Conversationblog

Blogging and reading blogs on itself are already an online community building activity I think but even then...

There are several ways like-minded bloggers can use to form online communities. Here are some examples; either I am a member of these communities or I use the tools.

The most recent "community" I joined was the Public Relations FeedBurner Network set up by David Jones.

FeedBurner Networks can be set up by anyone and for any kind of group. This group is for PR Bloggers and the system groups all member RSS feeds and displays them on a web-page. You can subscribe to the group's uberfeed or sing up by email. There is also an option to advertise on the network which allows for very targeted ads.

Joining up was simple; I just sent an email to David and he mailed me a standard sign up form. After you become a member you can promote the network and put a nice little widget on your blog. (See mine under "advertising" in the navigation column). At this point in time there are about 27 PR blogs in the network.

LinkedIn Bloggers on Yahoo Groups.

This is a community of bloggers who cover all kind of topics. They do include PR bloggers but the prerequisite to join the group is that you have a profile on LinkedIn and that you blog on a regular basis.

I found it to be a very interactive group although for the moment the group is exploring other possibilities to enhance the community. The community is completely based on Yahoo Groups for the moment and you do have to like the email threading thing.

What about creating your own online social networking platform ? That's exactly what you can do with CollectiveX.

CollectiveX is a web-based service that enables members of organized groups to "maximize return on involvement" through private, secure communication and social networking. Features include: member profiles with objectives and key connections, group calendars, discussions, email blasts and file sharing. (From their website).

I started one just to test it out and must say that if I had a specific business/network group and was more popular than I am now, I would definitely use it. Basic service is free but you can add features and more storage for a small price. If you want to join the one I created you can do so by going here.

Finally I would like to talk about Zimbio, the portal builder... I think this is a very powerful service and allows for some strong community building/publishing. But since I already covered it during the launch of my "PR Blogger Portal" I will not rewrite the whole thing.

Just check it out and if you like it join and contribute.

Technorati : RSS, bloggers, collectivex, community, feedburner network, linkedin, rss, social networking, tools, zimbio