wally jumblat Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hello all, According to e-consultancy's "Online Marketing Benchmarks" -http://www.e-consultancy.com/publications/marketing_benchmarks/ - a online forums typically require over 200 posts per day before they becomes "self sustaining". 1.8.1 "Tipping points" - Benchmark: An online forum / message board might be considered "active" when it is getting 30 posts a day and "alive" at 100 posts a day. "Self sustaining" forums (i.e. they'll grow-away, develop some personality and even self moderate to some extent) typically need above 200 posts a day. - Commentary: A site with less than 100,000 page impressions is difficult to get an "alive" forum going (100 posts a day plus). A site with 200,000 page impressions is easier to get an "alive" forum started with a little tender love and care and some careful "gardening" in the forums. Up to 200 posts a day it is realistic to read all posts, but thereafter the forum can only really be ‘steered’ in a more hands off manner with tools, guidelines and processes to enable the community to look after itself. Obviously not all forums are the same, but what do you think is a realistic target for 'activity' on the Shetlink.com forums? Cheers for now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAStewart Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Consider that Shetlink has had 64555 page views since 25/12/2005 so I'm gonna say that activity is surely going to increase. 200 Posts a day seems a bit steep. I guess we're 'active'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trout Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Obviously not all forums are the same, but what do you think is a realistic target for 'activity' on the Shetlink.com forums? Noting that the free sample document from the above site only goes as far as 1.6, and that the quote taken is 1.8.1, I am making the presumption that you have purchased the above document at £79 or you are a subscriber to the site? With access to the further metrics of section "1.8 Online Communities", you might wish to give insight and potentially an answer to your own question "realistic target for 'activity'", against the benchmarking techniques used by the online marketing company www.e-consultancy.com. The subtle nuances between each and every type of forum out there, as you point out, whether it be not-for-profit, niche, technical, etc. etc. will for that very reason alter any measures one might apply as a metric against 'success' or 'failure'! It is still very early days for Shetlink, yet I would dare to say that it has already become a 'popular' site, with geographical distinguishable 'hits' coming from 11 different countries! and new registered users joining every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hi Trout, Yes, I am a subscriber to the e-consultancy site. I must have had a cookie on my office computer that let me download the full report without being forced to log in again. For this reason I didn't realise that the report wasn't freely available to all, so apologies for that. To be honest, the rest of the document doesn't say much more about metrics for online communities. The quote I posted before was the most relevant part. Anyway, based on those figures (plus a little gut feeling) I would suggest that Shetlink will be able to tick along quite nicely for several months with the current number of users, assuming that a few new people continue to sign up every week. The different proposals to enhance the site - events guide, Shetland encyclopedia, etc - should certainly bring in more people too. The letter in today's Shetland Times won't hurt either! Perhaps one way to keep the activity levels up in the longer term would be to poach the most vocal people from the MyShetland forum. (Maybe they are already posting here under different names?) I'm sure the SIC would be happy enough to close down the MyShetland forum if it wasn't very active. Anyway, those are just a few random thoughts. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wally jumblat Posted February 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Sorry - forgot to log in. This was me: Hi Trout, Yes, I am a subscriber to the e-consultancy site. I must have had a cookie on my office computer that let me download the full report without being forced to log in again. For this reason I didn't realise that the report wasn't freely available to all, so apologies for that. To be honest, the rest of the document doesn't say much more about metrics for online communities. The quote I posted before was the most relevant part. Anyway, based on those figures (plus a little gut feeling) I would suggest that Shetlink will be able to tick along quite nicely for several months with the current number of users, assuming that a few new people continue to sign up every week. The different proposals to enhance the site - events guide, Shetland encyclopedia, etc - should certainly bring in more people too. The letter in today's Shetland Times won't hurt either! Perhaps one way to keep the activity levels up in the longer term would be to poach the most vocal people from the MyShetland forum. (Maybe they are already posting here under different names?) I'm sure the SIC would be happy enough to close down the MyShetland forum if it wasn't very active. Anyway, those are just a few random thoughts. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trout Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 The different proposals to enhance the site - events guide, Shetland encyclopedia, etc - should certainly bring in more people too. The letter in today's Shetland Times won't hurt either! Thanks for your reply wally jumblat. Yes, we too trust the above mentioned shall act as useful everyday usable online tools, ultimately bringing in more users to the Shetlink community - and thus assisting to keep Shetlink 'self-sustainable'. I'm sure there probably are a few users on Shetlink that post also on the myshetland forums? Shetlink however, would like to use this opportunity to point out that we are in no way interested in conflict with the council and or 'poaching' their users. It should be noted that no direct comparisons can be made to the Shetland Islands Council discussion forums which [...] allow input and debate on local issues [...] as part of their "Shetland - The Long Range Forecast - Have Your Say" initiative. Shetlink, though aiming also to 'encourage free and open debate in Shetland', aims to evolve 'according to the needs of you, the user', and organically grow into that which will serve it's users needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wally jumblat Posted February 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hi again, Good idea to make your stance clear with regard to (not) competing with the MyShetland forums. I wasn't trying to stir up trouble - honest! That said, I don't think the SIC people in charge of the MyShetland forums would mind if Shetlink became the default place for online discussion about Shetland issues. They already tried to remove the MyShetland forums once before, when the Long Range Forecast project came to an end. They only re-opened the forums again due to public pressure and I imagine they would be more than happy if they didn't have to devote time and effort to administering the thing. