community spotlight - Blogs - Ning Creators Social Network2024-03-28T10:29:36Zhttps://creators.ning.com/blogs/feed/tag/community+spotlightBusiness Fights Poverty: A Community With a Causehttps://creators.ning.com/blogs/business-fights-poverty-a-community-with-a-cause2014-04-30T17:40:25.000Z2014-04-30T17:40:25.000ZCrystalhttps://creators.ning.com/members/CrystalC<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2233575?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p><em><span class="font-size-3">This post originally appeared on the <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/business-fights-poverty-a-community-with-a-cause" target="_blank">Ning Blog.</a></span></em></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">Business Fights Poverty was established in March of 2008 to pioneer new ways of fighting poverty utilizing economic and business opportunities by groups and individuals. Founder and Director, Zahid Torres-Rahman discovered and implemented the perfect platform for his idea through a chance conversation and a day’s worth of work. “A technology guru friend of mine first told me about Ning over breakfast, and by dinner I had set up the community." Since its creation, the community has continued to evolve and expand its public profile. Business Fights Poverty has bloomed from 1,000 members after one year to more than 10,000 members today.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Openness, community, professionalism, respect, and integrity are the five core values that drive this vibrant network of business professionals, academics, philanthropists, and non-government organizations – all of whom share a passion for fighting poverty through business. Business Fights Poverty utilizes inspiring blogs from members, face-to-face events, and a powerful resource hub to captivate potential members and engage current ones. Their community also serves as the central station for public outreach via social outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. All these components have come together to make it the largest organization of its kind and a vital resource in the fight against poverty.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">We reached out to Zahid Torres-Rahman to get the inside scoop on how his community has grown and helped created a brand with public impact:</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://blog-o.ning.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-02-07_1100.png?width=176" target="_blank"><img src="http://blog-o.ning.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-02-07_1100.png?width=400" width="400" class="align-right" /></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b>What made you start your Ning community?</b></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">All around the world exceptional people are finding new ways to fight poverty – by creating new jobs and economic opportunities in low-income communities.   The challenge we set ourselves back in 2008 was to help turn these individual acts of inspiration into a broader movement for change.   We wanted to build a sense of community by connecting these intense, but often dispersed pockets of energy.  We wanted people to be able to find, engage with, learn from and be inspired by like-minded peers.  Ning made this all possible for us – by offering an affordable and easy way to build an online community.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b>Have you achieved this original objective?  How else has your community helped you and your business, brand or mission?</b></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">I think we have come a long way. We’re now the largest community of our kind, with a brand that is steadily growing in profile.  We publish a great story every day, and pretty much all of these come from community members.  We are increasingly active in the real world too, with face-to-face events and publications.  At the same time, I feel that we are only at the beginning of an exciting journey.   We are constantly trying to learn and improve.  We recently hired <a href="http://www.feverbee.com/">FeverBee</a>, following a Ning webinar (<a href="http://www.ning.com/blog/2012/12/how-to-grow-an-online-community-%E2%80%94-recorded-for-those-who-missed-it.html">which you can watch again here</a>), and they have been giving us some great advice on enhancing our member engagement.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b>If you had to pick one measure of the success or impact of your community, what would it </b><b style="line-height: 1.714285714; font-size: 1rem;">be?</b></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">We track all the usual metrics about visits and member engagement, but for me nothing beats the personal stories that I hear from members about howthe community has helped them – whether to find a new job; connect with potential project partners; or just to be inspired by what others are doing.  I enjoy reading what our <a href="http://www.businessfightspoverty.org/profiles/blog/list?user=3u7jk8jijwj2g">Members of the Week</a> say they hope to get out of being part of the community.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b>How long did it take your community to reach critical mass?</b></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">It took us a year to reach 1,000 and four more to reach 10,000.  But one thing we have come to appreciate is that it’s the number of actively engaged members that matters, and that’s where our energy is now focused.  