authonomy is a brand new community site for writers, readers and publishers, conceived and developed by book editors at HarperCollins. We want to flush out the brightest, freshest new literature around – we’re glad you stopped by.

If you’re a writer, authonomy is the place to show your face – and show off your work on the web. Whether you’re unpublished, self-published or just getting started, all you need is a few chapters to start building your profile online, and start connecting with the authonomy community.

And if you’re a reader, blogger publisher or agent, authonomy is for you too. The book world is kept alive by those who search out, digest and spread the word about the best new books – authonomy invites you to join our community, champion the best new writing and build a personal profile that really reflects your tastes, opinions and talent-spotting skills.

The publishing world is changing. One thing’s for sure: whether you’re a reader, writer, agent or publisher, this is an exciting time for books. In our corner of HarperCollins we’ve been given a chance to do something a little different.

http://authonomy.com/

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The main goals behind CheckingFinder is to help you find free checking accounts from banks with high interest rates, no minimum balance, ATM fee refunds, and other such perks—CheckingFinder will even help you open the account right away. Just punch in your zip code and you’ll get a list of local banks and credit unions, from which you can compare up to three banks side-by-side to decide which is best for you. If you want to do all your banking online, you can even open accounts in banks from other states.

The only catch is that certain banks may require other things, such as a certain number of transactions or some sort of direct deposit setup. In these cases, you can usually still have the free account, but you won’t necessarily get the interest rates displayed by CheckingFinder—you’ll just get the base rate, and probably have to pay your own ATM fees. So pay close attention—you don’t want to get stuck with a deal that isn’t the best. Barring this caveat, though, CheckingFinder could be a great way to see what smaller banks are able to offer.

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Come Recommended is an exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers. Unlike other exclusive recruiting networks, Come Recommended requires all members to provide at least three recommendations prior to accessing the community. Its “core” features are free to both candidates and employers.

Candidates and employers register and build detailed profiles. Before being accepted into the community, all users must first be recommended by at least three individuals. Using the site’s technology, users send recommendation requests via e-mail. In this e-mail, a link to a simple online form is provided, and all answers are automatically transmitted back to the user’s profile. Once a user has three recommendations, they are accepted into the community and can access all of our features.

http://comerecommended.com/

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As noted in the Ubuntu Forums post announcing the survey, the question isn’t about which apps are included by default in the operating system, but which apps should be worked on to be easily installed from Ubuntu’s official software sources. There are, to be sure, third-party, not-entirely-open apps available in the optional repositories you can enable from Ubuntu’s settings, but by asking whether apps like iTunes, Photoshop, and Spotify should be made easy to emulate and install on your Ubuntu system, the developer community is showing a real focus on expanding Linux use beyond the seasoned geek crowd.

Hit the link to drop your thoughts on which apps should be easily installed in Ubuntu, and tell us here what kind of apps should be available in the open source OS.

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Since 1998, A List Apart has sought to serve the international web design and development community with educational, insightful, and sometimes visionary articles on web standards, emerging ideas and technologies, and best practices in content, usability, and design.

One barrier has long prevented us from fulfilling our goal to the utmost. But today we transcend it. Introducing A List Apart Arabic—an authorized A List Apart publication. Thank you and congratulations to Mohammad Saleh Kayali and his partners.

Look for additional international A List Apart editions, coming soon.

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In October 2007, Alan Ellis, the owner of the popular invite-only BitTorrent community OiNK.cd, was arrested in Middlesbrough, UK. The first person in the UK to be prosecuted for illegal file-sharing, Ellis was just found not guilty of conspiracy to defraud in a Teesside Crown Court.

When the IFPI raided OiNK more than two years ago, the case was unique not only because of its location (the UK), but because OiNK was always an invite-only community. You usually had to know someone to get an invitation, and there were very strict ratio requirements, as well as rules regarding quality of uploads.

A large part of the prosecution’s case against Ellis was that he had more than $300,000 in his PayPal account, as well as 10 other bank accounts with about ¬£20,000 spread across them. These funds were from donations that users could make to support server costs and other maintenance fees. Donations were not a requirement to join the site. Disclosure: I was a member of OiNK and made a donation, probably of ¬£25 or so at least once before it was shut-down.

Lots of major BitTorrent trackers were shut down in 2007, but the OiNK case was different not only because of its focus on a private community, but also because the founder was personally charged in court. Ellis’s argument, that OiNK didn’t actually host any of the music, was one echoed by The Pirate Bay owners in their trial, albeit with more pleasant results.

The Chief Superintendent for Cleveland Police told the Yorkshire Post:

“This has been a fair investigation. The jury has been presented with all the evidence and we abide by their decision.”

Tags: bittorrent, law, money, oink

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In September, we covered the launch of Oneforty, a Twitter-specific app store. Today Oneforty is “alpha testing” its e-commerce platforms, making it possible for developers to sell their Twitter apps or services directly through Oneforty.

From the offset, one of the primary goals of Oneforty has been not only to connect users with the best Twitter apps, but to give developers a platform to sell their products to spur innovation in the overall Twitter ecosystem. However, until now, developers who didn’t already have an existing e-commerce solution on their own sites couldn’t sell directly with Oneforty.

Developer and Community Focused

I spoke with Oneforty’s CEO, Laura Fitton (@pistachio), last night and she continued to reiterate the importance of supporting the development community. “I’ve seen so many really great Twitter apps disappear because the developer couldn’t get enough exposure to pay hosting fees,” she said.

On that end, the revenue split for Oneforty’s e-commerce platform is pretty fair. The minimum price is $0.99 and Oneforty gets a 25 percent commission. For more expensive apps ($14.50 and above), Oneforty will take a smaller cut. When you consider how much transaction fees can cost a developer, having that taken care of, plus having the exposure to the Oneforty community, is pretty cool.

It’s not just apps, developers can use Oneforty as a place to sell tickets to events as well, and Oneforty is looking to expand into other areas in the future.

What we appreciate about Oneforty’s approach to e-commerce is that if a developer wants to sell through Oneforty, that doesn’t preclude her from also selling on her own site.

Getting Started

At the bottom of the Oneforty homepage is a “Are you a Developer?” link. Developers can click that, register as a developer and then start the process of playing with the API to set up payments.

Developers can set a price and Oneforty will show them how much revenue they can expect to get from each sale at that price. Sellers also have a easy way of looking to see how much revenue they have collected from Oneforty. Today’s rollout is being called an alpha test, so if support issues do arise, devs can use the ZenDesk support form, Oneforty’s IRC channel (#oneforty on freenode) or even call CEO Laura Fitton directly on her cell phone.

Oneforty Is Growing

In addition to rolling out the e-commerce platform, Oneforty has also confirmed that it has closed a $1.85M Series A funding round, led by Flybridge Capital Partners. The idea of a Twitter-specific marketplace makes sense and can be beneficial to users and developers.

Oneforty says it will use the funding to make some new hires and accelerate platform development.

Have you used Oneforty? If you’re a developer, how do you currently sell your products? Let us know!

Tags: app store, oneforty, twitter

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Gavin Elliot is the creative mind behind DIBI conference. What exactly is this magical DIBI conference? We will get to that in a minute along with a promo code for the conference and a wicked competition to win a free ticket. But, first we are going behind the scenes with Gavin Elliot- you can also follow him on twitter.

The Skinny on Gavin

Gavin has some notable facts to bring him into the role that he is in today. He worked as a civil servant, a soldier in the Royal Corps of Engineers & ran his own business.

He now works at Codeworks as the Marketing & Creative Executive where he primarily works on looking after the Thinking Digital Conference and other projects within Codeworks.

What is your typical daily routine?

Typical doesn’t happen for me that often. Every day is usually different. I’ll generally get up at approximately 6.30am get things sorted and make myself a coffee (Starbucks ground coffee FTW) for the trip into the office. I’ll arrive around 7:40am and look over Twitter, I still don’t use an RSS feed and Twitter seems to work well for me. I like to get my emails sorted as soon as I sit down, so the music goes on and before 9am and I can usually have all of my replies done. I’ll check my diary to see if I have any meetings but my work pretty much is around the creative and ‘social’ side of Thinking Digital, DIBI then working with the other teams within Codeworks. I get up to alsorts whether it’s designing or writing. I’m pretty much busy all day. Head back home approximately 5pm before getting in to other projects or more writing. I love what I do so I probably seem like a workaholic.

What are the three things you could not live without?

1. My macbook and macbook pro (we’ll count those as one)

2. Basecamp (For managing my daily life and all the project I’m involved with).

3. My notebook where I draw or make notes. (I carry this pretty much everywhere these days.)

Do you find time to devote to all of your creative endeavors?

I do, I often think of ideas on the fly and quickly have to tell someone. I’ve set up various blogs over the years but am starting to tailor these back. I write quite often about design on my personal blog and have just had an article published in .net (Practical Web Design in the US). I enjoy writing and joining the Project 52 I’ll be publishing a specific post every week. Working out the time between design and writing can be somewhat cumbersome. I’ll be working on a small personal project over the next few months which the design community can use which I’m definitely looking forward to getting started on.

What do you think we will see in the design community in 2010?

I’m hoping there will be a lot more collaboration between designers. I think we’re now finally starting to see the community coming together and learning from each other. In past years there have been a select few who’ve been fortunate to build strong bonds with others but now with all of the social apps we’re seeing more communication with the community as a whole. I would say that the financial climate doesn’t seem to have hit the design/development community so bad over the past year or so however a lot of companies and freelancers have upped their game to hone their skills and decide what is exactly for them and then price themselves accordingly for being a professional in that particular field. 2010 could bring some very specialised designers in to the public spotlight. On top of that we’ll definitely see a surge in mobile design.

What drove DIBI conference to become a reality instead of just a dream in someones head?

We have a lot of web conferences in the UK including the likes of dConstruct, FOWA, FOWD, UX London and Build. Generally though, the conferences never reach further than Leeds/Manchester. Build took place in Northern Ireland last year so when you look at it, conferences have never been taken further North to the likes of Newcastle upon Tyne/Gateshead where DIBI will be taking place. We have a vibrant web community in the North East of England and it is an ideal place for people to travel to. With an international airport, train and ferry links it is an ideal location.

DIBI has a unique cast of characters speaking. Most of which are very prevalent in the web design community, how is it important to make sure you get people to present who are on top of their game?

We thought long and hard about what we wanted to achieve with the conference. It’s highly prevalent that you must reach out to speakers which are either doing something new or leading various areas of the industry to new places. It’s all well and good saying that you want to set a conference up but when looking at the finer details you want to create longevity and a good sense of hype and communication with the people who will be attending. Codeworks have a long standing commitment with the digital agencies in the North East of England and regularly hold ‘Think and a Drink’ evening events on a monthly basis.

What are you trying to make your audience aware of? Is it more of a conference where you talk about current trends and happenings or something that will educate them as a whole?

Definitely education. Whilst we’re expecting lots of attendees who are on top of their game, there is always the opportunity for people to learn more. Making sure that the topics are correct for the audience is paramount, attendees expect something different which is what we’re hoping to achieve with DIBI.

Will the success of DIBI determine the if the conference will be around next year or do you already have ideas of doing another?

Codeworks have had major success with other conferences such as Thinking Digital and GameHorizon and we’ll be looking to achieve the same with DIBI. Definitely look out for DIBI being around again next year.

How does DIBI set itself apart from other conferences? It seems the age of the speakers at DIBI is less than others. What else?

DIBI is one of the first two-track web conferences that we know of. The tickets are limited to 350 and we’re hoping for an equal amount of designers and developers attending. They will then form the DIBI 350, a unique set of professionals taking part in the first North East of England Web Conference. It’s unusual to bring both designers and developers together at the same time, we hope that whilst they’re in the same place as each other, relationships can be made and collaborations can happen. With regards to the speakers, we looked around to see who was available so that we could provide a good amount of variation from other conferences. The DIBI Conference itself will be running from 9am till approx 5pm then we’ll be moving on to a Think and a Drink/After Party in Newcastle upon Tyne.

THE GIVEAWAY

Here’s where you get a chance to win a free ticket to DIBI! Now, all you need to do is put the most creative reason why you want to go to DIBI (and a valid email in the comment box) and we will handle the rest. Do you want to go to learn? Network? See long lost friends? Tell us and you have a chance to get a free ticket!

Need More DIBI?

Site: dibiconference.com

Twitter: twitter.com/dibiconf

Discount for being a reader: Promo Code: “DIBI_hohoho”

Sponsored by

Advertise on Fuel Your Creativity.
Fuel Your Creativity 2009 cc (creative commons license)

The Creative Mind Behind the DIBI Conference

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Brian Solis is a principal at new media agency FutureWorks. You can connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.

An overnight success ten years in the making, social media is as transformative as it is evolutionary. At last, 2010 is expected to be the year that social media goes mainstream for business. In speaking with many executives and entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed that the path towards new media enlightenment often hinges on corporate culture and specific marketplace conditions. Full social media integration often happens in stages — it’s an evolutionary process for companies and consumers alike.

Here are the ten most common stages that businesses experience as they travel the road to full social media integration.

Stage 1: Observe and Report

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This is the entry point for businesses to better understand the behavior of an interactive marketplace.

Listening: Employ listening devices such as Google Alerts, Twitter Search, Radian6, and PR Newswire’s Social Media Metrics to track conversations and instances associated with key words.

