Social Networking is here to stay - it's not just flavour of the month! 

"A year ago (2005) a lot of our users were pretty unclear about what they could do," says Konstantin Guericke, co-founder and vice president of marketing at LinkedIn, a social network focusing on business connections.  In 2006 LinkedIn's membership grew from 1 million to 4.2 million.  Users are conducting 5 million searches a month for potential contacts within their own networks.

There are already millions of people out there who are active members of social networks, which have become a part of their business lives. 

Ultra Knowledge tools ensure that online publications have strategies at their disposal which help build a loyal community, while simultaneously making use of this additional source of content.  Consider the following:

Changing a monologue to a dialogue

Traditionally, publishing has been a one way transaction – an Editor made a statement and had very little opportunity to get feedback.  Now it is their job to promote comment, discussion and even dissent.

The increased workload this imposes on your Editorial team is the reason why Ultra Knowledge have designed a set of tools for Editors.  

Encouraging the growth of community

The Editor now has to be a facilitator, manipulator and leader.  They need to make things happen, not by controlling, but by making it possible.  Good community growth is not forced but nurtured.  The Editor has to be able to introduce ideas to people, people to ideas and people to people; no longer can they dictate from their own single viewpoint.

Ultra Knowledge are able to offer dynamic content tagging and user profiling to automatically facilitate the matching of people, ideas and content.

Building relationships

The experience of large social networking sites indicates that only about 1% of the members of a community are regular contributors.  However, this figure is radically different in Social Publishing.  When there is a smaller community with a strong common interest and the opportunity to network is provided by a known and respected brand, the percrentage of regular contributors increases to as much as 80%!  Many of those active network members will be subject experts with very relevant practical experience that they are willing to share.  In the process they will be enhancing the value and experience offered by your site.

It is the Editor's job to create opportunity and encourage involvement; not by leading the community but by nurturing it.  Ultra Knowledge has the technology to automate many of the processes that allow the identification of subject matter experts and groups of users with common interests.  UKn can also classify content that will be of interest to these users.

It is not about control – it’s about active delegation – let go to gain more!

Providing better access to both content and people

The reason why a community develops is because of a common interest.  The reason users will consider joining your community is because they find the best content and the best people there.  Good access to content and people is a critical element in building a successful community. 

UKn Technology offers many ways that can help you build a vibrant and active community.  Look at the following to learn more: