Month: June 2007

Forget Facebook; grow your own social network

Now that anyone with a network connection can get into Facebook, will it lose its cachet and become the next MySpace? Colleges and universities wanting to maintain a close-knit social network may want to look beyond Facebook and take a do-it-yourself approach. That’s what Elon University has done with its Elon Town Square.

Karine Joly describes Elon’s approach in a recent post. She interviews Dan Anderson, Elon’s assistant VP and director of university relations, who explains that the schools wanted to especially enhance “alumni and parent connections with Elon.”

I’m not sure that approach would work for everyone — it would take a strong working relationship with the IT department, for one thing — but it’s nice to see it can work in some cases. Just goes to prove that one size doesn’t fit all.

White paper: conversational marketing online really does work

Conversational marketing has been all the rage on blogs in recent years, but is there any proof that it really works? A new white paper from Communispace offers convincing evidence that it does help increase levels of engagement. Online, at least.

The report — Beyond the “Other” Box: Giving Customers an Independent Voice in Your Community (free PDF, registration required) — suggests that when organizations give their customers control of “small, private, online communities,” the result is higher levels of participation. The implication:

Ensuring that members can make their voices heard independent of the sponsor’s agenda and making the dialogue truly reciprocal may also help members feel valued and listened to, and thus promote participation. When members take a site and make it their own, it becomes a much more engaging place to visit.

Link via Bloghound, who shares more details about the research.