Connecting
Communities
Online Tools for Networking
Association of Community Access Broadcasters
National Conference 2009
Simon Young
Social media explorer
iJump Ltd

It’s not about
technology
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/avoiretc/3441244946/

It is about
communities
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cowbite/3518838283/in/photostream

Some of the options
• Facebook
• Ning
• Google Sites
• Wetpaint
• SocialText

Facebook Groups
Pros Cons
• Everyone’s there • Some people don’t
want to be on
• Great functions Facebook
(Events, Forums,
Photos, etc) • Pull, not push

Facebook Pages
Pros Cons
• Updates show up • Some people don’t
in fans’ news feeds want to be on
• Insights & stats Facebook

Ning Networks
Pros Cons
• Standalone - • Doesn’t connect
someone only with Facebook or
needs an email other social media
address to join accounts - have to
set up a separate
• Fully featured: account
Forums, blogs,
profiles, videos,
photos, etc

Google Sites
Cons
Pros
• Every user needs a
• Edit pages together Google account
• Relatively user- • No personal profiles
friendly

sites.google.com

Wetpaint
Other options include Wikia, Wikispaces
Pros Cons
• Super easy to use • Designed to be
public
• Can use other social
network IDs to sign
in

SocialText
Other options include Wikia, Wikispaces, Wetpaint
Pros Cons
• Heavy duty • Costs money for
collaboration tool groups of more than
50 people
• Includes desktop
app

Choices
• Private or public?
• Open or Exclusive?
• Mostly two-way, or mostly one-way?

Steps to adoption
• Who’s responsibility is it?
• There is no perfect solution
• Part of the job is training people how to use
the tools

Summary
• Facebook - groups and pages
• Ning - standalone social network
• Google Sites - collaborate on content
• Wetpaint - easy-to-use wiki
• SocialText - heavy-duty collaboration

Thank you
• iJump’s updates: ijump.co.nz/subscribe
• On Twitter: twitter.com/ijump
• By email: simon@ijump.co.nz