Reporting: Distill existing social media conversations into an executive report. This early form of reporting is merely designed to provide decision makers with the information they’ll need for continued exploration of social media and its potential impact on business.

Stage 2: Setting the Stage + Dress Rehearsal

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Once the initial intelligence is gathered, businesses will set the stage for social media participation. This is an interesting phase, as it often joins Stage 1 as a more comprehensive first step. Instead of researching the best ways to engage, many businesses create accounts across multiple social networks and publish content without a plan or purpose.

However, those businesses that conduct research will find a rewarding array of options and opportunities to target.

Presence: Create official presences across one or more social networks, usually Twitter and possibly Facebook (Fan Pages), YouTube, and Flickr. Early on, this is often experimental, and less about strategic engagement.

Analysis: Review activity for frequency (the rate of mentions), the state of sentiment allocation, traffic, as well as the size of connections (friends, followers, fans, etc.). Provide managers with a limited glimpse into the effects of presence and participation.

Stage 3: Socializing Media

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The next stage in the evolution of a new media business is the proverbial step towards “joining the conversation.”

As companies take the stage, they will eventually pay attention to the reaction of the audience in order to respond and improve content, define future engagements, and humanize communication.

Conversation: Representative of an early form of participation, this stage usually evokes reactive engagement based on the nature of existing dialogue or mentions and also incorporates the proactive broadcasting of activity, events and announcements.

Rapid Response: Listen for potentially heated, viral, and emotional activity in order to extinguish a potential crisis or fan the flames of positive support.

Metrics: Document the aforementioned activity in order to demonstrate momentum. This is usually captured in the form of friends, fans, followers, conversations, sentiment, mentions, traffic, and reach.

Stage 4: Finding a Voice and a Sense of Purpose

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This is a powerful milestone in the maturation of new media and business. By not only listening, but hearing and observing the responses and mannerisms of those who define our markets, we can surface pain points, source ideas, foster innovation, earn inspiration, learn, and feel a little empathy in order to integrate a sense of purpose into our socialized media programs.

Research: Review activity for public sentiment, including negative and neutral commentary. Observe trends in responses and ultimately behavior. This allows for a poignant understanding of where to concentrate activity, at what level, and with what voice across marketing, sales, service, and PR.

Strategic Visibility: Introduce relevance and focus. You don’t have to be everywhere in order to create presence, just in the places where you would be missed. Understanding that the social web is far more extensive than Twitter, blogs, and Facebook, brand managers search across the entire web to locate where influential dialogue transpires.

Relevance: “Chatter” or aimless broadcasting is not as effective as strategic communications and engagement. This stage reflects the exploration of goals, objectives, and value implementation. Companies begin to learn that exchange is based on trust and loyalty.

Stage 5: Turning Words Into Actions

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Actions speak louder than words. Businesses must act. Once the door to social consciousness is opened, bring the spirit of your company through it to affect change.

Empathy: Social media personifies companies. It allows us to see who it is we’re hoping to reach, and what motivates them. Listening and observing is not enough. The ability to truly understand someone, their challenges, objectives, options, and experiences allows us to better connect with them.

Purpose: The shift from simple response to purposeful, strategic communication will be mutually beneficial. It is in this stage that we can truly produce captivating content and messages. In order to hold it, we have to give the audience something to believe in — something that moves them.

Stage 6: Humanizing the Brand and Defining the Experience

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As Doc Searls says, “There is no market for messages.” Indeed. Through the internalization of sentiment, brands will relearn how to speak. No longer will we focus on controlling the message from conception to documentation to distribution. We lose control as our messages are introduced into the real world. Our story migrates from consumer to consumer. This chain forms a powerful connection that reveals true reactions, perception, and perspectives.

The conversations that bind us form a human algorithm that serves as the pulse of awareness, trustworthiness, and emotion.

The Humanization of the Brand: Once we truly understand the people who influence our markets, we need to establish a persona worthy of attention and affinity. A socialized version of a branding style guide is necessary.

Experience: Our experience in dynamic social ecosystems teaches us that online activity must not only maintain a sense of purpose, it must also direct traffic and shape perceptions. We question our current online properties, landing pages, processes, and messages. We usually find that the existing architecture leads people from a very vibrant and interactive experience (social networks) to a static dead end (our web sites). As we attempt to redefine the experience of new customers, prospects and influencers, we essentially induce a brand makeover.

Stage 7: Community

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Community is an investment in the cultivation and fusion of affinity, interaction, advocacy and loyalty. Learned earlier in the stages of new media adoption, community isn’t established with the creation of a social profile. Community is earned and fortified through shared experiences. It takes commitment. As Kathy Sierra once said, “Trying to replace ‘brand’ with ‘conversation’ does a disservice to both brands & conversations.”

Community Building/Recruitment: While we are building community through engagement in each of the previous stages, we will proactively reach out to ideal participants and potential ambassadors. We become social architects, and build the roads necessary to lead customers to a rich and rewarding network, full of valuable information and connections.

Stage 8: Social Darwinism

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Listening and responding is only as effective as its ability to inspire transformation, improvement, and adaptation from the inside out. Survival does not hinge solely on a company’s social media strategy. The social element is but one part of an overall integrated strategy. It’s how we learn and adapt that ensures our place within the evolution of our markets.

Social Media as embraced in the earlier stages is not scalable. The introduction of new roles will beget the restructuring of teams and workflow, which will ultimately necessitate organizational transformation to support effective engagement, production, and the ongoing evolution towards ensuring brand and product relevance.

Adaptation: In order to truly compete for the future, artful listening, community building, and advocacy must align with an organization’s ability to adapt and improve its products, services, and policies. In order for any team to collaborate well externally, it must first foster collaboration within. It is this interdepartmental cooperative exchange that provides a means for which to pursue sincere engagement over time.

Organizational Transformation: The internal reorganization of teams and processes to support a formal Social Customer Relationship Management (sCRM) program will become imperative. As social media chases ubiquity, we learn that influence isn’t relegated to one department or function within an organization. Any department affected by external activity will eventually socialize. Therefore, an integrated and interconnected network of brand ambassadors must work internally to ensure that the brand is responding to constructive instances, by department. However, at the departmental and brand level, successful social media marketing will require governance and accountability. Organizational transformation will gravitate towards a top-down hierarchy of policy, education, and empowerment across the entire organization.

Stage 9: The Socialization of Business Processes

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Multiple disciplines and departments will socialize, and the assembly or adaptation of infrastructure is required to streamline and manage social workflow.

Social CRM (sCRM): Scalability, resources, and efficiencies will require support, resulting in a modified or completely new infrastructure that either augments or resembles a CRM-like workflow. Combining technology, principles, philosophies and processes, sCRM establishes a value chain that fosters relationships within traditional business dynamics. As an organization evolves through engagement, sCRM will transform into SRM — the recognition that all people, not just customers, are equal. It represents a wider scope of active listening and participation across the full spectrum of influence.

Stage 10: Business Performance Metrics

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Inevitably, we report to executives who may be uninterested in transparency or authenticity. Their goal, and job, is to steer the company toward greater profits. In order to measure the true effects of social media, we need the numbers behind the activity –- at every level.

While many experts argue that there is no need to measure social engagement (much the way that some companies don’t explicitly define the ROI of Superbowl ads or billboards), make no mistake: Social is measurable, and the process of mining data tied to our activity is extremely empowering. Our ambition to excel should be driven through the inclusion of business performance metrics, with or without an executive asking us to do so. It’s the difference between visibility and presence. And in the attention economy, presence is felt.

ROI: Without an understanding of the volume, locations, and nature of online interaction, the true impact of our digital footprint and its relationship to the bottom line of any business is impossible to assess. An immerssive view of our social media goals and objectives allows us to truly measure ROI. Stage 10 reveals the meaning and opportunity behind the numbers and allows us to identify opportunities for interaction, direction, and action.

Conclusion

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There is a great distance between where we are today, and where we need to be. Our work in 2010 will be dedicated to narrowing the social chasm.

The thing about social media is that it’s always new, and as such, these stages represent a moment in time. They will continue to evolve and expand with new technologies and experiences.

In the end, social media is a privilege and a tool — one more opportunity to run a more meaningful and relevant business.

More business resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Use Social Media to Connect with Other Entrepreneurs
– HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy
– 9 Great Document Collaboration Tools for Teams
– 5 New Year’s Resolutions for SMBs
– HOW TO: Choose a News Reader for Keeping Tabs on Your Industry
– 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl, jpsdk, mgkaya, BartCo, photosbyjim, 3DStock, mattjeacock

Tags: business, List, Lists, MARKETING, social media, social networks, trending

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One of the most-loved toy brands in the world is embracing social media in a big way. Today, LEGO is launching its Lego Click community.

Lego Click is a collaborative environment designed for inventors, artists and creative enthusiasts to share their vision about new products and toys. LEGO has also released a free iPhone app, LEGO Photo (iTunes link) that can Lego-fy your pictures.

LEGO created this excellent short film to show off the new community:

The iPhone app is pretty cool in its own right — its effectiveness will depend on what type of shot you are using (more contrast is better), but it’s neat to see your own images as LEGO blocks.

The Lego Click community itself will be closely tied with Facebook and Twitter. Selected posts with the #legoclick hashtag will appear on the website and users can offer feedback or submit their ideas using those links.

The idea is to get creatives talking and innovating online, and that strikes us as pretty cool.

Tags: Lego, lego click

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If you haven’t already heard about Seesmic’s recent acquisition of Ping.fm, well then, spoiler alert…they did that. This will inevitably raise the profile of the service provided by Ping.fm, and that got me thinking about this service and any others like it that are out there. Not in a daydreaming of the app sort of way, but actually wondering about its overall usefulness and impact, and whether that impact would end up being a positive or a negative one.

A Little Background

For those of you out there who are not familiar with Ping.fm, don’t feel bad. I had only heard about them, but was never sure of what they were, nor was I interested enough to actually find out what they were all about. It wasn’t until their recent buyout that I discovered what kind of service Ping.fm offers the online community. With a single status update, your info will be shared across 50 different social media networks, including Twitter, Facebook, etc…

The Discussion

If this is the first time you have heard of Ping.fm, some of you just got an excited rush of goose bumps running across the surface of your flesh, and others just felt a sort of nervous sinking feeling in their stomachs. Or at least I am hoping there are others with the pit in their belly like I felt when I first read that. Because while some may be thinking of the huge personal advantage this affords them in their quest to spread the word about them or their work, you see, the pit party on this side of the fence sees this a little bit differently.

For those of us who think that social media should be about interacting with the people who populate your various circles sharing in the numerous streams you send out, this kind of sharing limits the senders ability to actually interact with others. It all becomes a one sided burst of information, not communication. And if these different social media networks were started to introduce new ways to communicate with each other, then these kinds of services are actually going against the idea that established these lines of communication. By decreasing the senders actual connectivity and accesibility from their readers.

So I landed on the side of services like Ping.fm being detrimental to the health and value of the networks that are fed via this kind of app. Currently, Ping.fm has in the neighborhood of half a million users with a couple hundred thousand shares sent out a day. But how effective are these bulk wrapped info-bursts? Is there appeal in this service beyond self-serving ends, with their spam-like infiltration into the numerous data streams it feeds? Or is it less about the community and the interaction between the sender and reader, and just about the information?

Either way, in those instances, be it just about the info or yourself, it is no longer about connecting and growing the community. Which in turn, means that half a million users are already using the social media networks as more of a web based advertising format, so they are being degraded from the communicative role they were initiated to fulfill. With this new wave of public accesibility and awareness of these kinds of services, what does that mean for the future of the social media networks?

Will they be reduced to nothing more than an underaccessed forum for advertising, or will people realize the negative impact of this trend and resist it, maintaining that element of socializing that gives the social media networks’ title relevance? Or will it have a more positive effect on the spread of information, while removing the interactiveness that once drew many of us to these waters? Or will it have no effect whatsoever? I believe if more people see these kinds of shares as beneficial and begin to care less about interacting, then they will have a negative impact on social media and its effectiveness.

What is your two cents?

Now it is your turn to use the comments section below to share your thoughts and ideas on this topic, and the overall impact we are likely to see as a result of this acquisition. Do you feel like we are heading for any of the futures put forth above, or do you believe in an unoffered outcome? Whatever the thoughts kicking around in your head, please share them so that they may be discussed below as well.

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Simply having a presence on various online networking platforms won’t work in the social media sphere. The key is spending time to build relationships to not only engage with site users, but to get them to interact with each other. While a lot has been said about how to do it, there are also ways to kill off an online community effort.

Here are some pitfalls that online organizations should avoid when trying to foster engagement.

1. The Gaping Hole Perception

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Site visitors need to know that there is someone at the other end of the online community who’s listening, and who will respond and engage with them.

“The absolute biggest inhibitor is the perception that your contribution is just going into a gaping void,” according to Matt Thompson, interim online community manager for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in an e-mail interview.

For example, on a blog post that doesn’t have comments, few people want to be the first to comment. Thompson suggested prodding friends and colleagues to add a few quick thoughts to your site’s posts each day and if someone you don’t know leaves a comment, respond. Then if it’s a great comment, make a blog post out of it.

Content curation is an easy, simple way to maximize a return on online community investment. It rewards contributors, keeps the conversation going, brings in new members, and keeps them coming back. Mathew Ingram, communities editor of the Globe and Mail, recently tweeted about the newspaper’s Fifth Column blog, which highlights reader comments on Globe stories, for example.

