If it exists on the internet, chances are someone has made it easier for you to do the same thing yourself.\u00a0 Social networking is increasingly included in this rule.\u00a0 As it becomes a world onto itself, it’s becoming easier for individual users to create their own islands within it.<\/p>\n
If you’re tired of FaceBook, Twitter, and all of the other sites that you can name as well as we can, you always have the option to just go it at yourself, and create your own place to share LOLcats pics<\/a> and YouTube videos<\/a>.\u00a0 Like all such endeavors, it comes with its own caveats and warnings ahead of time that should be heeded.<\/p>\n Know why you’re doing it<\/strong><\/p>\n Perhaps more than most other types of internet endeavors, you need to think clearly about exactly why you are doing this.\u00a0 With so much of the world already taken by existing networks, you’re not going to get people running to your new one just because it exists.<\/p>\n If you want to have any reasonable hope that your network will go anywhere, it needs to be a place that services a type of community that isn’t well-served anywhere else.\u00a0 Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n Business and artistic guilds and communities that need to maintain strong ties to one another.<\/p>\n Know where you’re doing it<\/strong><\/p>\n If you’ve gotten that far, then your next question is where you are going to setup shop.\u00a0 Included in the question of \u201cwhere\u201d is \u201chow\u201d.\u00a0 There are two main routes you can go here.<\/p>\n One way you can do this is to find some social networking software, load it onto your web hosting account, fire it up and handle the administrative back-end yourself.\u00a0 There are a number of key advantages to this approach.\u00a0 You will have every customization option at your fingertips, especially since many of the packages that you’ll find are open-source.\u00a0 You’ll have full access to the network’s back-end at all times in case of a problem.\u00a0 All of this means, though, that it could be a lot more work.\u00a0 You may get some help from your web host if you run into technical difficulty, but don’t count on it.<\/p>\n The other method is to setup a network that is a part of larger social networking super-site.\u00a0 There exist web sites where you can create your own social networking home from within their larger community.\u00a0 The advantages of this approach are that their setup tends to be far easier, and you have the support of people who know how to run these specific networks backing you up.\u00a0 The disadvantage is that you are also that their mercy.\u00a0 If they decide they don’t like your topic for whatever reason you could be shut down on a moment’s notice.\u00a0 You are also beholden to their tech support, which in some cases didn’t promise any impressive response times.<\/p>\n If you want it easy<\/strong><\/p>\n All that said, here are a few places in which you can pursue the latter option and let someone else do the heavy lifting:<\/p>\n If you want to do it yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n If you are ready to be bold and dive into the nuts and bolts of setting this up yourself, here are some of the software packages most commonly suggested:<\/p>\n I’ve set it up: now what do I do?<\/strong><\/p>\n First, obviously, you need users.\u00a0 Don’t measure yourself by FaceBook.\u00a0 If you have 100 or so users, that’s a success.\u00a0 Remember, unless you’re trying to run this as a business (not something we would advise given the competition), your goal is to support a community. \u00a0Every single person that you do this for is one more victory.<\/p>\n Once they are there, you simply need to help keep the community’s blood flowing.\u00a0 One web site suggested that it was akin to a dinner party: you need to provide the space, the atmosphere, and then a few seeds of conversation.\u00a0 From there, you step back and let it happen, nudging it from time to time when necessary.<\/p>\n It’s your baby: nurture it<\/strong><\/p>\n That last part is mandatory: you have to keep an eye on it at all times.\u00a0 The number of ways that it can devolve into something not worth most of its members’ time because of a few bad apples is countless.\u00a0 Also keep a close ear out for what features you may want to add on to help boost the community’s discussion effectiveness.\u00a0 Finally, make sure that you encourage users to write you about any technical problem they see, no matter how small.<\/p>\n Don’t be too intimidated.\u00a0 This is work, but it’s work others have done, and you can too.\u00a0 Even if all you make is a small home for a few people that need it, the reward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If it exists on the internet, chances are someone has made it easier for you to do the same thing yourself.\u00a0 Social networking is increasingly included in this rule.\u00a0 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