(I’m targeting this query primarily at my friends involved in the space of social networking, attempting to glean insights ahead of a speech I’m giving on the topic.)
Is it a Facebook group? Is it Twitter? Is it a more targeted approach, like listing something on ThePoint.com? Is it good old fashioned e-mail?
There’s no one size fits all
I realize this. That’s why I’d like to learn what specific ways you’ve tried to organize people online, and how that affected what tool you chose to do so.
Thanks in advance.
Matt Bigelow 
A lot of good things can happen through e-mail. Some of the most popular blogs today started out as e-mail newsletters.
Ultimately, I think it depends on what you’re trying to do, and what your audience is. Are you trying to drive traffic? Are you trying to create buzz? I think that unless you’re someone like Chris Brogan or Robert Scoble, driving traffic through Twitter may not be the best idea, but if you’re trying to create a community, it could work.
Facebook, with all of the new wallpaper-ey ads and apps, may not be the best way to go, but it could work if you’re trying to drive buzz around an app.
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Maybe (since I’m co-presenting with Matt in November in Milwaukee, in case anyone is there) I could refine this a little. We’re presenting to an audience that makes up an organization that has been around for 30 years, and of course, during that time, has had many ups and downs in terms of successes. However, it is now going through the process of turning the reins over to the younger generation, which means coming up with new ways to reach people when a paper newsletter doesn’t cut it as much anymore. I look forward to your comments!
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Mike,
Thanks for the clarification.
Daniel,
Thanks for the insights, and thanks for starting a discussion.
I think a great example of what you’ve done is with the Tribune and Twitter. My question to you is: why Twitter? Why not Pownce? Or another “micro-blogging” service (even though Pownce founders deny that it’s a micro-blogging service)? Because it’s the biggest?
Why not a FB group? Why not friending everyone you can in the Chicago network and following their “lifestreams” (you’ll find I’m going to start referring to FB as lifestreaming)? Or are you doing that too?
What you’ve done that I think is interesting is successfully tapped into the what your target audience is doing in a non intrusive, not-too-corporate kind of way.
What thought went into that?
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It depends on the nature of what you’re trying to do. Are you just trying to raise awareness, or achieve a specific goal? What are the barriers to a solution – are they individual, corporate, governmental? What do people need to do to make something happen? What types of people do you need to reach?
You could probably put together a matrix where you could look at the attributes of your campaign and match them to the appropriate tool… if you’re interested in doing something like that, I’d be happy to help (andrew at the point dot com).
But, to answer your question, thepoint.com is the best š
– Andrew
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