2. No Community Cohesion

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User-generated site activity doesn’t necessarily translate into a community. Thompson said a typical case with news sites is that there is a lot of noise, but no community. People tend to respond to the story in the comments section, but not to each other. As a result, there’s a long stream of essentially unrelated comments. He said the best communities tend to cohere around leaders (i.e. community managers) and that the best leaders inspire leadership in others.

“Work to reward contributions, especially early on. Even a quick response is a type of reward. Use screen names. If someone leaves a particularly thoughtful comment on something, keep their username and e-mail in a private [file]. If a related thread comes around later, e-mail them and ask what they think about it,” he recommended.

He said it’s easy to distinguish a community from a graffiti wall.

“In communities, people make jokes, observe protocols, use each others’ screen names. When you dip into a community on successive days, chances are you’ll see a name or two repeat from day to day,” according to Thompson.

3. Don’t Downplay the Audience

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Dismissing the audience doesn’t get any community engagement effort very far.

Continuing to dictate, not offering choices and acting as though the audience doesn’t matter doesn’t work, according to Angela Connor, WRAL’s managing editor/user-generated content, and author of 18 Rules of Community Engagement: A Guide for Building Relationships and Connecting With Customers Online, in an e-mail interview.

“With the infinite amount of choices consumers have at any given moment, you can’t afford to stick to the status quo,” she warned.

Furthermore, why would users keep returning to a site to weigh in to the community knowing that they’re going to be blown off or their contributions won’t be appreciated? Building a strong community means paying attention to what that community thinks and does.

4. Don’t Betray the Community

---

Seamus Condron, community manager at Mediabistro.com, said in an e-mail interview it takes a long time to build trust and that it can be lost in the blink of an eye.

“Whatever initiatives you’re thinking of developing and launching, you need to maintain a constant dialogue with the community. If you don’t, you can find yourself in the middle of a community and PR crisis,” he said.

Keeping members in the loop can also lead to valuable insight on web site changes or even new products. Think of it as a built-in focus group.

5. Don’t Try to be Everywhere

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Organizations should use well the social media platforms they’re already on rather than spreading themselves thin for the sake of being everywhere online.

Condron said this is one of the hardest battles of a community manager — making sure you’re not diluting a community presence by having several outposts, but no nerve center.

“I often see an over-emphasis of organizations ‘being everywhere’ online. Having a blog, or a presence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is only a good idea if you’re able to support it,” he said. “In my role, Twitter has always been the nerve center, and where I’ve been able to have the most meaningful engagement. Of course there are opportunities on other platforms, but at the end of the day, I’d rather have one vibrant hub of consistent engagement than several that I don’t feel very connected [to].”

Not sure where to start? Then find out which social media platforms your audience is using, how they’re using it, and whether it makes sense to be on there. If so, reach out to them in those places.

6. No Internal Support for the Community Manager

---

Connor said the community managers should be allowed to immerse themselves in the community and talk to people because the relationships have to be able to develop.

“Community managers need support and they don’t need ultra-sensitive editors telling them what they can and can’t do if they don’t understand how social media works. News organizations have to get beyond dictating the message and open themselves up a bit,” she said. Instead, community managers should be given the resources so they can find out what the community needs and wants.

“The users need an advocate and that is what the community manager becomes. We speak for the users and the news organization,” she said.

Community managers can only do the job if they’re allowed to have the tools to do it. Support of the newsroom and management is essential.

7. Don’t be a Dictator

---

Connor recommended letting the community develop its own personality and be willing to embrace and support what it becomes. She said this notion can be especially hard for news editors who are used to calling the shots and setting the tone.

“I am not indicating that you must let your morals and ethics fly out the door, but you are not managing your peers. This is the public and we don’t own them. Stand by your guidelines, but don’t make them so rigid that they turn people off. There are too many other fish in the sea for them to stay loyal,” she said.

Work with the community so they can feel a sense of empowerment. That can be a matter of doing tasks such as suggesting user-generated content topics, like CNN’s iReport Assignment Desk. Communities develop from the ground up, and cannot be ordered into existence, no matter how much they might need help getting there.

8. Avoid Social Media Staffing Bottlenecks

---

Newsrooms should train other staff to use social media because one person can’t be the eyes and ears for everyone else.

Andy Carvin, senior strategist at National Public Radio’s social media desk, said in an e-mail interview that it’s better to have several journalists with basic social media literacy and an understanding how to build relationships with potential sources online, rather than one social media reporter who’s expected to keep up with every meme or news story that happens to be breaking online.

“I’m skeptical when people suggest a news org should have a reporter ‘covering Twitter’ or whatever, because each social media platform is a reflection of all the people participating in it,” he said.

For example, a science reporter would engage with different people on social networks than would a crime reporter. Carvin pointed out that it wouldn’t work well if both of them relied solely on a social media person to pitch social media-related stories to them, since the social media person doesn’t necessarily have the subject matter expertise or contacts with people who do have that expertise.

More journalism resources from Mashable:

- Mashable’s Social Media Guide for Journalists
- 7 Ways News Media are Becoming More Collaborative
- 10 News Media Content Trends to Watch in 2010
- 8 Must-Have Traits of Tomorrow’s Journalist
- 10 Ways Journalism Schools Are Teaching Social Media

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, KathrynHatashitaLee, chictype, TadejZupancic

[Image credit: Intersection Consulting]

Tags: community, community engagement, journalism, List, Lists, MARKETING, social media, social networks

Go to Source

SageSpark is business community which offers business tips, business community, free apps and value added services to help businesses focus on what they do best and outsource the rest.

SageSpark offers a service called KnownLocally which is a online advertising solution to drive local customers to local businesses. It allows a business to quickly register a domain name, create a web page and have the domain name submitted to 20 local business directories such as Google Local and Yahoo! Local. This is an inexpensive service that requires no technical knowledge and is smartly priced to help small businesses get online quickly and be found.

SageSpark offers Live Computer Support which is a live helpdesk service that provides unlimited phone support to users who subscribe to the service. It is inexpensively priced and requires very little technical knowledge on the part of the user..when you have a problem, simply call the 1800 number and the MCSE agent will perform a diagnostic of your computer or if you prefer, they will remote into your computer while you watch.

SageSpark offers free trial versions of Simply Accounting’s First Step as well has blogs, articles and information on running your business and a community for users to interact and send private messages. It offers a free job board and a business directory for small businesses to connect and talk.

http://www.sagespark.com/

Go to Source

Did you know that Facebook has a crack team of employees whose mission is to deal with offensive content and user complaints? Their ranks number in the hundreds. But while most websites have people on staff to deal with porn and violence, none of them have 350 million users to manage. Facebook’s also dealt with community controversies over its decisions, the breast-feeding decision being the most prominent. Talk about a lack of resources.

Now the world’s largest social network found a way to deal with this shortage of manpower, though. Facebook has begun testing a new feature called the Facebook Community Council. According to a guest post on the Boing Boing blog by one of the council’s members, its goal is to purge Facebook of nudity, drugs, violence, and spam.

The Facebook Community Council is actually a Facebook app and tool for evaluating content for various offenses. Inside Facebook received a statement from Facebook, confirming that the company is looking to its community to help it better moderate and remove this type of unwanted content.

The app’s tagging system allows council members to tag content with one of eight phrases: Spam, Acceptable, Not English, Skip, Nudity, Drugs, Attacking, and Violence. If enough council members tag a piece of content with the same tag, action is taken, often a takedown.

Crowd-sourcing this type of tedious task is rather smart – in general, an impartial crowd should be able to discern the different between false reports and true offensive content. Facebook has used the same concept in its language translation project, something has has produced stellar results.

[Source: Boing Boing via Inside Facebook, Image via Boing Boing]

Tags: facebook, Facebook Community Council

Go to Source

Hi, in this short video message I want to wish you a happy new year and say a big thanks to all readers and all people that contribute everyday to make Woork Up a better community. A lot of interesting news are coming in the next months. Subscribe to our RSS Feeds or follow us on Twitter and Facebook to stay update. Happy new year to everyone!

Antonio

PS: I hope my english is… good

Go to Source

Go to Source

This year we’ve featured a lot of great sites, I mean, a bunch of sites every single week! And I know you love this serie of posts. Thinking on it, and to bring to the memory the best sites we shown you in 2009, I’ve selected 60 of them to remember. It’s time do inspire your eyes again, or if you had not seen some of them yet, now it’s your chance! Enjoy, and Happy New Year guys!

<!–break–>

Carsonispace – space.carsonified.com

Carsonified, a creative web company, is renting out five desks in our office in beautiful Bath, England.

Pallian Creative – pallian.com

Adarsh Pallian is the founder of Tweetizen and the creative force behind Pallian Creative. With over 10 years of experience, he has the passion, creative flair and technical expertise to deliver innovative websites and web applications with a unique user experience.

Is It Normal? – isitnormal.com

Are You Normal? Curious how others might perceive your situation? Submit your story today and find out what others think…

Ui Tuneup – uituneup.com

Smart, low-cost re-design in less than a week. We’ll simplify your most complex webpage, and make your site elegant and easier to use. Your users will thank you.

Ciriljazbec – ciriljazbec.com

CirilJazbec Photography.

Matthamm – matthamm.com

My name is Matt Hamm. I am co-founder and Creative Director of Supereight Studio. Pete Orme and I started the company in March 2009 after working together as web designers at Kyan.

Deluge Studios- delugestudios.com

In short, the web is opportunity. Opportunity to solve our client’s problems. Opportunity to reach people in unexpected ways. Opportunity to design, to create, to collaborate & engage. We love helping our clients succeed, and the web is our opportunity to do just that.

The 99% Conference – the99percent.com

Behance is partnering with Cool Hunting to host “99%.” A conference that focuses less on inspiration, and more on how idea generation and organization come together to make ideas happen.

KISSmetrics – kissmetrics.com

KISSmetrics not only measures results, it helps you improve them. The initial product, a metrics solution designed for developers, product managers and marketers is almost ready. Enter your email address below to get on the beta launch list.

LE CAID – lecaid.com

Le Caid was founded 2001 in hamburg. Specialized in corporate design & web. We are driven by the ambition to always learn new things and to gain experience.

IconDock – icondock.com

IconDock is brought to you by N.Design Studio. We know your time is valuable, that is why we offer stock icons in vector and pixel format that you can quickly snap in your projects to speed up the development.

Mailchimp – mailchimp.com

MailChimp manages over half a billion subscribers for over 60,000 users, and we deliver millions of emails a day. We strive to make MailChimp easy and affordable enough for a small business to get started, but powerful enough for a large company that’s looking for an enterprise level solution.

Kraft Foods – Food & Family – kraftfoods.com/foodandfamily

The new digital edition of you favorite food magazine is now online!

Creative State – creativestate.com

Creative State is built by people who know what it means to bring an idea to life. We live it and breathe it, and we have the experience to back it up. We know the web. We know brand. We know user experience and information architecture and user interface design and graphic design and database design and content management. And we use that knowledge in a collaborative environment to provide you with a nearly endless set of possibilities for your ideas.

Starbucks – starbucks.com

What we are all about Starbucks purchases and roasts high-quality whole bean coffees and sells them along with fresh, rich-brewed, Italian style espresso beverages, a variety of pastries and confections, and coffee-related accessories and equipment — primarily through its company-operated retail stores.

Tuts Plus – tutsplus.com

From graphics to web development, audio to video and more, get the skills you want from our family of tutorial and resource sites. Need more? We also offer a Plus program where you can access source files and bonus tutorials.

Tank – withtank.com

Tank is a clean, simple and fun way to build a website.

Postbox – postbox-inc.com

A new way to work with email messages and content. Postbox helps you make the most of your email, offering powerful new ways to find, use, and view email messages and content, organize your work life, and get stuff done.

Krop Creative Database – krop.com/creativedatabase

Quickly organize your work in our beautiful template. Designed for creatives with impossibly high standards, and built to the specification of creative recruiters at companies that already use Krop to find talent. (including Apple, Gucci, Nike, Mtv, etc.)

Sarah Longnecker – sarahlongnecker.com

I am a graduate of Pellissippi State Community College with an Associates Degree in Video Production and a Certificate in Video Editing. My love for video production came during my high school years with numerous projects in History, Spanish, and various other classes.

Clearleft – clearleft.com

We create sites that are elegant, engaging and easy to use. We have Big Agency skills but small agency flexibility and you’ll be able to remember all our names. We can work with you. We are Clearleft.

Basecamp – basecamphq.com

The Better Way To Get Projects Done. Trusted by millions, Basecamp is the leading web-based project collaboration tool.

Transparent House – transparenthouse.com

TRansparent House, we create the reality.

Carrot Creative – carrotcreative.com

Carrot Creative is a new media agency located in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY. We specialize in social media, application development, and user experience, all in the name of brand development.

Invoice Machine – invoicemachine.com

The Invoice Machine is an online invoicing service which simplifies your invoicing and makes it beautiful.

45royale Inc. – 45royale.com

45royale is an enthusiastic web design studio located near the bustling metropolis of Atlanta, Georgia. We promote web standards and bring energy and commitment to our work every single day.

The work of Nick Jones – narrowdesign.com

Freelance Flash designer / actionscript / animator.

Hellomonday – hellomonday.net

Hello Monday is a Flash-revolutionizing, identity-building, talent-cultivating, image-moving, illustration-loving, campaign-developing, fun-sharing, idea-growing boutique “designery”.

