By: Mar

Today, virtual community or online community can be used loosely for a variety of social groups interacting via the Internet. It does not necessarily mean that there is a strong bond among the members, although Rheingold mentions in his book that virtual communities form “when people carry on public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships”. An email distribution list may have hundreds of members and the communication which takes place may be merely informational (questions and answers are posted), but members may remain relative strangers and the membership turnover rate could be high. This is in line with the liberal use of the term community.

The term virtual community is attributed to the book of the same title by Howard Rheingold, published in 1993. The book discussed a range of computer-mediated communication and social groups. The technologies included Usenet, MUDs (Multi-User Dungeon) and their derivatives MUSHes and MOOs, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), chat rooms and electronic mailing lists; the World Wide Web as we know it today was not yet used by many people. Rheingold pointed out the potential benefits for personal psychological well-being, as well as for society at large, of belonging to such a group.

Virtual communities are considered a vital aspect of the Web 2.0 concept, which depends upon social interaction and exchange between users online. This emphasizes the reciprocity element of the unwritten social contract between community members. Web 2.0 is essentially characterized by virtual communities such as Flickr, Facebook, and Del.icio.us (see below).

Different virtual communities have different levels of interaction and participation among their members. This ranges from adding comments or tags to a blog or message board post to competing against other people in online video games such as MMORPGs. Not unlike traditional social groups or clubs, virtual communities often divide themselves into cliques or even separate to form new communities. Author Amy Jo Kim points out a potential difference between traditional online communities (message boards, chat rooms, etc), and more people-centric, bottom-up social tools (blogs, instant messenging buddy lists), and suggests the latter are gaining in popularity.

The ability to interact with likeminded individuals instantaneously from anywhere on the globe has considerable benefits, but virtual communities have bred some fear and criticism. Virtual communities can serve as dangerous hunting grounds for online criminals, such as identity thieves and stalkers, with children particularly at risk. Others fear that spending too much time in virtual communities may have negative repercussions on real-world interaction (see Internet addiction disorder).

The idea that media could generate a community is quite old. Progressive thinkers such as Charles Cooley, early in the 20th century in the United States, envisioned a nation whose members were united strongly because of the increased use of mass media. Also well-known is the term community without propinquity, coined by sociologist Melvin Webber in 1963.

The explosive diffusion of the Internet into some countries such as the United States was also accompanied by the proliferation of virtual communities. The nature of those communities and communications is rather diverse, and the benefits that Rheingold envisioned are not necessarily realized, or pursued, by many. At the same time, it is rather commonplace to see anecdotes of someone in need of special help or in search of a community benefiting from the use of the Internet.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Related pages: My Space graphics, free smilies, crazy ebay auctions, proxy lists. GNU Free Documentation License
Article Submission made possible by: www.articles-submit.com
Courtesy of: Reserve Domain.

By: Tammy Embrich

You’ve finally created your website and you need ideas to promote it!

But where do you promote your website? How do you promote it?

There are literally tons of marketing ideas out there. But I wanted to focus on the concept of Forum Marketing. There are message forums everywhere.

Work at home, home business, webmasters, affiliate programs, and articles…are just a few of the various types of forums out on the Internet today.

So which forums do you promote on?

Well, this will depend on what your website is all about. Is your website about working at home? Is it about a particular home business you are a representative for? Is your website about affiliate programs? You will need to base your marketing around what your website is about.

For example…If your site is basically about “work at home,” you will want to join “work at home” forums. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

So…you’ve joined some message forums that relate to your website, what is your next step?

Here is a simple laid-out plan on forum marketing:

1) The first thing you will want to do is find the “Introduction” folder. Make your first post, introducing yourself to the forum members and share a few things about yourself. Important…NO ADS in this post! If you post an ad here, it will most likely get deleted.

2) Browse the forum and get aquainted with the community. Take the time to read through a few threads and get a feel for what the forum is focused on and what it has to offer.

3) Check out the Forum Posting and Signature Rules. On most forums, this is usually located fairly close to the “Introduction” folder. Make for sure you fully understand the rules of the forum and follow them carefully.

