Many times I have tried to set up such communities (Bicycle Club, Work's Intranet, MBA distribution list, family, customers sites). very often those communities have died even before they were born.
There is one principle that I have kept out of all those web experiences : people use the communication tools only when they have a problem and when they are looking for a solution.
This is the "What's in in for me" principle : I have only recorded activities when people get an advantage out of the communication:
Forums : people asking questions see their problems solved, get information. Answering people raise their visibility. That's why on Linked In you can be flagged as an expert. Another example I saw was during MBA exams: the Forum was suddenly alive.
Distribution Lists are all a sudden used when someone wants to sell his car or quickly organise a barbecue.
Social networks are useful when you want to see what the others are doing (a kind of voyeurisme)
Viral marketing is like the new way of telling jokes (or stories). Why do people tell stories ?
I guess you can continue the examples by yourself : People communicate when they hope to get something out of it.
If you understand this "What's in it for me" principle, you understand that the web can be a very powerful tool to quickly find a solution to your problem. The range of problems is very wide : finding love, compiling Linux, buying Viagra, finding the perfect vacation, stay informed, find which WII game is cool and which one sucks... Identifying he community of people who have the same kind of problem than you can only bring you closer to the solution. This is for me the true engine of communities.
I use to say to my wife (as a joke ?) "Everything always comes back to 3 letters : SEX". But in that logic that there are also 3 other letters : "EGO".
And than I guess there are some things like "Right man at the right place" and "Time to Market" also applicable to Online Communities...
Well, we had a very nice week at the Belgian coast on the second week of August (2009). There was a lot of sun. The Belgian coast is really great when the weather is nice.
Mainly, we enjoyed some biking, the swimming pool and the beach. We also enjoyed some drinks on a terrace
(especlially in Blankenberge on the pig pillows)
There was also the traditional mini-golf.
On monday we wanted to see the FireWorks in Ostende but there was nothing : we were told they were cancelled because of the crisis ??? Nothing is more frustrating than a canceled fireworks.
On Tuesday we went for a 30Km bike tour in the country.
On Wednesday we went to De Haan on the beach.
On thursday we went to have a look at the Belgacom Beach Soccer but there wasn't much animation.
On friday we went to Plopsaland. There wasn't too much crowd. We only found that some attractions like the fire extinction were very dirty. We have also seen the "Samson en Gert" show in French for the first time : "Fred and Sanson". It was ok but they should stop translating from Dutch to French because it's a difficult exercise.
Today I have to read a lot of documents (RFPs, white papers), therefore it would be more comfortable to print them.
But I feel ashamed to print documents just to read them and than throw them away. 75% of the people feel the same way (see the article from DataNews : "Vous imprimez et vous en avez honte").
Last year already I wanted to buy the iRex DR 1000s and as one can see the price has been the same for more than 6 months now. It is still 699 Euros.
I'm an enthusiast about ePaper but with this level of price I doubt it will become mainstream soon.
Recently I started to follow a celebrity for the first time : Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong). Before that I thought following a celebrity was something not so interesting but now I follow Armstrong, I might change my mind.
Just after Lance Armstrong, I started to follow Axel Merckx (@axelmerckx).
It really gives the feeling that you get very close to those people. I enjoy it, in fact.
Often I say that one of my dreams is to cross a continent (like America, Central Europe or around the Mediterranean sea) by bicycle for several months.
I like the Tour de France a lot. Every night I enjoy the resume on een : Tour2009.
The main question this year is of course "Armstrong or Contador ?"
One can think that this competition within a single team is very unhealthy.
I don't think so.
First, it's excellent for the team because it's excellent for the sponsors: Astana. Every day that question comes back again and again.
Second, it's an excellent strategy for winning. If the Astana team mates can bring the 2 leaders safely at the top of the race when the real battle can begin, than you can let Armstrong and Contador challenge each other and let the fastest win... Plus : if one of the two leaders has a big problem, chances of winning are not lost for the team.
Now I'm curious to see if what I predict will become true : will Armstrong and Contador have a big fight "à la pédale" in the mountain ? I hope so.
I have not been blogging much these 3 last weeks. I was one week in Madrid for work (you can see some pictures on Robin's Blog) and than 2 weeks in Italy (Italian's Riviera, San Remo, Genova, Lucca, Pisa, San Gimignano, Firenze, Bologna and Como).
I will blog more about it end of june because too much work now...
It's very easy to ride. If you do it stop at the nice café in the forest : li ptit Bambou.
On Saturday, it was time for some real Mountain Bike.
At the Vélodrome in Rochefort (Jemelle) you can follow 6 Mountain Bike routes. We decided to take the route nb 4 which is 35Km. The routes were quiet well indicated and when we lost our way it was always our fault. When you get lost the map you can buy at the Tourism Office is useful.
The MTB route brought us to Han sur Lesse where we had lunch.
The weather was great and we enjoyed it a lot. For sure, we will do it again.