Twitshirt – twitshirt.com

Ever wish you could wear a Tweet? For $20, we can turn it into a comfy Twitshirt! And each time we sell one with your Tweet on it, we give you a cut.

rw/2 studios – rw2studios.com

rw/2, (formerly rushwade2) is a studio capable of taking on productions of any size. Located in the midwest, rw/2 is a collective of photographers, producers, retouchers and a talented team of professional support staff. Our photographers have produced work for hundreds of national ad campaigns for some of the top advertising agencies and their fortune 500 clients, along with numerous national magazine editorials.

StackOverflow – stackoverflow.carsonified.com

A full day of inspiration and learning for developers, brought to you by the team behind StackOverflow.com and FogBugz. Lunch is provided so you’ll have plently of time to hang out and meet other developers. Hope you can join us!

Ecoki – ecoki.com

Ecoki.com is a fresh, new eco-lifestyle community filled with enthusiasm for all things eco-related. At ecoki.com, we’re passionate about all things green – whether it’s the latest in scientific research, the newest eco-fashion fad, or an update on organic foods. Regardless of your interest(s), ecoki.com strives to provide you with up-to-date news, great green tips, or even a recipe for dinner.

Thumbslap – thumbslap.com

Arrange & find game nights to play in Thumbslap makes it easy to arrange game nights with your clan, friends or other players whether it’s for Xbox 360, PS3, PC or Wii.

Finch – getfinch.com

Finch is online presence of Francisco Inchauste. He is an “insert buzzword here” designer of finely crafted pixels for web and interaction. During the day he is a UX Specialist for the finest purveyor of RIAs around, Universal Mind. At night he is a design-addict scouring the world for beauty in type and color.

Good – good.is

GOOD is the integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good. We are a company and community for the people, businesses, and NGOs moving the world forward. GOOD’s mission is to provide content, experiences, and utilities to serve this community.

Krop – krop.com

Krop is a Job Board and career resource website for creative professionals. Whether you’re looking for job, or hunting top-notch talent, Krop’s simple and powerful tools are geared towards connecting the worlds brightest minds with the best companies.

Odopod – odopod.com

Walk into our studio. You’ll meet experts of all sorts – designers, developers and strategists. We’re refugees from the worlds of advertising, product design, branding, gaming and beyond. We’re happy collaborators, bringing our diverse, original perspectives to bear on every problem. What do we share in common? Endless curiosity and a deep love for all-things-digital.

Inkd – inkd.com

We are an experienced team, working hard to create the world’s first online marketplace for cutting edge print designs. This marketplace is targeted at the business sector. We know we can’t do this without great designers, and this platform is designed to help the best designers find new outlets of revenue and commissioned work.

37signals – 37signals.com

A Better Way To Work. Over 3 million people use our web-based apps to get things done the simple way. Web-based means it works right in your web browser. You don’t have to download, install, or update anything. No “IT guy” required.

EveryBlock – everyblock.com

EveryBlock filters an assortment of local news by location so you can keep track of what’s happening on your block, in your neighborhood and all over your city.

We Choose The Moon – wechoosethemoon.com

Wechoosethemoon.org is an interactive experience recreating the historic Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in real time. Once where only three men made the trip, now millions can. Live event begins 9:32 AM EDT July 16, 2009. Exactly 40 years after Apollo 11 lifted off.

Spoon Graphics – spoongraphics.co.uk

By now I’m sure you’ve gathered that I’m a creative designer, an avid blogger and that I’m generally crazy about pretty colours and shapes. If you want to know more, grab a warm drink, light the fire and cuddle under a soft blanket while I condense my life story into a few paragraphs.

Carsonified – carsonified.com

At Carsonified we believe in treating other people like we want to be treated: with friendliness, patience and respect. We believe that the web industry is one of the most exciting places in the world, and that it’s an honor for us to connect, encourage and train that community through our events. We believe in being more creative than we need to be and having fun while we’re at it.

Nike + Dashboard – nikerunning.nike.com

Nike Running

Tapbots – tapbots.com

Tapbots are utility robots designed and engineered for your iPhone and iPod Touch. Our applications are easy to use, focused, and lots of fun. These amazing little robots are dreamed up and brought to life by Mark Jardine and Paul Haddad. We slave the night away creating—not to make a quick buck, but because we love software (particularly Mac and iPhone/touch software). We hope our robots will create the same love for software that we have.

Josh Puckett | 55Eleven – 55eleven.com

Welcome to 55Eleven.com, the portfolio of Josh Puckett. I’m a visual designer, and I create beautiful and functional websites, logos, printed media, and more. I’d also love to work with you.

wellknown.as – wellknown.as

Business opportunities through social engagement. We are a bunch of folks working hard on a new idea: a new concept of social engagement for the mobile professional.

Fever – feedafever.com

Your current feed reader is full of unread items. You’re hesitant to subscribe to any more feeds because you can’t keep up with your existing subs. Maybe you’ve even abandoned feeds altogether. Fever takes the temperature of your slice of the web and shows you what’s hot.

Huxley Prairie Fest – huxleyprairiefest.com

Prairie Fest is back and is bigger than ever. Get the latest info on all of the returning events as well as the new ones you and the entire family will enjoy.

Area 17 – area17.com

AREA?17 is located in New York City and Paris, France. We take an interdisciplinary approach — blending the practices of design, technology and branding — to create modern interactive systems.

Analog – analog.coop

Analog is a company of friends who make web sites. It’s a co-operative where imagination, design, and engineering thrive; good people doing good work.

Nocturn – nocturn.ro

We are a small group (population: 2) of design enthusiast offering mainly design & creative solutions to our clients, partners and friends. We are currently covering a large area of interest such as: identity (starting with naming and logo design, reaching out to implementation campaigns, developing detailed visual identity manuals etc.), print (from small flyers to large outdoor banners, both design and dtp) and web services (from layout and implementation until seo and online marketing campaigns).

Less – lesscss.org

LESS was inspired by its predecessors—especially Sass, a ruby project which provides an ingenious solution to a lot of the common problems CSS designers and web developers face when developping large websites.

Adhemas Batista – adhemas.com/

Adhemas Batista – I’m Selling Colors

Zee – zee.com.br

We work with the internet, develop web projects emphasizing design and technology exploring creativity, user satisfaction and an honest and open relationship with our customers.

Electrolux Infinity – electrolux.com.br/infinity/

Electrolux Infinity

Project 365 – project365.co.uk

We are a cutting edge design and marketing company who specialise in maximising your ROI. We create stunningly designed landing pages and deliver traffic on a CPM, CPC or CPA basis. Whichever way, the results are the same, with us its all about sending the right people at the time to the right section of your site…oh and did we mention we make it look good too?

Fontanel – fontanel.nl

Fontanelle is an online magazine that focuses on the latest developments in the design world with a focus on the young, talented and upcoming generation. (via Google Translate)

Authentic Jobs – authenticjobs.com

Authentic Jobs is a targeted destination for web & creative professionals, and the companies seeking to hire them.

Haystack – haystack.com

Haystack helps you find the best Web Designer for your project. If you’re like most web designers, you have a great site but you’re having a hard time getting qualified leads to visit your site. Haystack is here to help drive potential clients to your site. We promote Haystack to thousands of businesses, they find your work on Haystack, and then we direct them to your site so you can finish wowing them. Haystack helps them find you so you can do your magic.

About the author

I’m from Brazil, co-founder of Zee with Fabio. Nowadays I like to play with Fireworks, Photoshop and improve my skills in CSS. If you wanna request some posts, please feel free to contact me or follow on Twitter.

Sponsored Links:

Go to Source

A Happy New Year to the Mashable community, our partners and advertisers! We hope you have a happy, healthy, prosperous and productive 2010!

All the best,
The Mashable Team

Tags: 2010, New Year

Go to Source

The logic behind that maxim is that, as long as the source code is out there and freely available, someone will always show up to work on it, add to it, improve it. Indeed, that’s often the motivation behind releasing a project under an open source license.

One example is tr.im, the URL shortening service that shut down temporarily, but whose code is now open source. Another is OpenTape, a clone of the popular (and long gone) Muxtape music streaming app. Both released into the wild after the original developers became overwhelmed in the hopes that someone, anyone, would keep those projects alive. Whether or not the community actually forms around the release is irrelevant. The point is that it could.

But what do you do when an ostensibly open source project lacks support from its creators, and it becomes nearly impossible for the community to contribute? That’s the question programmer Jeff Atwood raised in a blog post Tuesday regarding John Gruber’s Markdown software.

Markdown is a text-to-HTML conversion tool which allows you to write web code using an easy-to-understand plain text format. Markdown text is then converted to structurally valid XHTML (or HTML). Markdown is used all over the web — it’s even understood by the content fields and comment forms within most popular blogging platforms, including WordPress and Movable Type. It’s been ported to Python, Ruby, PHP and other popular languages.

However, the original Perl script has remained largely unchanged since its release in 2004. In his post, Atwood takes Gruber to task for what Atwood calls “bad parenting,” an indictment of Markdown’s lack of bug fixes, updates and improvements.

Markdown was released under a BSD-style open source license, meaning the community can do pretty much whatever it likes with the code, so long as it respects the copyright notices and naming rules. Indeed, many ports of Markdown enjoy rather widespread support with numerous contributors and an aggregate community of active developers that the original Markdown lacks.

So while the various implementations of Markdown have regular fixes and updates, Gruber’s original code lacks such activity. What’s the difference? Atwood lays some of the blame at Gruber’s feet, citing what Atwood calls “passive-aggressive interaction with the community,” and quotes one of Gruber’s famously bristly e-mails (Gruber also writes the famously bristly blog, Daring Fireball) that shows the author discouraging changes. Single programmers rarely have that sort of influence. Which isn’t to say we disagree with Atwood’s assessment, just that Gruber is an extreme example and that it shouldn’t matter either way.

The bigger reason Markdown’s original Perl source doesn’t see bug fixes and maintenance releases seems to lie more its hosting situation than any other single problem Atwood raises. Without a way to easily contribute to your project, your potential users can’t improve your code.

The Perl source of Markdown is hosted as static download on Gruber’s website. Download the zip file and you’ve got a copy of Markdown you can use, modify and even redistribute according to the terms of the license.

But you don’t have a copy that’s easy to patch, and there’s no simple way to contribute back to the project, short of sending code directly to Gruber or to the support mailing list.

If the Markdown source code lived somewhere like GitHub, BitBucket, Google Code or any of the other free, open source code repository hosts, it would be infinitely easier for the community to contribute. To be fair, none of those sites existed when Markdown was released, but moving the code wouldn’t be hard — it’s a single archive with a license and readme text file.

A good project hosting service allows the community to contribute in ways that it just can’t when the code is static download.

Markdown isn’t alone in this respect. Django programmers were very excited to get their hands on the EveryBlock source code when it was finally released. However, since the EveryBlock code is, like Markdown, a static download, there isn’t and easy way for the community to contribute.

I have been using the EveryBlock code in a personal project for some time, and I’ve found at least a dozen bugs and several oversights and contradictions in the documentation. None of these stumbling blocks have stopped me from using the code, but it would be nice if I could contribute patches so others don’t also have to bang their heads against a wall for days on end trying to make the code work.

Yet a static hosting environment prevents that. There’s no easy way for me or anyone else to contribute to the code, update the documentation, add helpful links to a wiki, ask a question and get it answered. As a result, the whole community around the project suffers.

While it’s true I could put the codebase into a version control system and host my own copy, but not only does that feel wrong, it shouldn’t be necessary. The “you can always fork it” motto of open source has proved one of its least helpful tenets, leading to a proliferation of nearly identical code forks that are difficult to keep track of and work with.

We understand that the people who release open source code might not have time to work on it, or might simply lose interest in it over time, but that’s precisely why version control systems exist — to take the burden off the developer and let the contributions of the community pick up the slack in an open, organized manner.

Does a project still need an maintainer and someone to check in code, run tests, merge branches and so on? Sure, but that need not be a single person. Sizable open source projects — take Firefox for example — have dozens of committers and (in theory) no one person winds up feeling overwhelmed.

While in this particular case, it could be argued that Markdown doesn’t need further development. We use it everyday without issue. But the larger issue remains for other projects. Without active development, particularly bug fixes and maintenance releases, your open source project will rarely be successful.

Get your code into a decent version control system and make it easy for other users to do what you don’t have to — make your code better.

Photo by gerhard3/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

See Also:

• Why Great Documentation Matters in Open Source
• Making Open Source Software More “Humane”
• Money, Not Spare Cycles, Drives Open Source

Go to Source

iSpy is a modern twist on the fun game we all played as a kid – “I spy with my little eye…”

iSpy players earn points (P’s) for participating in scavenger hunt style games created by the community. Each game contains a picture of an object you need to find in the real world. Solve the game by finding the object and snapping a picture of it. iSpy games are created by players like you! If you see something cool, share it with the iSpy community by creating a game of your own! The more games you play and create, the more P’s you get!

http://www.ispyapp.com/

Go to Source

This is the sixth (and second to last) in the “7 Questions, 7 Designers” series, in which I throw out a different question each day and compile the answers from seven different designers. There are participants from all over the world, each offering a different and unique perspective on the realm of design.

Today’s discussion is about something that is very important to me – the concepts of charity and social justice as they relate to design. I was really interested to read our designers opinions. I hope you will be too!

