A presentation to the NZ Association of Community Access Broadcasters. A bit of a return to my roots as my career began in niche broadcasting at NZ's Christian radio network, which is where I began to learn about virtual communities. Hence the first message - it's not about technology, it is about communities. This presentation outlines some of the many, many tools available, mostly for free.

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

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

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

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

5. 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

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

13. 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

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

19. sites.google.com

24. 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

29. 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

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

35. 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

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

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