4) Post in a few topics that you are interested in or share some advice. Try and make your posts consist of as much quality as you can…not just, “I agree” or “nice post.” Forum members usually just scroll by these type of short and sweet messages and don’t even bother to find out what YOU have to offer the community…thus, resulting in a complete waste of time on your part.

5) Create your signature. While doing so, make for sure you follow the forum signature rules. A signature is a block of text that displays your name (if you care to share that information), and links to your website or affiliate programs. There is usually a character count limit. Always include your signature in all your future posts. If you are unsure of how to create a signature, click on the FAQ link, (usually found at the top of the forum).

6) Post your ads ONLY in the advertising folder. If you post your ads elsewhere, you run the risk of losing your forum account. ALWAYS read the rules of this section.

7) Get to know the community…have fun and make friends. Share your work at home experiences and any knowledgeable advice or tips. Ask questions on areas you need knowledge or more information about.

The idea here is to establish a good reputation for yourself and gain trust and loyalty from the forum members. You will quickly discover that you will bring in far more traffic to your business or website by doing this rather than spamming ads in the advertising section and not engaging in good quality work at home conversations.

Something that most forum spammers are not aware of…I have found out through forum marketing, most people don’t read the advertising section anyway. Most of them are there for searching out knowledgeable marketing techniques and related business resources. So, it is much more beneficial for you if you utilize the message forum for what it is really intended for…NOT for spamming your ads and then leaving.

The forum members will get to know you and grow curious about what your signature links have to offer. The end result…they will be much more inclined to sign up for a business opportunity under you if they grow to trust you by conversing with you on a day to day basis in a friendly forum atmosphere.

This is called “Proper Forum Networking.” Give it a try…it works like a charm everytime.

Article written by: Tammy Embrich
Tammy Embrich is an Internet Marketer and is the
Owner of WAH Opportunities

By: Zachary Skinner

Forum Marketing For Beginners

Forum marketing is one of the most popular and profitable ways to advertise your website. Although it can be very time consuming it can be well worth the effort in the long run. If you believe in the law of give and you shall receive then online forum marketing is for you. The key to successful forum marketing is to emerge yourself in the forum and answer the posts as honestly and as insightfully as possible not referencing your signature link at all unless there is a real reason to, for example, when someone asks for a product recommendation.

Forums were started as a means of organizing a group of like minded individuals into a single location for informed discussions. There are now perhaps thousands of forums available on the internet and they cover every imaginable topic. Some will have only a couple of thousand members while others will have tens of thousands of members. Although not originally intended as a place to market products and services they are in reality great places to do so.

Here are some of the reasons why:

1) The traffic at forums is highly targeted. If you visit a forum for European car owners, for example, you can easily market products and services related to Europeans cars to visitors and members of that forum.

2) You are allowed to have a signature file. You’re signature file tells the world who you are. Most forums will allow you to include a hyperlink to your website.

3) Most forums are free to join.

4) A special offers section. Some forums have a special offers section where members can sell their product or service to other forum members at a discounted rate. Most forums who have a special offers section charge only a nominal fee of ten, twenty, or thirty dollars to list your offer. The offer is then sent out to a large group of targeted prospects.

5) Forums are search engine friendly. Search engines love fresh, unique content and forums are filled with it every single day. This means that a simple one line post that you made to answer a question could lead to a sale by someone searching the search engines for an answer to that same question.

6) You can actually use the threads in these forums to give you ideas for articles and web content. If you’re really saavy you can then sell these articles or content you created out of the forum threads and sell them back to other forum members through a special offer. (Threads are discussions on the forum related to a topic posted by a member)

Forums are great places to both learn new ideas and information and also to market the same time by helping others. The more you start lurking around in forums in attempts to market your products or affiliate programs the more you’ll find that you actually enjoy hanging out at forums. They really are great places to meet interesting people and learn things you may not have had the chance to learn otherwise. Since I joined the Warrior Forum back in 2004 I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the most respected names in the internet marketing industry. Regardless of whether I need to make money I usually visit the forum once a day and see what’s being talked about and ask any questions I might need answered. You should find that emerging yourself in a good forum will have an interesting “zen” effect on your bottom line. That is, once you start visiting a forum regularly to help and to learn you should notice an increase in sales.