We’re rapidly approaching the holiday season, when people seem to think more about the needs of others and the less fortunate – Peace on Earth, Goodwill Towards Men. With that in mind, what do you think is the role of the design community when it comes to issues of charity and/or social justice? Do you think that we can play any unique or special role? Are there any causes or organizations that you support?

Grace Smith
Follow Grace on Twitter

The design community can be incredibly generous and supportive when the issues of charity and social justice arise. I’ve seen designers raise five and six figure sums through Twitter alone for causes ranging from Cancer to equipment for their local school.

The web community is an incredibly generous one at it’s heart. People enjoy giving back to a worthy cause. I think design and designers can play an incredible role when it comes to Charity, from the more obvious like designing a charities site and branding to physically volunteering and helping to raise awareness. Organisations such as as the Taproot Foundation enable professionals to work alongside organisations in need of their expertise in a logical, well organised manner that is truly beneficial to all those involved.

Committed artists and designers who want to offer their services on a pro-bono basis or volunteer ‘for the greater good’ do have a unique role to play when it comes to social justice. Design is ultimately a tool and it has the power to generate emotion and become part of a universal ’shared experience’, especially when that is used for the benefit of others and to raise awareness for specific issues.

I support several charities that I have had personal experience with, including; Epilepsy Action, the Chest, Heart & Stroke Foundation and the Meningitis Trust. I also contribute to worthy campaigns online, most recent was Movember.

Nick La
Follow Nick on Twitter

I think the design community can help bringing awareness of these issues by blogging. Some of the organizations that I support are FreeRice.com and BlogActionDay.org.

Chris Spooner
Follow Chris on Twitter

It’s always great to see causes springing up every now again. Blog Action Day has been a success over the past years, and another that springs to mind is the ‘grow a mo to help a bro’ cause for Movember which seemed popular this year. With resources like Twitter it helps the word spread quickly, and soon captures the interest of the online communities.

Sneh Roy
Follow Sneh on Twitter

Christmas is a time of giving and sharing but I think a lot of the people in the developed world don’t really wait until the holiday season to give. People are becoming more aware and educated about the sufferings of the less fortunate, in third world countries and in their own backyards. As designers, we can make a small difference in a variety of little ways. I have offered my website designing skills to the local community school in the past. I know of other designer friends who have developed logos for non-profitable, charity organizations for free. Throughout the year, every month I support Save The Children. It is a fantastic organization that works very hard to build schools, rehabilitate children after natural disasters and man made calamities like war, houses them, clothes them and educates them. They work hard at eradicating child labor by educating people in the civilized world and by active development in the affected areas of the world. Besides that every alternate month I support The Royal Institute for the Deaf and Blind Children and our local Rural Firefighter’s Association [I live in the bush!]. Especially at Christmas time, we make our boys fill up a box of old toys that they have out-grown to give to less fortunate children. The sense of pride at giving and the kindness they have dealt to a total stranger is amazing to watch on a little child’s face.

Mike Smith
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The holiday season is always a time that people put the “charity” hat on. In my opinion, I can’t stand when people do that. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that they’re doing something – but what about the rest of the year? If you’re only doing charity around the holidays, what are you doing it for? To genuinely help or to get the credit from your peers?

I support a few different charities and organizations that help the homeless, the Veterans of our armed forces and children with illnesses. I’ve done things for the past few years for each of them and donated as much as I possibly could. This year I am going to be doing things a bit more publicly through the launch of GIANT Themes with a couple contests in the upcoming months.

Jeff Finley
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I think that’s all fine and but it’s a tough sell. In America, most people are looking out for themselves. It’s not likely you’ll find a designer more interested in helping charity than padding his or her portfolio. BUT, having said that, designers are in a superior position of influence. We have the ability to create any message we want and get it out there.

However, when you’re stuck at your desk day in and day out – completely enveloped in your niche – you might not realize some of the issues going on outside or even down the street. Sometimes I get tunnel vision and only see my peers and competitors in the design community and sometimes forget about politics or other issues that people struggle with every day.

I think as designers mature and grow these social issues will become more prevalent. Young designers out of college, their focus should be on improving skills and establishing themselves in the field. I think once you’re established and your skills become second nature, you’ll grow more interested in using those skills for the greater good.

Brad Colbow
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I’m a fan of individual charity over community charity. Maybe I’m jaded, but doing things like turning your avatar green for a cause or putting a badge on a blog just seems like a hollow show of support. I don’t think it makes much of a difference.

This year for Christmas my family is buying toys for a local kid who otherwise wouldn’t have anything. It’s something our church organizes every year. Those are the kinds of efforts I feel good about getting behind because I know it makes a difference in someone’s life.

Awesome! It’s great to see all these different perspectives on these issues, and to read about some of the different causes that our designers support. What about you? What are your views on the relationship between design and charity/social justice? What causes do you support? Be sure to check back tomorrow for the last post in this series!

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This series is supported by Times Reader 2.0. Learn more about The New York Times’ latest innovation in newspaper delivery here.

We’re big fans of eBooks. You can read them on multiple computers or devices, add annotations, and search for specific words and phrases. Plus, an eBook doesn’t take up tons of room like physical books, which is great for the road warrior.

In the last few years, publishers have finally started to embrace digital publishing and now lots of books on lots of different topics are available for various eBook platforms. If you’re into social media (and who isn’t?) check out these ten can’t-miss eBooks!

1. Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

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Most people are familiar with the sanitized history of Facebook: Harvard kid starts a web site in his dorm room, ends up changing the world. Although that’s part of the truth, and is certainly compelling in its own right, Mezrich’s take on Facebook’s founding and its behind-the-scenes legal battles is like something out of Hollywood. In fact, Accidental Billionaires is the basis for the film, The Social Network, which is due to arrive in theaters in October 2010. If you use Facebook and are curious about its history‚ or if you just love a good, gripping soap opera ‚ don’t miss this book!

Format: Kindle, Nook, others

2. The Art of Community by Jono Bacon

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Bacon is the Community Manager for Ubuntu, one of the largest open source software projects on the planet. In this book he talks about the ins and outs of building, cultivating and managing a community from the ground up. This is a must-read for anyone interested in community development. In a truly community-friendly effort, you can download the entire book for free and share and modify it under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike Non-Commercial license.

Format: Free PDF, Kindle, Nook, others

3. The World According to Twitter by David Pogue

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New York Times columnist David Pogue got into Twitter in late 2008 and decided to use the service as the basis for this book. Every day, Pogue asked his followers questions and compiled the best, most interesting and funniest responses. This is a great example of just how much can be shared in 140 characters.

Format: Kindle, others

4. Content by Cory Doctorow

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Cory Doctorow, one of the voices behind the uber-blog Boing-Boing, is well-known for his opinions on technology, DRM and the future of content. Content is a collection of some of his best work and is an insightful read. Truly a man that practices what he preaches, the book is available for free in multiple formats.

Format: Free download

5. Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk

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Gary Vaynerchuk is one of those people that absolutely bursts with energy. Whether he’s talking about wine, talking about marketing or just talking about people, Gary is passionate. Gary has built his business on the back of that passion and is a shining example of what can be accomplished when you push yourself and dedicate your life to what you love.

Format: Kindle, others

6. Free by Chris Anderson

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The author of The Long Tail released his follow-up earlier this year, called Free. In it, Anderson argues that the best price is often no price, instead offering freemium models or incentives and services to make money, rather than charging for the “product” itself. It’s an interesting idea, and even if you don’t buy all of Anderson’s assertions, it is still worth a read. Ironically, Free is no longer available for free.

Format: Kindle, others

7. The New Community Rules by Tamar Weinberg

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Mashable’s own Tamar Weinberg wrote this fantastic book about how to use, understand and leverage social media to market your product, your service or yourself. By focusing on the importance of community and joining the conversation, Tamar does a great job getting to the heart of why social media is so interesting and game-changing.

Format: Kindle, others

8. Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki

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Guy Kawasaki is a legend. At Apple, he helped spread the word about the Macintosh and keep the community engaged (even when the community and the company were fading), almost single-handedly creating the job category of “brand evangelist” and as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, he’s seen what works and what doesn’t. In his latest book, Guy does what Guy does best: he lays out the facts and ideas that seem like common sense (until you realize how often they are ignored) about building community and the power of networking.

Format: Kindle, others

9. Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

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Chris Brogan is one of those guys who really walks the walk. He doesn’t just talk about how to build influence and the power of the conversation, he’s always part of the conversation. No matter how successful he gets, Chris is still Chris, and he’s still there to talk and listen. His book on building reputation and earning trust on the web is genuine, just like he is.

Format: Kindle, others

10. What Matters Now by Seth Godin and others

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Seth Godin’s latest book, which features essays by himself and a host of other brilliant minds is available for free. In What Matters Now, each essayist focuses on something that matters to them. Think of this as your New Year’s Resolution in an eBook.

Format: Free download

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Tags: books, ebooks, Kindle, List, Lists, nook, social media, times reader series

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Karts are shareable, mobile lists you create on your computer. The most popular uses for Karts are:

• Keeping all your recipes in one place, always at your fingertips
• Creating lists of restaurants to share and use on-the-go
• Saving gift ideas to a universal wishlists
• Organizing for a wedding, whether bands, venues, shoes or flowers
• Making a travel guide for a friend
• Sharing info for your new home

Just click a button on any website. KartMe automatically collects pictures, prices and addresses.

After you identify an item of interest to you, KartMe suggests reviews and deals based on the opinions of the KartMe community. No longer will you need to search multiple sites over multiple days to discover review and price information. You won’t need to guess whether a blog will have helpful content. Let the KartMe community and technology save you time by smartly organizing your saved links and suggesting relevant, original information when you want it.

http://www.kartme.com/

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Welcome the second of a seven day series that I am doing called “7 Questions, 7 Designers,” in which I throw out a different question each day and compile the answers from seven different designers. There are participants from all over the world, each offering a different and unique perspective on the realm of design.

Today’s question is about the design community, and is something that I always like to ask whenever I conduct and interview. I think you will find that the answers are all very interesting!

Personally, I’ve had nothing but great experiences with the design community so far. What about you guys? What’s your overall view or feeling about the current design community and the state of the industry at large? It can be positive, negative, observational or all of the above! I’m really interested in hearing different perspectives on this.

Sneh Roy
Follow Sneh on Twitter

Although I have been freelancing and working in the design industry for almost 12 years, my brush with the design community has been very recent. Twitter was how I started socially interacting with other creatives. Let me begin by saying that there are a lot of designers and creatives out there who have achieved a lot and who have obviously worked very hard to achieve it, yet they are totally approachable and such awesome people. When I started out in the community a year ago, I was so intimidated by it all, but as I have connected with people [designers and otherwise] over the course of the year, I feel very much a part of the community. There is plenty of room in here for anyone who wants to be here and the design community is very accommodating.

About the state of the industry at large, like with everything else in this world, there are positives and negatives. Now since I am “the glass is half full” kind of a person, I overlook the chance crusader who is single-handedly trying to abolish crowd-sourcing or the amazing rate at which design blogs [including my own] come up every single day and a lot of them become graveyards of hastily hatched lists and the soundless echoes of their once enthusiastic creators. I overlook the occasional rant and the twitter-bashing and the sucking up to the big guys that goes on. Instead I think “to each their own!” and work on my role as a miniscule gear in this great big giant machinistic robot that is the design industry. If I keep my act well oiled and updated, the gear will turn smoothly and that would be my contribution to the industry. In doing so, I might reach out and touch one single soul or help several, but I would’ve done my bit.

In retrospect, the reason why I overlook the negatives is because the design industry needs them. The negatives like the positives are part of the food chain, the eco-system. No one likes poverty and disease in the real world, but take them away and see what happens. In the same manner, the negatives are necessary. So people can rave on and on about the dire state of the industry, how bad economy is going to crush it and how too many people crowding this business is bad for everyone, the bottom line is if you are good, you will succeed [with a lot of perseverance of course], there is plenty for everyone and you just have to play nice and most importantly nature culls the weak links.

Mike Smith
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I think the design community is great. I’d be lying if I said that there weren’t cliques and groups like there were in high school – but an overall feel of the design community is warm and inviting. It’s a great space to be in and there are a TON of great people in the design community. As long as you’re doing something positive and building a name for yourself without copying others, you’ll be accepted with open arms (I think anyways lol).

Jeff Finley
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Go Media has carved a niche in the design community by sharing resources and tutorials and advice on our blog GoMediaZine and our design Arsenal. We back it all up with our design services side on our main site. So as a result we’ve found a lot of other designers and bloggers that share the same audience. Sites like Smashing Magazine and the Envato network are two of the major players in the community.

As far as my opinion of the current state, it’s kind of on the edge honestly. I’ve noticed a few bloggers already making it public that they’re tired of the “Smashing Magazine” trending of copycat design blogs, list posts, and arguabley shitty content that sparks no conversation. For example, Learn About Design, Not Making Things Pretty and Smashing Magazine Killed The Community (Or Maybe It Was Me).

I think these two posts (I’m sure there are more) are a sign of times to come. While I respect my fellow bloggers and especially Smashing (they set the trends and spawned many copycats), I do think there are reasons for why content “is sucking” right now.