The great thing about Ning is that by massively bringing down the costs of organizing online, it has made it possible to create successful, small, specialist communities.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b>What tactics drove the most growth and activity in your community?</b></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><img src="http://blog-o.ning.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-02-07_1131.png?width=213" width="213" class="align-right" /></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">We have focused our energy on three areas. The first has been on building the community brand.  We worked with professional graphic designers to develop a strong look and feel for the site, and we invest in great photography to illustrate stories on the site. The second area is around content.  We have put a lot of energy into our editorial calendar – to build up a strong flow of timely, high quality and interesting content, primarily from our own members.  We drive traffic to this content through our weekly broadcast messages, and we are also very active on Twitter (@FightPoverty) and other social media sites. The third area is around member engagement. Every year, we have an active programme of face-to-face and online events, such as webinars.  Through our “Member of Week” and “Star Member” initiatives, we profile our most active members.  We have high hopes for our new member’s Forum, and have other ideas in the pipeline to encourage member interaction.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b>What feature(s) are most important to your members?</b></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Right now, our blog is the most popular feature on our site, followed by our events.  Over the next few months, we are looking to grow our forum as a way to generate more member-to-member engagement. We’ll also be more closely integrating our offline and online activities – so for example, we’ll be running online discussions linked to our face-to-face events. Following member feedback, we’ll also be launching a jobs board.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b>Do you have any advice for other people building online communities?</b></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">We recognized early on that community management is a full-time and professional activity!  Continuous investment of time and effort is needed to encourage member activity and network growth. On top of that, listening and responding to what your members want is critical.   Recognizing when things are not working is important too! For us, we have been on a continuous learning journey, and are constantly looking to improve the site. I am a fan of the <a href="http://creators.ning.com/">Ning Creators Network</a> – and have picked up many great tips there.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b>What’s the craziest story you have about your community?</b></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">The craziest story is from our first day. A technology guru friend of mine first told me about Ning over breakfast, and by dinner I had set up the community. I was the first member and my wife was the second. I remember telling the third member – a colleague of mine who was working for a charity at the time, “I know you are only member number 3, but I promise that one day there will be many more of us!”</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">There is an African proverb that has been an inspiration to me: <i>if you want to travel fast, travel alone. If you want to travel far, travel together</i>.  For me that is at the heart of what the global Business Fights Poverty community is about, and I am excited about what the future holds.  I believe that for all the amazing things we are doing individually, if we can do more together – as part of a movement for change, the possibilities are limitless.</span></p>
</div>Building Strong Tieshttps://creators.ning.com/blogs/building-strong-ties2009-12-01T18:00:00.000Z2009-12-01T18:00:00.000ZCourtenayhttps://creators.ning.com/members/Courtenay<div><p><a href="http://creators.ning.com/profile/Robert"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1868264?profile=original" alt="" style="float: right; padding-left: 10px;"></a>World AIDS day is observed every year on December 1st to raise awareness and cultivate a strong community of support. Network Creator Robert Breining has taken these values online with his network, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.community.poziam.com" target="_blank">POZIAM</a>. Robert is dedicated to developing a welcoming and supportive community, and it really shows. Since creating his network, Robert has established techniques for building strong ties within POZIAM. Thank you Robert for sharing!</p>
<p><b>Can you tell us a bit about POZIAM?</b></p>
<p>POZIAM is a social network for people living with HIV/AIDS. It was created to benefit both those infected and affected and has grown to include family, friends, celebrities, newbie's and long-term survivors. The POZIAM network has a great balance of members—some come here to learn, while others come here to share. There is no greater feeling than being comforted by someone who has experienced a HIV/AIDS diagnosis, or discovering you have helped someone realize that their journey is not one they need to take alone. Paths cross for many different reasons, the diversity of over 1100 members in over 40 countries makes POZIAM an interesting place to find support and begin moving forward after a diagnosis. The network offers a safe place to ask questions, share experiences, find support and build new friendships.</p>
