(un)social media?

Arrghh! Well, we've now moved around the social media space so much that we're starting to get all mixed-up in terms of our 'corporate' identity! We started over at Webjam which was a neat little enterprise and lasted for some time. However, we soon found that it was not supported by our field equipment, i.e. posts to Blogs etc. could not be made 'off grid' which kind of defeated our ethos. So we moved to Ning.

Ning was being used by a number of organisations who we respected including UN-GAID and a few others so we thought we'd test it for field compatibility. Luckily for us we found that we were able to post to Blogs using some of our (comparitively quite basic) equipment. So we left Webjam behind and wholeheartedly embraced Ning. Overall it seemed a good social networking service, quite professional if at times a little too complex for an 'average' user (if such a person exists). Certainly our colleague in Kenya posted photos and added a couple of Blog posts. We did, however, lose a few of our members in the move which was a concern as we didn't have a lot in the first place!

So, everything was going quite well over at Ning besides the fact that it really turned into a glorified Blog as people stopped using the social network functions. It was basically Yours Truly writing blog entries as to how work was progressing. And so, when Ning decided they were going to start charging a fee for using their site and since we operate on less than a shoestring we decided to jump ships again.

And that's how we ended up back on Blogger which we'd used in the field in Kenya when all else had failed. What can we say, its a Blog. No social networking. Do we need that? Probably not we are realising.

So, still attracted by the idea of having a nice, neat online community represented by a social network we've just been experimenting with Buddypress which is a Wordpress plugin. A quite funky looking site was partially built then we decided to change the 'theme' a little and hey presto lost the whole site! We give up!

To sum, there's a lot to be said for keeping things as simple as possible. Certainly we have been finding that when it comes to designing hardware solutions to help meet our mission aims. Its now looking like the same applies to software (including social media) solutions too. Our community is now running via a very basic static website which has links to Blogger (here) and a Google Discussion Group. We also use Skype a little to stay in touch (actually just the 'chat' facility) and even SMS across continents. And, guess what, on occasions we find ourselves meeting in person! Such delight. :-)

So, in conclusion we should say don't always opt for the latest, most hyped solution out there to help acheive your goals. Stand back, think a little about what it is you are trying to do, think about who will be doing this and where. Don't necessarily opt for the lowest common denominator, sometimes its useful to push the envelope a little. But, please do choose something that works for your community, for the people who will have to get to grips with these new technologies which are still being developed in terms of social as well as technical dimensions. Whilst we are currently disappointed with social media it obviously will find its niche as we all find what works and what doesn't. And I guess that's the point of this far too long Blog post. We've learned a few lessons so its good to share these. And that's what social media should be all about.