My first thought is that most designers are working, not blogging. Marketers and bloggers who dabble in design are the ones who are putting the most content and articles out there. When the design community is led by social media marketers who care more about RSS readers, twitter followers, ad revenue, and Facebook fans, you’re going to get sensationally titled articles that post 50 examples of other people’s content. As evidence has shown, those posts are extremely popular and profitable. But they’re making designers annoyed because suddenly their feed reader is overflowing with list posts and articles that crosslink each other and don’t provide any substance or insight into what we’re interested in. Or it’s a tutorial on how to get some trite effect in Photoshop. (obviously, this is not the case for the entire community, but the ground is trembling).

The design community is looking for more genuine honest insight and conversation. They want to hear what a particular designer has to say about a subject. And there’s no need to post every day. It might take designers a week or two to get new content up, but generally it’s worth it.

Brad Colbow
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I don’t know what it is specifically about the visual design community online that makes people so nice but I sure am glad they are. I get a totally different vibe from every other community I have ever dipped my toe into. I also owe most of my success to the design community, they are the folks who promote me and give me great feedback good and bad.

Grace Smith
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[Editor's Note: Grace has very kindly declined to comment on this one, but that's not a reflection on the community itself. She's been so inundated with projects, we're just lucky that she was able to participate at all! Don't worry, though. We'll be seeing the rest of her answers throughout the rest of this series!]

Nick La
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I think the current design community is great. People in the community are very helpful and love to share. However, it seems like all bloggers are writing the "list style" articles like Smashing Magazine (ie. 50 best of this, 100 best of that). Did Smashing Magazine kill the community?

Chris Spooner
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I love the design community, it seems like it’s the only industry where people are open to helping each other out. It has been great to network with like minded people online via Twitter, blogging and social media.

I still think however, that there’s a big gap between the online community and the rest of the design industry. It will be interesting to see if more and more companies catch on to the online wave.

There are some really interesting answers here, and lots of different things to think about regarding the community. Thanks to Jeff and Nick for including the links! What do you the rest of you think? What are your experiences with the design community? Be sure to check back over the next five days for more awesome insights from these seven great minds!

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In this current day and age, pushing out a finished, polished application well before your competitor is key. Coding everything from scratch, excluding even the mundane things, can be extremely time consuming and makes the developer spend time reinventing the wheel, time which would rather be spent implementing new features or tightening up the code base. This is where web development frameworks come in.

Today, we are going to take a look at the various options you have when choosing a web development framework. We are going to cover every type of framework, right from server side frameworks down to JavaScript animation frameworks. Intrigued? Let’s go take a look!

Server Side Frameworks

Server side frameworks are the one doing almost all the heavy lifting behind the application. They handle almost every aspect of the application right from URL handling to database access. You have a variety of options for each platform. For the sake of brevity, we’ll look at only the most popular ones today.

CakePHP

CakePHP is a very popular PHP framework inspired by Ruby on Rails and lets you develop, maintain and deploy applications with ease.

This framework makes use of the MVC pattern and has a lot of must have features including ORM, scaffolding and URL routing. The built in libraries are pretty expansive and include helpers for generating RSS feeds and HTML elements.

There is little to no configuration needed to get it up running and has an excellent community and detailed documentation behind it.

CodeIgniter

CodeIgniter is a PHP framework built on the tenets of simplicity, speed and a small footprint and as such is among the smallest PHP libraries in terms of the total footprint.

Among the frameworks which are built on the MVC pattern, CI is the easiest to learn. If you are a beginner PHP programmer, CodeIgniter would be the best place to start with.

Since it aspires to be as small as possible, the libraries aren’t as full fledged as Cake but the extremely thorough documentation and the very friendly community more than make up for it.

Kohana

Kohana is a fork of CodeIgniter intended to work only with PHP 5. Kohana is completely community driven and every modification is thoroughly discussed and vetted with in the community.

All the positive aspects of CI carry over here except that the documentation can be relatively lacking. However it has a thriving community behind it you can turn to if you run into errors.

Zend

Zend framework is more of a glue framework in that things aren’t as tightly coupled as in other frameworks like RoR or CakePHP. As such it also gives you a lot more control.

This framework boasts of one of the most complete collection of utility classes to leverage in your application. But since this is a collection of classes than a proper framework, you’ll be looking at lots of configuration to make it work. If you are thinking of starting off as a PHP programmer, this isn’t the first framework you should try.

Having said that, it has excellent documentation and a very large community behind it.

Symfony

Symfony is yet another very popular, feature packed PHP framework. It provides a solid core and ships with a number of third party libraries to fill in the blanks.

This is marketed primarily as an enterprise framework and has solid documentation and a thriving community to help you.

ASP.NET

ASP.NET allows you to leverage the MVC pattern through ASP.NET MVC. It lets developers use the accepted MVC pattern in their applications. Or if you chose to, you can completely ignore MVC and use the way you’d normally want to.

It ships with a very impressive set of features including libraries for code generation. It also has very thorough documentation and a welcoming community behind it.

Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails is a framework for the Ruby platform and was created by David Hansson whilst creating Basecamp for 37Signals. Ruby on Rails has gained incredible growth ever since it was released.

RoR uses the MVC pattern and provides a number of features including a complete ORM, scaffolding and URL rewriting. Ruby, by default, uses Prototype as it’s JavaScript library.

Ruby’s incredible growth can be attributed to ease of development and rich feature set. Configuration is generally minimal to nothing. It has good documentation and a growing community.

Django

Django is a web development framework based on Python and is amongst the most robust one on the Python platform.

Django ships with an extensive library containing tools for caching, serialization, authentication. It even provides a simple administrative interface based on your models and controllers. Its URL rewriting mechanism is a little different in that it uses regular expression to resolve which controller it needs to use.

It has extremely thorough documentation to back it up along with a helpful, polite community. A beginner Python programmer will take to Django very easily.

Pylons

Similar to Zend, this is a very loosely coupled framework which glues a number of third party libraries to provide functionality.

In Pylons, each and every aspect can be switched out with the one you like. Everything from it templating language to its ORM can be switched out with minimal fuss.

With respect to features, it depends directly on the individual components you pick for your project. Documentation can be relatively lacking and the community is a little smaller too.

TurboGears

Similar to Kohana and CodeIgniter, Turbogears is built on top of Pylons. It shares the same pros and cons as Pylons.

As with Pylons, every component of the framework can be replaced with one of your own choosing. Currently it only uses Pylons for its controller component.

JavaScript Frameworks

JavaScript frameworks work almost exclusively on the browser side. A typical framework lets you navigate the DOM easier, manipulate its contents right up to AJAX integration. There are a couple of widget libraries too which let you use specific user interface elements in your application instead of creating them from scratch.

jQuery

jQuery is an extremely popular library which focuses primarily on DOM manipulation. It has an extensive API encompassing a range of functionalities from DOM traversal to AJAX support.

It has very good documentation with a plethora of tutorials, screencasts, references and books for you to go through. The community is pretty large and very helpful.

If you are new to JavaScript and need to get started as quickly as possible, jQuery is an excellent choice.

Prototype

Prototype is among the oldest JS libraries and as such is very mature and stable. It ships with Ruby on Rails and as part of the standard OS X installation.

It provides a clear API for all of the functionality it exposes and has clear documentation to back it all up. Prototype also provides various methods through which you can write clean class based code. Prototype handles everything from DOM manipulation to AJAX to providing a number of utility methods.

MooTools

Mootools presents itself as the ideal solution for the intermediate to advanced programmer. It focuses on JavaScript as a language and extends on it as much as possible.

It provides a robust class creation system just like Prototype and just like the others, it provides a coherent API for all the functionality it provides.

The documentation can be pretty lacking at times but the active community more than makes up for it.

Yahoo UI

Yahoo UI library is a Swiss army kind of a library in that it provides a complete set of features and widgets letting you build the application you want to build. It is built by the developers at Yahoo itself.

In YUI, the core library contains all the essential elements including DOM traversal and CSS manipulation while the utilities and widgets are optional and are available separately.

YUI has the most thorough documentation among JavaScript and is easy to get started with.

Dojo

Dojo is yet another JS toolkit which provides everything that you’d expect from a modern JS library including a selector engine, AJAX integration and so on.

It also provides a set of rich interface elements and a number of advanced features like persistent connections and offline storage. Dojo has very thorough documentation and a thriving community.

CSS Frameworks

CSS frameworks, when properly used, let you cut down on development time by cutting down on oft repeated declarations and styling.

CSS frameworks can be a pretty polarizing topic among the development community but you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

960Grid

The 960 grid system intends to ease your workflow without complicating things. There are 12 and 16 columns versions for added choices.

It provides a CSS generator to further cut down on your development time. It also has pre made templates for use in popular software including Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator and Expression Design.

YAML

YAML, Yet Another Multi column Layout, is a CSS framework which lets you create robust column based and/or grid based layout based on web standards.

It also has a nifty tool for creating YAML CSS code. The documentation is pretty thorough and the community, helpful.

BluePrint

Blueprint is a CSS framework which intends to reduce the time you spending mulling over grids and padding. It makes use of a solid grid, support for typography and print support.

It features wiki based documentation and bug tracking. It boasts an active community where you can post your queries.

YUI Grids

Yet another Yahoo products on the list. YUI Grids offers support for multiple widths, fluid layouts, flexible element placement and more.

As with the YUI JS library, each part of this is thoroughly documented with plenty of examples, sample code and screen casts

Elastic

Elastic is a very simple framework with support for fixed, liquid and elastic layouts.

Elastic has a growing community and pretty decent documentation.

JS Animation Frameworks

Recently, specialized JS animation libraries have been popping up with the sole purpose of providing easier way to animate user interfaces. Let’s a look at the most popular ones.

Scripty 2 and script.aculo.us

Scripty and script.aculo.us are based on Prototype and provide a way to seamlessly animate content as well as provide a number of user interface elements to use in our applications.

fx

fx is a standalone JS library which focuses exclusively on animation. As such it lets you animate each and every CSS property along a set time line.

It has decent documentation and is extremely small at less than 4 kb.

gx

gx is a cross browser framework which again focuses exclusively on animation. It has a number of extremely impressive features including easing, delayed animation and predefined animation rules.

Since it is relatively new, the documentation is a little lacking and the community is hard to find. But it is extremely impressive and definitely warrants a try.

Processing.JS

Processing.js is built on the canvas element and written by John Resig. It lets you draw elements and then manipulate them on the canvas element.

Since it is a port of Processing for the JS language, it shares most of its advantages including robust support animation capability and shape support.

jsAnim

jsAnim is yet another animation library which lets you create very impressive animations. The example on the front page itself is a wonderful example of what can be done with it.

It weights in at a hefty 25 kilobytes compared to 3.7 for fx but packs a lot of features. The documentation is pretty straight forward and should give you a good idea of the basics.

Raphael

Raphael is a tiny library which lets you work with vector elements on your web page. It uses SVG or VML as needed to generate its graphics.

It’s extremely robust and produces extremely impressive results. A look through the demo pages gives you an idea of what it is capable of.

The documentation is pretty thorough and the discussion group is pretty active too.

Conclusion

And we are done! We looked at all the choices you have when you need to choose a web development framework. We looked at all types of frameworks right from humongous server side frameworks to nimble JS animation frameworks. Hopefully, this has been useful to you and you found it interesting.

Questions? Nice things to say? Criticisms? Hit the comments section and leave me a comment. Happy coding!

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We’re starting the end-of-the-year roundups with the coolest WP themes you should consider when starting a new online-mag-blog or while revamping your old one. Here are our choices. Don’t hesitate to leave some suggestions an opinions in the comments. Also, be sure to check 10 Absolutely New & Stunning Portfolio WordPress Themes for Non-Designers and 10 Outstanding Corporate WordPress Themes for Freelancers and Small Business Owners

Atlantica | $32 | Details | Download | Demo

Now version 1.4 with several major improvements and features! Updates include: Enhanced Slider Options, Homepage “Static Page” Improvements, Tons of updates, CSS fixes, and speed enhancements, Full FAQ Section for the top customization requests!

Post it Teal | $22 | Details | Demo

Post It is a WordPress Theme designed for all creative bloggers. It’s extremely flexible and customizable and it even includes four different Twitter backgrounds

Collection | $27 | Details | Demo

Collection is a 5in1 Premium WordPress theme that lets you collect and aggregate just about anything. Directories of free stuff are a great way to build traffic and earn cash, and with this theme it’s easier than ever to get started

Min | $27 | Details | Demo

Min is our favorite minimal WP theme with many options to make your blogging life easier

eQuator | $32 | Details | Demo

This theme is specially designed and developed for anyone who wants to start blogging, community site or personal blog. This theme has all the popular and common features which used by the current trend community websites. A completely 4 level deep threaded comments which works in all the major Browsers

Caulk | $27 | Details | Demo

Caulk is a modern, sleek WordPress custom theme built especially for magazine-style blogs, but also customizable for personal use, making use of multiple jQuery sliders. It is clean, organized, and easy to read with plenty of white space and nice typography

Stylez | $22 | Details | Demo

Stylez is a WordPress theme for the Stylish simpleton. This theme gives you the elegant and stylish blog you’re looking for while still maintaining the simplicity of the classic blog look your readers feel comfortable with

Sparta | $22 | Details | Demo

Sparta it’s a differentiated left-aligned two-column layout that makes it really easy to read and navigate. It has a Featured Post Slider using JQuery, and a topical navigation to give it a magazine style treatment

My WordPress | $27 | Details | Demo

My WordPress is a professional WordPress theme with the intent and focus on creating a community site. It is widget ready, print ready, page-navi ready, ad optimization ready, SEO friendly, smooth tabbing and dropdown using jquery, breadcumb integrated and many more

Modern News | $27 | Details | Demo

This theme is a complete WordPress Theme, designed from the ground up with custom fields, functions. This theme is built to function first and foremost as a news/folio/business, then it can be used for just about any site that needs a beautiful layout

Marketplace Community Blog | $27 | Details | Demo

Marketplace is a both clean and stylish WordPress theme with the intent and focus on creating a community site for industry news, tutorials, etc. This theme includes many popular built in features seen in today’s industry leading community sites

BigFeature | $27 | Details | Demo

Clean and flexible WordPress theme, with big article images and nice typography. Very many settings. Many page templates. 5 custom widgets. Easy to add article and preview images

Noctis | $27 | Details | Demo

Noctis theme is a dark magazine-blog style. This theme is suitable for blogger who like magazine layout and want to show big post thumbnails in their homepage.