<p><b>Why did you decide to you use Ning? How has it helped you expand POZIAM?</b></p>
<p>When I decided I wanted to create a social network I wasn't the most tek savvy person. I could barely design a myspace page. I decided to use Ning because they are leading the pack for building social networks. Ning made it so easy for me as the NC to be creative and truly get my message across to my members , because of that alone I was able to expand my network with new members and cool features to keep them connected. I have learned so much in design using Ning. Ning made my vision obtainable, and now a reality</p>
<p><b>POZIAM has such a great sense of community. How do you welcome members into your network?</b></p>
<p>When a new member joins a social network like POZIAM they are hesitant to participate right away, so I set up a group called "Greeters". I asked members to volunteer to become network greeters. When a new member joins POZIAM, they are welcomed with my personal message and the messages from our greeters. It is a great way to welcome new members. and it makes the members who are greeters feel connected with POZIAM. We also have an introduction forum category where new members are asked to introduce themselves to the rest of the network. It is wonderful to see a member start participating on the network. This is when I truly know they have found their comfort zone.</p>
<p><b>When I first visited your network, I noticed an announcement for an upcoming group chat session. Tell us a bit about how these chat sessions have been going and whether they have been an effective way to connect.</b></p>
<p>When first diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, part of you feels like you are alone almost instantly. While some people go to support groups in their areas to talk about living with HIV/AIDS, others, like many POZIAM members, live in rural areas and don't have these local resources. I thought it would be a great to schedule a weekly group chat as a form of support for my members. I created a group for this scheduled chat and invited members to join . This gave me a sense of how many would participate. Group Chat allows new members to introduce themselves and members who have just been diagnosed HIV+ a place to ask questions without being judged. When we begin group chat I ask the members to suggest a few topics. From there we begin to chat about one topic at a time and then move on to questions. My members love the group chat and look forward to it every week.</p>
<p><b>How do you integrate POZIAM Radio, your internet radio show, with your Ning Network?</b></p>
<p>When I started POZIAM, I wanted to do something different to bring my members back after they first joined. As a person living with HIV/AIDS at times we feel like our voice is forgotten. I wanted to give that voice back to the HIV/AIDS community. I discovered BlogTalkRadio, an easy-to-use medium to bring my members together. I post the Radio player on the top of each member's profiles, so it is easily accessible. When we started hosting on BTR we had a bi-weekly radio show but now we are down to one night a week . Sundays at 9pm EST. The members love to listen live and if they miss the live broadcast they can download past shows on iTunes and take POZIAM Radio wherever they go.You can read what our past POZIAM Radio guests have to say about being on the show at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.poziam.com" target="_blank">www.poziam.com</a>.</p>
<p><b>World AIDS day is coming up on December 1st. How will this event shape the content and features you focus on? (OR another similar questions related to the event). ex. How will this event drive/influence traffic/how do you connect members to this event?</b></p>
<p>On World AIDS Day we remember the fallen soldiers in the fight. We reflect on how far we come and where we are headed. I usually set up a table at my local WAD event in Philly and have our flyers for local HIV+ individuals in Philadelphia. I don't pay to advertise. I believe that word of mouth is the best form of advertising. My members will also be attending WAD events around the world wearing POZIAM T-shirts to spread the work about the radio show and social network.</p>
<p><b>Which feature has been most useful for your network?</b></p>
<p>Besides Chat, the most useful feature on my network would have to be the Blog. I decided one day that having featured Bloggers would allow members to share stories and discover similarities with other members. Newly diagnosed members can be hesitant to share at all when they first join. When they read blogs from members who are long-time survivors,living with HIV/AIDS 25+yrs, They get a sense of hope and purpose. Members discover that this journey is one they don't need to take alone. This is what POZIAM is all about.</p>
<p><b>Can you share tips on how you have used Ning to build a strong community? What areas/features will you highlight or change in the future?</b></p>
<p>One thing my members tell me is that when they join they don't feel like member # 1234. They want to feel like they are part of the POZIAM family. They love chatting with me and receiving the greetings they get when they join. They realize their "Dreams are not Infected".One tip I would share with other NC's is to allow your member to get involved and make them feel connected to the network. I would love to change our group chat into a video/audio chat but have been unsuccessful. POZIAM TV is also in the works.<a href="http://www.community.poziam.com" target="_blank"></a></p>
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