First of all, let's talk about blogging. This term has been used widely to describe a trend in the way web site owners communicate with their visitors. Here is the technical explanation for what a blog is:
A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) are part of a wider network of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging which consists of blogs with very short posts.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog)
Currently tracking 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media.
(Source: http://technorati.com/about/)
The reasons why blogs have become so popular are many. I think there are two main reasons why they are so popular:
1. They give the (dynamic) 'unofficial story'. Instead of a static web site that is rarely updated by the owner, blogs opened up a channel where the right type of employee (like a product reviewer, op ed writer, technology geek) could have a more informal / 'intimate' experience with web site visitors.
2. (because of number 1) marketers have learned how to use blogs to make money. Consumers looking for a good deal and/or the 'real scoop' on a product could do research much more easily by looking through blogs than by reading specs directly from a manufacturer's web site. So, companies with products to sell thought: "ok, let's get someone to talk about our product informally and refer consumers to our site. In return, we'll pay them a commission for each person that either comes to our site to look, or to buy." It wasn't long before people with basic knowledge of how to post on the internet began to embrace the opportunity.
A blog is basically a public journal. If a web site visitor wants to comment on this public journal, they must register to be a user of the web site (not just anyone can post comments...in other words, users must submit their name and e-mail to the web site owner).
Here is a good example of a blog by Malcom Gladwell: http://gladwell.typepad.com/ You'll see that for each 'posting' there are comments from users.
Now, let's talk about Internet Forums:
An Internet forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. Internet forums are also commonly referred to as Web forums, message boards, discussion boards, (electronic) discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards, fora (the Latin plural) or simply forums. The terms "forum" and "board" may refer to the entire community or to a specific sub-forum dealing with a distinct topic. Messages within these sub-forums are then displayed either in chronological order or as threaded discussions.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum)
Forums work a bit differently than blogs. For one, forums are typically a product of an online community as oppposed to a blog where a site owner wants to influence thinking in a more top-down fashion. For example, imagine a community of poker players. The assumption with a community is that other people within the online network of members have both questions and answers for each other, that can be supported by the members. In other words, if I want to learn how to bluff better, I can post a question like this: "I know how to play the game really well, but I never win big pots because I have too many 'tells'. What are some ways that I can learn to bluff better?" Other members with card-playing experience can then offer their opinions on how to bluff.
- In the case of forums, 'posts' are generated by questions from people in the community.
- In the case of blogs, 'posts' are generated by an author that has something to say / teach / present.
Finally, let's talk about online social networks.
A virtual community, e-community or online community is a group of people that primarily interact via communication media such as letters, telephone, email or Usenet rather than face to face. If the mechanism is a computer network, it is called an online community. Virtual and online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. Many means are used in social software separately or in combination, including text-based chatrooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars. Significant socio-technical change may have resulted from the proliferation of such Internet-based social networks.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_communities)
There seems to be a consensus that the best-known social communities were accidental. In other words, someone set up the software online for people to create a profile (Myspace, Friendster), 'connect' (chat / message / share) with other members, and meet new people - then the idea took off like an epidemic The concept evolved a bit with Facebook.com, where now it wasn't so much about meeting new people as connecting with people you already knew.
In the case of the Positive Deviant Network, we already have a (private) social community. The value of an online community would be:
- members can create a detailed profile for view by other trusted members (not public)
- members can search for other members by geographic proximity or other details (schools attended, books written, etc.)
- members can learn from one another through blog postings
- members can ask for help with business, personal, spiritual and other types of projects via a forum
- audio, video and other documents can be posted by members for review by others through the above methods
As a note that belongs in this discussion, there is a substantial difference between this network being private vs. public. We can certainly use a public blog outside of the private PDN network to present thoughts about books, events, etc; which could be a good marketing tool for Powerful Presentations, SS21, Money and You, etc. A word of caution: blogs should be updated often if they are intended for marketing or any other useful purpose. There are many dormant blogs that take value away from their 'causes'... The reason I bring this up is to make a point about keeping priorities straight. It seems to me that the first priority is creating and maintaining the space for PDN members. Future priorities may come out of PDN member's individual initiative to create and maintain a public blog on their own (and with help from PDN'ers) for specific areas of interest.