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Getting people to interact with others and upload content to a community-driven site enough may sound easy, but engagement doesn’t happen automatically. It takes time and work, and much of the right formula is deduced through trial and error.

Here are 10 tips for increasing user engagement that work for news community web sites, but can apply to all types of online user-engagement communities.

1. Make It Easy to Participate

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This sounds like a no-brainer. If it is not clear that people can do things on a site, they won’t. Create multiple entry points and ways to access the online community and use actionable language to turn observers into contributors.

“I’ve gotten feedback from people who didn’t quite know how to participate and if it seems to be a problem for many, we reevaluate how we’re displaying the message. Sometimes you need to put out a call for action: ‘Post your own blog,’ ‘Upload photos,’ and the like.  Sometimes the registration process is just too cumbersome,” said Angela Connor, WRAL’s managing editor/user-generated content and author of 18 Rules of Community Engagement: A Guide for Building Relationships and Connecting With Customers Online, in an e-mail interview.

Each week CNN’s iReport.com posts at least one new topic to its Assignment Desk page for people to respond to by submitting photos, video or audio. iReport.com has more than 412,000 registered users who have signed up and contributed content, according to CNN.

“Our hope is that once they’re comfortable with the system and they happen to be in breaking news, they’ll think of iReport.com as a way to have their footage seen,” said Lila King, a senior producer for CNN.com, who leads the site’s user-participation efforts.

That strategy has paid off. For example, there was an Assignment Desk topic on beating the heat and a man in North Carolina submitted content for the topic and then a few months later a tropical storm came through his town and he filed an iReport.com about it that was used on the air at CNN.

Andy Carvin, senior strategist at National Public Radio’s social media desk, said in an e-mail interview he’s a firm believer in getting people to rally around an editorial project that has a specific goal with a beginning, middle and end. Those who want to get involved have a clear understanding of what’s expected.

For example, during last year’s hurricane season NPR signed up hundreds of volunteers to create tools like Google Maps of evacuation routes, a wiki of state and local emergency resources, and galleries of user-generated content.

2. Be a Leader

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Connor said she feels strongly that every community is different and a manager must adapt accordingly. She described the skill set needed to be a good community leader.

“I’m talking about razor-sharp interpersonal communication skills, the ability to exhibit an enormous amount of tact, an extremely thick skin and a boatload of compassion for people you would rather not give an ounce. Did I mention grace under pressure, courage under fire, openness to criticism and tolerance beyond belief?” she said.

Matt Thompson, interim online community manager for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, said in an e-mail interview, the best communities tend to coalesce around leaders.

“The best leaders inspire leadership in others. In news site comment threads, people tend to respond to the story, not to each other, leaving behind a long stream of essentially unrelated comments,” he said, which is why strong leaders are important for building community engagement. A good leader can step in and encourage users to interact with each other.

3. Interact With the Community

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Don’t ignore participants in the community — they’re the ones behind the content.

Thompson suggested talking to site commenters, being colloquial, and laying out guidelines for participating.

“Don’t hesitate to delete contributions that shut down rather than encourage discussion; don’t listen to anyone who tells you doing so will leave you open to liability. At the same time, contact people one-on-one before you delete their comments or ban them,” he said.

Interacting with the community lets them know someone is listening. Connor blogs and comments on content posted by others in her community. “You can never go wrong when you respond to your users. Answering e-mails in a timely manner is engagement when those e-mails are from community members,” she said.

iReport.com’s contact with contributors starts with its vetting process, which means the content has been approved by a CNN producer for use on any of CNN’s platforms and is labeled as such. King said the staff also reaches out to regular iReporters who do interesting work.

“The whole thing works because of the relationships we’ve been able to form,” she said. “I don’t think it would work if we stopped communicating.”

4. Welcome Newbies

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As an online community grows and becomes more established, newbies might feel like intruders. That’s where a community manager comes in.

Thompson said a good community manager will constantly be seeking opportunities to diversify the community in a productive, organic fashion.

“The danger is creating a community that feels insular, groupthinky, and hostile to outsiders. I’ve heard horror stories about online mom communities that slowly warped into being totalitarian enforcement regimes for particular ideas about maternity,” he said.

Connor said it can be hard to get newcomers to engage the way the older members do, so she specifically reaches out to newbies.

“Once that culture develops it isn’t easy for others to go against it, even in a good way. I am working hard to be supportive of newcomers. I even have a group called the Welcome Wagon that reaches out to newbies. They’ve even created tutorial for newcomers that I had nothing to do with, and they are awesome,” said Connor.

5. Identify and Nurture Power Users

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Don’t forget about frequent content contributors in the community. They can offer great insight and feedback from a point of view potentially better than the site’s own manager.

“One of my constant findings is that you have to identify, befriend and nurture your super users. Especially when you’re small and starting out, interact with your users to a degree one step shy of creepy,” Thompson said. “The culture you create amongst your most hardcore users early on will be the biggest influence on your site’s culture when it’s, God willing, flooded with loving users.”

Getting to know the community doesn’t have to be exclusively online. The Public Broadcasting Service held a national unconference called PublicMediaCamp that bought together more than 250 people who represent the general public, developer community and public broadcasting, according to Carvin.

“By getting together with them as equals and co-conspirators, it helps bring more volunteers into the fold, because we give them a vested interest in our success. Remember, ‘Public’ is National Public Radio’s middle name. The community is perhaps our biggest asset, so we’re creating new platforms and strategies to strengthen that relationship, and hopefully strengthen our journalism in the process,” he said.

6. Showcase and Cross Promote UGC

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Curating and then showcasing community content energizes and motivates users and can help get new content contributors. User-generated content can also add depth to stories reported by news organizations.

Connor said she’s been successful with featuring a member each month with GOLO (short for Go Local) Profiles. “I ask probing, introspective questions that allow members to see another side of the person and people love it.”

She also compiles and posts lots of lists such as top 10 blog posts, top 20 commenters and most visited profile pages.

iReport’s King said their site gives CNN a new way to tell anniversary stories. For example, an iReporter submitted a photo of her grandmother walking down the street with Calvin Coolidge for an Assignment Desk topic on Presidents Day.

7. Reward Contributors

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iReport labels its top members “superstars.” The designation is determined by an algorithm that tallies members’ contributions, ratings, popularity and site activity, and scores in the top 20 percent every week make Superstar status, according to iReport.com.

Thompson described a reputation management system called karma that is used at Vita.mn, a site he managed, which rewards people with points for contributing particularly engaging content.

“We gave a prize monthly to the users who accumulated the most karma over the previous month, and that worked like a charm. Eventually, the super users stopped aiming for prizes, but settled into a regular, engaging rhythm,” he said.

Disclosure: Vita.mn is owned by the Star Tribune, where Leah was previous employed.

8. Be Timely About Posting UGC

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Time lags on user-submitted content getting posted to the site interrupts the conversation. Connor warned that moderated comments that do not post in real-time are a killer. Why would a user, who is interested in starting a conversation, submit a comment knowing it may or may not post within 24 hours, she asks.

“If I continue to come to your house, and you’re not there or if I’m dying of thirst and you know it but refuse to offer me a glass of water, I’m not coming back,” she said.

9. Allow Profile Creation

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Fleshing out a community site with user profiles, preferences and even UGC stats for each member helps contributors to get to know each other and fosters community building.

iReport profile pages list details such as bio information, stats for comments posted, iReports posted, page views, iReports on CNN, how many iReporters the user is following and how many are following that person.

“Good online communities tend to allow users to have profiles, where records of their contributions are stored. A profile is the foundation of reputation management,” Thompson said.

10. Engage With Popular Existing Communities

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Starting a new online community might seem like reinventing the wheel compared to behemoths such as Facebook. Hooking a community site up to these social media sites gives users the best of both worlds.

Carvin said NPR believes strongly that it’s important to engage people in their own online communities rather than assume they will engage with theirs. He said that means having a strong presence on communities such as Twitter and Facebook. He pointed out that NPR was one of the first news organizations to partner with YouTube as part of its YouTube Direct service, which allows them to embed YouTube upload widget onto the NPR site and create curated content galleries. They recently launched their first experiment with it called the WonderScope.

“It never surprises me that an NPR story that got 25 comments on our site gets 250 comments on Facebook, or gets retweeted 100 times on Twitter. It’s the nature of those communities to contribute and share,” according to Carvin. “That’s why tools like Facebook Connect, Open Social, etc., are so interesting — they lower the barrier of participation for people in more active communities, making it easier for them to participate in sites that may not have as much of a history with social media.”

More journalism resources from Mashable:

- How Programmer/Journalists Are Changing the News
- 8 Must-Have Traits of Tomorrow’s Journalist
- 10 Ways Journalism Schools Are Teaching Social Media
- The Journalist’s Guide to Twitter
- Why NPR is the Future of Mainstream Media

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock

Tags: community, journalism, List, Lists, social media

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Each year since 2007, we’ve asked you, the members of the web design community, a few dozen questions about your professional life, and compared your answers to those of your colleagues. The data you provide and we analyze is the only significant information about our profession as a profession to be published anywhere, by anyone. So please take the survey for people who make websites. The job you save could be your own.

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I recently read a post (which will remain anonymous) that spoke on the topic of garnering online celebrity status through means that seemed…well, I’ll just say that I did not agree with. Telling you to make your online interactions not about the substance and the content that appeals to you or through thoughtful sharing of your true opinions and ideas, but by essentially name-dropping and instigation through automatically taking up opposing stances with the post’s author. All in attempts to garner traffic through to your own site. This makes your actions all about you, and not about the author or the content that you are commenting on, and certainly not about the community.

I am here to offer a different approach, one that is certainly less narcissistic and self-serving, but that indirectly benefits you and your online status among the community. Because generally if you set out to improve and aid the community, then the community will respond to what it is you are doing. You will garner the traffic and attention that you hope will find your blog and your work, but you will do so in a thoughtful, less antagonizing manner. And given that you are responding from a place more true to yourself, that means you will be more passionate about it. That always makes people respond to what you have to say.

So here are a few Shakespearean words of advice that can apply in the search for clout for your design blog. Tips that will tend to draw eyes from the community, while keeping you in a helpful, favorable light, and less of a self-serving narcissistic one.

To Thine Own Self Be True

Be honest with yourself and your audience is key to gaining clout among the participants of the online design community. In fact, if you speak to them honestly and share your opions and ideas as I previously mentioned, chances are, more people will respond to what it is you are saying. Rather than just saying whatever it is you think will be the most contraversial and challenging.

Another great quote from the Bard that applies in this aspect is the following.

False face must hide what the false heart doth know.

Again, if you are not speaking from a place of honesty, then you have to don a false face and argue points that you do not necessarily stand behind. This will automatically diminish your points and the effectiveness of their reach. So be true to yourself, the benefits are numerous.

Ambition Should Be Made of Sterner Stuff

Once again, it is not all about you. Your goals and intentions should be overall about serving the community you are working in, not just about serving your own needs. This will garner positive growth of your blog’s readership because you will prove that you are not just out to serve yourself, and that your ambition is fixed on improving and contributing to the overall whole. Not the individual.

Another great Shakespearean quote that serves as a reminder in this area is the following.

As he was valiant, I honour him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him.

Not that the blogosphere is so ruthless that you can expect someone to be slain over self serving exploits, but if you are only pushing yourself and your site on social media, the only honor that you are likely to receive is to be unfollowed. A social death of sorts as you relegate your role to that of a veritable social pariah.

For My Part, it Was Greek to Me

Know your stuff, and do the diligence to have a firm grasp of your topic, otherwise your ignorance will immediately be recognized and called out. This will have a huge impact on your readership, just not the kind you are hoping for. If people come to your site and are immediately turned off by your unresearched, unthoughtout discussion it will more than likely be a while before they come back.

To further elaborate on the point, here is another quote from the Bard’s pen that is just as applicable.

I say there is no darkness but ignorance.

Plain and simple, the words near speak for themselves. There is no way you can shed light on a topic for your readers, if you, yourself, remain in the dark about it. So be sure that when you decide to tackle a topic, that you research it from multiple perspectives so you deliver on the promise you made by undertaking it.

The End

So those are a few words to take to heart if you would like to raise your clout among the online masses, while simultaneously building and strengthening the community at large. Leave your thoughts on the topic below.

