lists - Cultivating Community2024-03-29T01:40:20Zhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/feed/tag/lists20 Things That Should Be Included In Your Online Community Websitehttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/20-things-that-should-be-included-in-your-online-community2014-05-27T15:30:00.000Z2014-05-27T15:30:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>Designing an online community spec can be difficult, there are some elements I think should be included in nearly every online community. These are:</p>
<ol>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2010/07/12.html">It’s own domain name</a>.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282161?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282161?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"></a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/04/the-application-form.html">An application form</a> to join the community.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2009/05/connect-with.html">Facebook Connect/OpenID linked</a> profiles.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2009/04/hompages.html">Latest activity</a> from members on the front-page.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/06/start-the-news-page-for-a-new-online-community.html">A news page</a> for content about the community (Should be the landing page.)</li>
<li>A forum for members to communicate.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2009/05/gamemechanics.html">Game mechanics embedded</a> deep within activity.</li>
<li>Sections named after people and/or community jargon.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/08/addvalue.html">These value-added pages</a>.</li>
<li>These <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/04/8-overlooked-elements-every-online-community-should-have.html">8 overlooked elements</a> too.</li>
<li>The ability for members to create their own sub-groups.</li>
<li>Commenting enabled for stories that appear on the news page.</li>
<li>The option to Tweet/Facebook-share any comment/story with friends/followers in two clicks.</li>
<li>Use Facebook plugins to show which of your friends are already members of the community.</li>
<li>The ability for visitors to read all community content (which isn’t private), but have to log in to participate.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/01/a-good-policy-to-introduce.html">Deactivation of accounts which are inactive</a> for 6 months.</li>
<li>The option for the admin to give increasing levels of access to community members to moderate comments, write content etc…</li>
<li>Every new member is prompted to answer a question which appears on a forum thread – hence prompting further responses and <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2009/07/secondvisit.html">converting the newcomer into an instant regular</a>.</li>
<li>Members receive notifications when someone comments on their profile or responds to their forum thread (and these can be turned off).</li>
<li>A Twitter sidebar which shows tweets by members in the community and allows members to respond (with an automatic hashtag) that shows up on the side of the bar. It’s like a mini chat-room, but promotes you and encourages <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/08/encourage-activity-elsewhere.html">off-website activity</a>.</li>
</ol>
<p>What other elements would you include?</p>
<p><em>Image via GraphicStock</em></p></div>