OK- serious question...
As most of you know, I'm a member of 70+ Google communities. Today while catching up on their activities I got curious and did some checking.
Of the 71 communities I belong to only 14 of them have an 'Introduce Yourself" type category. So- my question is...
Why wouldn't a community owner want such a category?
Andrew Hatchett
ReplyDeleteGreat Question.
I think it's got to do with the purpose of the community.
When someone asks to be part of my community, I am checking the persons PROFILE before I approve them. So, I have a pretty good idea who they are.
I do the same for the +DearMYRTLE community. Now, I can't speak for Myrt, but we want the Community to be involved in our HOAs. We get to meet them, live and in person.
We provide most of the content to the community, so the posts stay on topic.
I pinned a post at the top of my community to encourage the members to post a question, but put what I'd like to see in a Post. You know what. only one or two posts have been made from the community.
The good news, however, is that the Dialog on the Content in the Community is in the Comments from Posts, or the double posted content from my Blog. I am getting the Dialog that I had hoped for.
For me, it's the conversation that happens within the community that helps me know who is in the community.
I do get your point, but it may not be for all communities.
If YOUR (our) User2User community I have met the people through our conversations. I may or may not read a 'here's who I am' posting in the community
Just a few, off the top of my head responses to your question. AND it is a great question.
I would expand on the question by wondering why so many "blue heads", with NO About information profiles want to join a community or who start to follow us.
Thank you,
Russ
Thanks for your input Russ Worthington, much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Hatchett it does seem a bit strange that they wouldn't.
ReplyDeleteBecause no one reads that section?
ReplyDeleteI think it is about the nature of the community. Many that I belong to are technical and an intro would make no sense - more like a "help" or "question" place. Many do seem like they would be a good place to have an intro and when they don't, those seem to be not very active anyway. So perhaps the owners do not realize the value of the intro.
ReplyDeleteI read the intros because I really DO want to get to know people better. I also like finding out why a person would want to be in the community, what they have to offer and if I may have another reason outside of the community to interact with them. You never know when or where the opportunity to collaborate with someone may present itself.
I did work hard on my profile's "About" section to fill in a lot about myself, but the "Introduce Yourself" section of a community allows me to flesh-out that information in a way more pertinent to the topic area of the community. Still, unless I really plan to be active with a group, I seldom go ahead and do the introduction part. There would have to be a need for it that the Profile's "About" section does not cover.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Russ Worthington. I get to know members through the discussion. I rely more on their participation, questions, etc.
ReplyDeleteNice research Andrew Hatchett glad you ran the numbers. I'd have guessed that all communities would have the Introduce Yourself.
ReplyDeleteSheila Hensley I was actually shocked to see that approx. 80% didn't have such a category - just seems weird!
ReplyDeleteAndrew Hatchett
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Question. One of DearMYRTLE and my community NOW has an Introduce Yourself category.
Thanks again,
Russ
Spam posters probably would never introduce themselves.
ReplyDeleteIt never occurred to me to have an introduce yourself section. I already know the people in my local communities. But thanks to this discussion I will add it to my statewide community.
ReplyDelete