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Recently, the WordPress Core Commit Team announced that it will be extending its official umbrella to what are currently known as ‘canonical plugins.’ These are defined by the Team as:

“…plugins that are community developed (multiple developers, not just one person) and address the most popular functionality requests with superlative execution. These plugins would be GPL and live in the WordPress.org repo, and would be developed in close connection with WordPress core. There would be a very strong relationship between core and these plugins that ensured that a) the plugin code would be secure and the best possible example of coding standards, and b) that new versions of WordPress would be tested against these plugins prior to release to ensure compatibility.”

bbPress is in consideration to be one of these canonical plugins that will fall under the leadership of the WordPress community.

What Does This Mean for WPMU?

Depending on when the WP and WPMU merge occurs, relative to when bbPress becomes a WP plugin, the main differences developers would be dealing with are forum structure and theming architecture. It’s not yet clear whether there will be a standalone version of bbPress, as many sites use now, in addition to the WordPress plugin. The most compelling reason to use bbPress is its ability to integrate with WordPress, as it does already. However, there are some users who embrace the bbPress platform outside of a WordPress installation.

According to the logs for the 12/9/2009 IRC meetup for the new bbPress, if the plugin option is pursued then Matt and his team will consider the implementation of bbPress shortcodes within WordPress, which would ensure that bbPress has access to more features available in the WordPress core. This may also simplify the bbPress theming process to utilize WordPress themes with forum-specific page templates. The IRC meetup included discussion about centralizing the documentation and the creation of a task force to organize the bbPress community.

It is reassuring to know that the bbPress platform will continue to be developed, albeit with a different direction. It’s about to become more accessible to a wider range of users. So, keep on building with bbPress, contribute to the community, and don’t hesitate to put in your thoughts over at bbpress.org. If you want to get involved in the changes coming to bbPress, you can get linked up here. What do you think about the future of bbPress? Do you prefer it as a stand alone option or do you welcome its integration as a WordPress plugin?

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Getting feedback on your latest design is never easy.  Whether it be finding honest criticism or swallowing your pride in the face of negative reviews, it often just doesn’t seem worth the effort.  However, despite the drawbacks, the benefits of quality, constructive feedback far outweigh the costs.  Here are 5 compelling reasons you should be looking for feedback during every step of your design process:

1. Get a Fresh Perspective

As much as you’d like to think you’re an objective observer, no one directly involved in a design project can have an untainted view of things.  That’s where a fresh set of eyes becomes invaluable.  Objective criticism can uncover new ideas, better alternatives, or, in an ideal world, further confirmation of your genius creation.  Even if it’s your mother-in-law, try to find someone who can review your work before you release it to the world!

2. Correct Mistakes and Confusion

I can’t count the number of times I’ve sent out a “final” project with a misspelled word or missing punctuation mark.  If it gets caught before it goes live, not a big deal, but if your client’s billboard ends up with the wrong phone number, you can bet you’re not getting another job from them.  In addition to simply acting as a filter, a quick outside review can reveal any deeper, underlying confusion.  Sometimes a concept just doesn’t make sense to people outside of your circle of friends or co-workers.

3. Increase Concept Performance

Feedback can help you improve the experience your client, customer or audience has with your design.  It leaves you with a final product that better communicates your value proposition and what you would like the user to do next.  Whenever you improve someone’s experience, you are also increasing your chance for a conversion (a sale, phone call, email, etc.).

4. Develop New Skills

Good feedback challenges a designer, pushing him or her beyond their comfort zone.  If you want to be stretched to the limits and grow as a professional, you need a group of people who can give you brutally honest feedback.  The more you can take (and stay motivated), the better.  I promise you’ll become a better designer and a stronger person because of it.

5. Build your Network

As you begin to reach out to friends, co-workers and the community for feedback, you will start to develop a network of people you can trust and learn from.  Oftentimes, and most importantly, these will be individuals different from yourself – people who can give you a fresh perspective, correct your mistakes, increase your performance and push you to the limits.

Giveaway

To give you a headstart, Concept Feedback, a free feedback community for designers and developers, is offering Inspired Mag readers 5 free premium concepts (valued at $9.99 each)!  Premium concepts put your design in front of thousands of qualified professionals willing to give you quality, actionable.  For a chance to win, leave a comment letting us know your favorite method or technique for getting design feedback.  Good luck!

The Authour

Andrew Follett is a small business marketing manager and founder of the new design review community Concept Feedback. You can follow Andrew on Twitter.

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iFood.tv is a community driven food portal, which empowers you to connect, collaborate, share, and consume food related information in a variety of media formats. You can enjoy and share videos, recipes and blogs on topics including cooking shows, restaurant reviews, healthy living, opinion and thoughts, tips and techniques, news and events, entertainment and others.

• Create: Our technology platform enables creation of rich visual and interactive experiences through compelling blend of videos, images, text and interactive features. We welcome all content creators – professional producers, food related businesses, professional chefs, house-cooks, hobbyists and novices – to share their experiences with our worldwide community.
• Connect: The site was started to bring foodies from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and countries, closer to each other. iFood.tv is a place to make friends, chat about shared interests, learn about cooking traditions and satisfy your culinary curiosity.

http://www.ifood.tv/

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This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

There are many times or reasons that a small business will receive an influx of new customers — such as around the holidays for retail stores, during a new product or service launch, or after a local advertising campaign. While new customers are great, returning customers are even better. Social media offers a number of opportunities to turn your new and existing customers into repeat customers and fans.

Hook New Customers on Social Media

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The first thing you should do is direct new customers to your social media accounts. A good way to do that is to incentivize that act of becoming your friend, fan, or follower. Offer those who have just made a purchase a discount on future business in the form of a coupon, but tie it to your social media presence. For example, retailers could let customers know at point of sale that if they become a fan of your business on Facebook, they’ll receive exclusive offers for discounts on future purchases. Or customers could be given instructions to tweet out a special hashtag with a message about your store after they follow your Twitter account, and once that’s done you could send them a direct message with a special offer.

This is not unlike the common practice of taking down email or mailing addresses for mailing lists, but social media puts the user more in control since, when properly used, it is a two-way medium. That’s actually an advantage to small business owners because active, engaged customers will be more likely to give you their attention.

Concentrate on Building a Community

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Once you have users signed up to follow you on social media sites, the trick to retaining them as customers is to keep them wanting to come back. That means constantly engaging them with new content, exclusive offers, and information they can’t get elsewhere. The best way to grow your community is to consistently offer them quality content. That means forgoing the sales pitch most of the time.

Customers join communities because of the quality of information and because they want to be privy to news about sales, coupons, deals, new products, or changes to your business (e.g., new hours, changed location, or updated menu items). But that doesn’t mean they want to receive constant sales come-ons. Delivering quality, helpful tips and information to your customers will make them more likely to want to do business with you and help build your online community.

Restaurants could share recipes or tips for properly reheating leftovers, for example, while plumbers could offer instructions for simple home fixes. Retailers could offer honest reviews of new products, and doctors could offer alerts about the latest medical research or health care policy updates. Get creative — what sorts of information can you provide your customer community? This type of content will help to build your social media community and turn new buyers into return customers.

Play Favorites

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Social media is a great place to promote your general sales and events, but you should also consider offering your social media fans exclusive deals that cannot be had elsewhere. Online-only offers will keep fans returning for more and it will help to build a community around your store, service, or brand, which is what social media is all about.

It’s certainly true that you should treat all of your customers well, but it doesn’t mean you should treat them all the same. Those customers that have taken the time to sign up as your fan, friend, or follower have shown a heightened interest in your brand that should be recognized. By plying your social media followers with occasional exclusive deals or discounts, you can help turn customers into fans that will evangelize your business to others. That way, you can turn new customers, into return customers, who in turn attract more new customers for you. That’s the type of cycle that social media, when put to work properly, can help you create.

More small business resources from Mashable:

- Mashable’s Social Media Guide for Small Businesses
- Top Mobile Productivity Tools for the Small Business
- 5 Advanced Social Media Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses
- 4 Ways Social Media is Changing Business
- 6 Must-Follow Steps for Selling in Any Economy
- 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, MorePixels, timsa

Tags: business, how to, List, Lists, small business

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David Spinks is the Community Manager for Scribnia, where the world’s bloggers and columnists are reviewed by their readers. He also blogs at The Spinks Blog about business, careers and professional communities.

If you spend enough time on Twitter, chances are you’ll come across an occasional chat being held on the platform. Twitter chats are scheduled gatherings of people on Twitter to discuss pretty much anything that interests them, using a #hashtag to keep track of the conversation. There are chats for everything from blogging to art to agriculture — over 80 of them are listed in this great running list of Twitter chats.

Over 3 months ago, Lauren Fernandez and I started a weekly Twitter chat for young professionals called #u30pro. It’s been an extremely rewarding and exciting experience, and I’ve learned a lot about how to run a successful Twitter chat. Here are some tips and tricks for how you can start and run your own chat on Twitter.

1. Choose a Time, Topic, and Tag

The first thing you have to do is choose a topic. Unless you’re looking to start a competing chat, you’ll probably want to choose a topic that isn’t already being done, so ask around, do some searches, and check the Google Spreadsheet linked above.

You’ll also want to make sure you pick a time that doesn’t conflict with a pre-existing chat in topic areas that might attract similar chatters. Ask around and make sure there aren’t many other chats at the same time, especially if it’s something that both audiences will be interested in. Choosing a time can be the toughest part. Just realize, you’ll never be able to please everyone. I suggest choosing a time that works best for you, to make sure you’ll be committed to it.

Your chat’s hashtag should be as short and explanatory as possible. Everyone who participates in the chat will have to use the hashtag with every tweet, so the shorter the tag, the more space they have to write chat messages.

2. Choose a Format

There are a number of different formats that chats can take:

1. Single Topic, Question Based

This is how I run the chat I am involved with. We choose a general topic, then ask specific, numbered questions throughout the chat within that topic. Each question gets roughly 15 minutes, and the chat lasts one hour.

2. Multiple Topic, Question Based

The longest running chat, #journchat which was started by Sarah Evans, uses this format. All questions are submitted by participants and numbered. Any topic goes, as long as it’s related to PR, Journalism, and Social Media.

3. Single Topic, Freeflow

This is how Mack Collier runs #blogchat. He chooses a topic, and just lets the discussion take a life of its own. This chat runs for 2 hours.

4. Q&A

Jay Baer runs a different kind of chat. He brings in a guest to answer 20 questions over 90 minutes. While the focus is on the guest, many people follow along and share their thoughts on the questions as well.

5. Free For All

No specific question, just bring everyone together and let them ask whatever they want. It’s a bit messy and I haven’t seen any chats adopt this format permanently, but I’ve seen a few try it for one week and the results have been great.

3. Launch the Chat

Of course, this will be easier for some than for others, depending on how engaged you are with the audience that you’d like to participate.

Promote it to your community leading up to the chat. Let people know beforehand when they can join and how the chat will be run. It may be smart to reach out to a few key people personally and ask them if they’d be interested in participating.

Be prepared for a slow start. Like any community, a Twitter chat takes time to build participation.

4. Tips to Help Your Chat Grow

Whether you’re starting a chat for business or for fun, I can tell you that it is an extremely rewarding and exciting experience. It’s an opportunity to bring people together and engage in valuable and insightful discussion.

If you’re starting it for a business, it is best to choose a general topic that relates to your business, and always keep in mind that these chats are for the community, not for the hosts. If you’re too promotional, your chat will fail.

Here are a few tips to help make sure your chat is a success:

* Stay open to new formats. #journchat got so popular that Sarah Evans began to look for new formats to host the chat, including video streaming, and even a country-wide live event. Always stay open to changing things up based on the community’s needs.

* Bring in guests. Every chat I’ve seen has at some point, brought in a guest moderator to host the chat, or a guest expert to take questions. It’s a great way to bring in a lot of new people and bring credibility to your chat.

* Take the chat beyond Twitter. A monthly chat for public relations students called #PRStudChat created a LinkedIn group for their chat, for example. They use it as a forum for the community to interact, and for them to share announcements and ideas.

* Consider multimedia. The weekly #DesignChat streams its chats live on video each week. The chat’s host and guests interact with participants over Twitter and answer questions on video. Video services like Tinychat and Ustream integrate with Twitter, making them ideal platforms for Twitter chats.

Disclosure: #DesignChat streams live in the Mashable Lounge, which is powered by Tinychat.

* Promote your participants. At #u30pro, we send out a weekly digest every morning after the chat, in which we announce a “featured participant,” share 5 blog posts from the u30pro community from that week, write a recap of the chat, and more. Highlighting community members and the things they’re doing gets people more engaged.

* Keep it up! Luckily, Twitter chats are inherently viral. Because when someone participates in your chat, all their tweets appear in their stream with your hashtag, and they bring in their followers. As long as you keep to your schedule and keep holding regular chats, the chat will pick up new participants over time.

Which Twitter chats do you participate in? What other tips would you give to those trying to start their own Twitter chat? Let us know in the comments.

More Twitter resources from Mashable:

- The Tao of Tweeting
- How Twitter Lists are Changing #FollowFriday
- HOW TO: Use Twitter’s New Retweet Feature
- 10 Ways You Can Use Twitter Lists
- HOW TO: Use Twitter Lists
- HOW TO: Use Twitter Hashtags for Business

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tpuerzer

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Reviews: TinyChat, Twitter, iStockphoto, ustream, video

Tags: how to, List, Lists, twitter, twitter chat

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