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeriebryan Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Good idea to make your stance clear with regard to (not) competing with the MyShetland forums.When the initial seeds for Shetlink were sown, I wasn't even aware that the MyShetland forums existed (due to a lack of research!!) As far as I'm aware, the article in the Shetland Times two weeks ago was the first time a public comparison had been made between the sites. This was also the first publicity that Shetlink had received, and perhaps the direct comparison has given people the idea of us setting up in response to, or in competition with, MyShetland. As Wally Jumblat correctly pointed out in the music forum when debating Shetlink and the new Music Development siteIf the two sites offer different perspectives then this is not necessarily a bad thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Where do these people dream up these ideas?. Shetlink would self sustain (or implode) with Messers Goodwin and Selbie alone as contributers. Surely they could do 100 a day each. Truth is that any board that maintains a few discussion threads is likely to survive on 100 postings a week....or less than the 100. Ok so there is an exclusive membership with a common interest but the old boys board I contribute to has been going for years with sometimes days between postings and then a whole heap of s***e arrives all at once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim-jam Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 I also post on both forums. I think Shetlink and 'the other site' serve different purposes. But Shetlink has a real sense of community and a good natured, friendly feel about it. I don't think the success of a forum should be judged on the volume of traffic alone (I'm not suggesting that was a point anyone was trying to make) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 Have I missed out on something? What is jumblatT trying to get at? I've been trolling both this site and the SIC MyShetland site for some time without posting here at all. I would agree that this site has a bigger community feel to it. Who is this wally character? He/She almost sounds like they are trying to stir up sharn. They talk like this place will move along ok for a couple of months only. Whit? A website like this will go on fine by itself without the need for some neep in his bedroom making up an e-consultancy document and selling it to fools that subscribe to it and believe that it is written in stone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plucker Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 Have I missed out on something? What is jumblatT trying to get at? I've been trolling both this site and the SIC MyShetland site for some time without posting here at all. I would agree that this site has a bigger community feel to it. Who is this wally character? He/She almost sounds like they are trying to stir up sharn. They talk like this place will move along ok for a couple of months only. Whit? A website like this will go on fine by itself without the need for some neep in his bedroom making up an e-consultancy document and selling it to fools that subscribe to it and believe that that is written in stone!! This was me. I have signed up here now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wally jumblat Posted February 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 Plucker said: Have I missed out on something? What is jumblatT trying to get at? I've been trolling both this site and the SIC MyShetland site for some time without posting here at all. I would agree that this site has a bigger community feel to it. Who is this wally character? He/She almost sounds like they are trying to stir up sharn. They talk like this place will move along ok for a couple of months only. Whit? A website like this will go on fine by itself without the need for some neep in his bedroom making up an e-consultancy document and selling it to fools that subscribe to it and believe that it is written in stone! Plucker, I wasn't trying to 'get at' anything, and I certainly wasn't trying to stir up sharn. I was actually trying to open up an interesting new discussion - surely something any online forum should welcome? Anyway, back to my original point. Regardless of the exact 'benchmark' figures I quoted, it is undeniable that every online forum needs to generate enough activity to keep users coming back, encourage them to sign up and make them want to contribute. The Shetlink team have done a fantastic job in this respect so far. I know that I visit the site many times every day to see what is going on. (Before you ask, I'm self-employed so it is my own time and money I'm wasting). I am a huge fan of Shetlink and I want it to prosper - everything I suggest here is written with this in mind. While I have every confidence that this site will continue to go from strenght to strength, my personal opinion is that it must continue to attract new people on a regular basis. A good example to use here is the MyShetland forums. I have been keeping an eye on the MyShetland forums since the day they were made live and it is undeniable that there is much less activity now than there was at the very start. Remember that the launch of the MyShetland forum was heavily promoted throughout Shetland with an expensive campaign. Anyway, one final note: My suggestions that a) Shetlink should poach users from MyShetland or the SIC should close down MyShetland now that there is a better alternative were both just ideas that came to me after I started this discussion. I still think that both ideas are very sensible. I know that I would much rather look at one forum (Shetlink) rather than two. I'm sure others will disagree. OK ... that'll do for now. I'm boring myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trout Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 Thank you for your contributions. But a big thank you to Wally for their support. I am a huge fan of Shetlink and I want it to prosper - everything I suggest here is written with this in mind. The Shetlink team take all views on board with a view in keeping the momentum that has been the last month + going, and ultimately keeping this project very much alive and vibrant for everyone involved i.e. you! As Wally points out:I was actually trying to open up an interesting new discussion [...] And thats is certainly why this board is here - fitting with the very title of this particular forum "Help us make Shetlink a better place" Play good everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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