Great post, Furqan, with some great lessons for folks considering starting an online community. I've seen lots of examples of companies doing huge projects, spending hundreds of thousands and not learning this much.
My only question is around Ning. It seems like a dead-end platform if you want to build a business on the community websites. You never own your user profiles (you can't view them, export them, extend them). They remain with Ning.
Have you found that? Would you make the same platform decisions if you were building a business?
FN
· 1 year ago
James,
First, thanks for the kind words! Regarding Ning, I agree. The point I was making about cheap/easy/fast still holds with commercial alternatives, however. Kickapps is an example of a community platform with more flexibility (full disclosure, Softbank is an investor in Kickapps). But even beyond that there are many very powerful CMSs (open source and commercial) like Drupal, Joomla, etc.
Jed Christiansen
· 1 year ago
Furqan,
To echo James, great post!
I see many parallels with my work in prediction markets, regarding the types and levels of interaction. A small minority is responsible for much of the interaction and the day-to-day "lifeblood" on the site, with a much larger group of people being involved but less engaged.
It was interesting to read about setting this up on Ning. After taking a look, paying for the customisation/ad removal certainly makes the site look better, but I'm still not a huge fan of the Ning ownership of profiles, etc. But I think I may be in the minority, and the average user just doesn't care, as long as the site works for them.
Also interesting that you attribute success to the name. I agree, but always seem to have difficulty coming up with names, myself. Did you toss ideas around with others, or did ObamaCycle just come to you?
Again, great post, and look forward to reading more of your upcoming entrepreneurial activities!
Jed
FN
· 1 year ago
Actually I can't take credit for the name. ObamaCycle came from a woman named Lace who eventually became a super-activist on the site. She was one of the people participating in the comment section on the Obama campaign site and coined the term. It struck me immediately as a great name.
And yes, I agree that Ning is not a platform for a proper business, but it is an outstanding tool for personal use.
Kira
· 1 year ago
This is all great how-to guidance, but you didn't call out the most important thing you did -- you identified a problem and created a space that solved it.
People were trying to recycle Obama gear, and you knew of a better way for them to do it. You offered them a solution and they jumped all over it.
If you did a survey of failed online communities, I bet you'd find all sorts of solutions in search of problems. If you're not helping people do something they are invested in, then you could follow all steps you've listed and get...silence.
John
· 1 year ago
Thank you Furqan for sharing your valuable experience with us,some of the issues presented by you are good tips for the ones who make their first steps in this field. At first glance everything seems so promising and simple that one can think: “If I follow these ten steps then undoubtedly I will be able to achieve my goal”. One question really interests me: if it is not the Obama’s case do you think that the ideas put forward by you will have the same effectiveness. I personally highly doubt. At the same time I would highly appreciate if you share your opinion concerning this question?
FN
· 1 year ago
John, I think the point you're making is that, "these tips won't work if the idea/premise for the community is not a good one." And I agree with that. The best implementation in the world won't make a crappy idea work, however, you can screw up a good idea for a community with poor implementation. It's this latter scenario that these tips are most useful.
Also, one of the takeaways is that it is very easy/cheap/fast to find out if you have a good idea.
Jonathan Crabtree
· 1 year ago
Hi Furgan
Congrats on your site!
I've set up an ad-free community network in Australia .
I think the events feature is pretty cool and we use it to promote community based events.
I suggest you check it out as this WILL really help Obama supporters.
Best wishes, Jonathan Crabtree
John
· 1 year ago
Thank you for your answer. As far as I have undersold our main goal is not just getting to “yes” it is also staying there. Hope sincerely that your advice will work. I contact you via e-mail and asked you a question considering www.omfica.org. I have not got any answer from you, however, hope to hear from you soon.
Titus
· 1 year ago
So, do you prefer KickApps over Ning for business purposes (for the layman)? I'll only need my web visitors to be able to search my members by city or zip code as in a directory. And of course, I'd like to make some money in the process....
FN
· 1 year ago
KickApps is probably a better business platform primarily because you can "own" the member login information whereas Ning uses a proprietary login (aka "NingID").
Deborah Block-Schwenk
· 1 year ago
Very interesting, thanks for sharing your experiences and insights.
Kim Perez
· 1 year ago
This is hugely helpful, thanks for sharing! I recently created a community using Ning, but I've been slow to do anything with it because I haven't had the time to make the site itself "perfect." But thanks to your insights here, I realize I should probably just go forth and try to make it known and tweak as I go. Thanks again! --Kim Perez, freelance writer
Dawn Carter
· 1 year ago
Thanks for sharing these tips. What a goldmine of just plain old practical experience.
I am investigating user group community stuff for my company's (of all things, social networking) software and value your insights greatly.
All Comments
My only question is around Ning. It seems like a dead-end platform if you want to build a business on the community websites. You never own your user profiles (you can't view them, export them, extend them). They remain with Ning.
Have you found that? Would you make the same platform decisions if you were building a business?
First, thanks for the kind words! Regarding Ning, I agree. The point I was making about cheap/easy/fast still holds with commercial alternatives, however. Kickapps is an example of a community platform with more flexibility (full disclosure, Softbank is an investor in Kickapps). But even beyond that there are many very powerful CMSs (open source and commercial) like Drupal, Joomla, etc.
To echo James, great post!
I see many parallels with my work in prediction markets, regarding the types and levels of interaction. A small minority is responsible for much of the interaction and the day-to-day "lifeblood" on the site, with a much larger group of people being involved but less engaged.
It was interesting to read about setting this up on Ning. After taking a look, paying for the customisation/ad removal certainly makes the site look better, but I'm still not a huge fan of the Ning ownership of profiles, etc. But I think I may be in the minority, and the average user just doesn't care, as long as the site works for them.
Also interesting that you attribute success to the name. I agree, but always seem to have difficulty coming up with names, myself. Did you toss ideas around with others, or did ObamaCycle just come to you?
Again, great post, and look forward to reading more of your upcoming entrepreneurial activities!
Jed
And yes, I agree that Ning is not a platform for a proper business, but it is an outstanding tool for personal use.
People were trying to recycle Obama gear, and you knew of a better way for them to do it. You offered them a solution and they jumped all over it.
If you did a survey of failed online communities, I bet you'd find all sorts of solutions in search of problems. If you're not helping people do something they are invested in, then you could follow all steps you've listed and get...silence.
Also, one of the takeaways is that it is very easy/cheap/fast to find out if you have a good idea.
Congrats on your site!
I've set up an ad-free community network in Australia .
I think the events feature is pretty cool and we use it to promote community based events.
I suggest you check it out as this WILL really help Obama supporters.
Best wishes,
Jonathan Crabtree
--Kim Perez, freelance writer
I am investigating user group community stuff for my company's (of all things, social networking) software and value your insights greatly.