If you happen to have the time to spare you should really try to join as many related forums as you can. Not only will this multiply the number of individuals who view your signature file but having posts on different forums pointing back to your website boosts your credibility with the major search engines and will increase your rankings.

Forum marketing is perhaps one of the best free promotion tools available on the internet and the only thing costs is your time. There’s really no reason whatsoever not to join one. As you become more experienced with forum marketing you may even find that beats all of your other forms of marketing.

If you are serious about forum marketing then you may want to consider purchasing Forum Marketing Manager. It will do for your forum marketing what quicken does for your check book. You can check it out here: http://www.forummarketingmanager.com

Zachary R. Skinner,

http://www.resell-profits-up-the-yin-yang.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Zachary_Skinner

Hi there everyone,

I hope you all are having a great week!

I have reopened up our message forum…featuring free job leads, articles on work at home, home business, articles on parenting skills/tips, free recipes, freebies, chat area, free business tips and advice, and much more.

I will also keep you updated on any site changes or any advertising specials I have running.

You are all free to post any articles you have related to work at home/home business, parenting skills/tips….including your own, as long as you always include the author’s information. 

You are also free to post your ads/opportunities on the forum once per day as long as the forum rules are followed.  

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Message Forum

By: Juhani Tontti

So the breadth and quality of know-how in discussion forums, like Warrior Forum or AssociatedProgramsForum, is amazing. Members dig into all detailed aspects of their businesses, which gives other members real, practical help.

Everybody in those forums is in a need of better and new tips for his internet marketing.
In forum communities you can discuss with real legends of internet marketing, which would be impossible otherwise. Some members are newbies some are ” all seen ” seniors or millionaires, but the target is the same: share what you know.

Discussion forums are very ” honest ” places. If a member tries to advertise his business, he´ll be skipped out.
Discussion forum communities are for relationsbuilding among the most useful people in the internet, internet marketers. Members build joint efforts, share opt-in leads for instance or participate each others businesses. The members of high quality forums are a huge and powerful internet marketing tool: when you share your benefits, you´ll benefit.

At forum a member can specialize in certain topic or topics only and build his respect with that.
A good way to track your forum participation is to look at how many have looked at and responded to your topic. The more - the more useful you are.

Normally forums accept a few lines of advertising at the end of your post, called sig file.
This is the only place to advertise, even with three copylines including urls. Using sig file you can get tons of inbound links to your website, which will inrease your rank in search engines and bring more traffic to your website. Search engine spiders will also pick your posts, and they will be seen in search results. This will exponentially increase the effect of your post.

You can think that sig file is like leaving a business card in business meeting. It must be hidden advertising. Many forums accept even three different copylines. When you plan your adcopy, think like forum member and about the nature of the forum. My opinion is to use two kind of ads: one for rapid ” sign up my newsletter “- type and another for your website.

Regular posts build your authority inside internet marketing community. The more you´ll post - the more respect you´ll get. The more respect you have - the more sales it generates.

Forum post will live forever in the archives of forums and all over the internet - real residual effect.

Discussion forum members are the best of the best target group for internet marketer. This also sets some quality requirements on how you contribute in the forums. Be active and helpful. Be yourself and honest and never try to advertise. Keep in mind that the idea is to build relationships and give help.

The best internet marketing forums, like those mentioned earlier, are among the most visited sites in the internet. This tells that internet marketers see them very, very usefull for their businesses. It also tells that forum members are the best target group for any internet marketing business.

The richness of the forumcontent is amazing: people from different countries and cultures, people with different education, different internet experiences, different businesses etc. share their tips to each other. What can be better! This is possible only in the internet!

Tip as a summary: read more than write. Build up longterm relationships and joint ventures.

Article Source: http://www.article-buzz.com

Information about the Author:

I am Juhani Tontti and my passion is to co-operate with other NetBizMarketers. Take a look at my site, which gives a living to me: www.Way2Miracle.com and download my gift to you, Dotcomology. You can also sign up my newsletter. Thanks!