plan can help you on your way to developing a group of engaged and active users.
