Hey Folks,

I hope you’ve enjoyed your time here in the Networking Clubs.  As you might imagine we’ve invested heavily in the creation of these clubs.

The whole team is super excited to see the rich community that has rapidly developed.

Our original plan was to go live with the clubs in January. 

What does that mean?  It means rather that force people onto a wait list we would let them come directly to the Clubs main page and begin interacting.

It would also mean that we would email our 125,000 email subscribers with an email about the clubs.

Beyond my obvious concerns of overwhelming the clubs, there are a few thoughts going through my mind that we might want in place BEFORE we go live with the clubs.

1. Moderators: I think we may want to recruit a moderator or two from within each of the clubs to help ensure on-topic discussions, reduce spam and so on.

2. Technology: We’re gonna work on getting the site even faster than it is to accommodate the thousands of daily members.  This means content delivery networks and so on.

3. Bug fixes: We’ve been implementing a series of improvements gradually and are aware of certain bugs that still need to be fixed (like duplicate emails

4. Leaderboard mods: We’re working on making the leaderboard only display the most active members over a 30 day rolling period of time.  This will allow all members an equal opportunity to get on the leaderboard, regardless of how long they have been on the site.  All members will retain their ranks from their investment on the site.

So here is my question to you: Should we wait a bit until all of this is in place before going public with the Clubs?  What are your thoughts?

Mike
CEO, Social Media Examiner

cc: @kristi-hines @rich-brooks @andrea-vahl @cindy-king @phil-mershon

You don’t start baking until the oven is up to temperature. The infrastructure needs to be set and tested before launching. User experience is of the utmost importance to the success of this platform or any new venture. A poor initial user experience will only drive others away and delay success. Ducks in a row and then full steam ahead.

Hi  @mike-stelzner 
It’s great to see you are going to open the doors for the Networking Clubs!

However, I think you should wait some time after you have fixed everything you have mentioned above. There are some small needed improvements to be done, otherwise it could result in more workload with answering help questions.

Currently new threads have been decreased a bit which is normal as many questions have been asked already. But opening the doors could result in a flood of new similar threads and maybe lot’s of advertisement. So adding some Moderators is in fact necessary.

I could set up a list for you which I think they have to be improved first.

Last but not least, again, thank you very much for your effort and this brilliant new place for all of us!

Nick

@donpurdum @doriandickinson @keitheverett @nickrock

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Nick – Please private message me with your suggestions, thanks!

I’m not a big for for waiting but if you have bugs and a (in my experience) very slow site you could loose people I know the slowness really puts me off using the site more than I maybe would if it was faster but I’d look at the problems and priortise whilst rolling out to the general public, but be prepared people can be harsh;-)

You can’t redo a first impression, and that’s what sticks with people. Ensure it’s running on all 8 cylinders BEFORE you launch it, or the larger audience you’re trying to engage will just get frustrated and never return.

I think I’m with the majority on this and to wait a bit and make sure that it’ll run as smoothly as possible. Like having moderators all in place with some practice under their belt will REALLY help when the flood gates open. 
Of course you can’t know every problem that will come up, but at least with what you’ve already listed that you know of, you can get that all up and running so that you can better handle the future issues. 

That’s my two cents. Thanks for opening up the discussion and good luck! 

Mike,

I have been working with similar circumstances in a social media environment. First thing I can tell you is that, The Social Media Examiner is a class act site and very inviting. Now with that said, people in general want to be involved in what they choose to be part of, this being in our everyday lives and online. The fact that you are in testing and share your development concerns and ideas is outstanding. For me personally, this is one of the social media attractions of your site that keeps me coming back for more, I would use your members involvement in just that way as an added bonus to your growing community. If you go public with your clubs under these pretenses and keep all of your members involved i believe you will see great things evolve. I enjoy being part of the bugs and fixes alike as this give me the opportunity to grow with you.

Regards,David FaliseLifeisfantastic.com 

Would you wax a car if the engine did not run. Obviously no, I think it would make sense to insure that you have a moderator in place, That your server can support the new influx of traffic and that the top priority bugs are fixed before you wax this car and show it to the public

Michael, make sure you have the site where you feel comfortable it can handle the influx of traffic.  You want the site to be fast not the roll-out.

I think you should wait until you have resolved the issues you mention before opening the flood-gates but I have a Plan B idea for you!

A neat way to help you promote the clubs and have the membership base scale-up smoothly rather than all at once, would be to adopt the Google approach and give current members of the club a certain number of invites which they could then pass onto their networks. Once new members joined, they too could get the invites for their friends etc. This not only gives current members a bit of social capital but would allow the numbers to grow smoothly, help market the clubs virally and importantly, this would also allow you guys time to adjust to the growing numbers and be able to fix any problems that this increase may cause.

At this point, I haven’t been able to spend much time here but it seems easy to exchange information. Once the floodgates open, that will change so I say make sure most of your ducks are in a row before opening to everyone. This is a fantastic resource. Thank you for providing the Networking Clubs.

@mike-stelzner

Many of my thoughts were echoed in comments above, but I wish to add two things:

1. Redundancy of topics
Not sure how we can avoid this one, perhaps there should be filter before a topic goes live, to ensure it is not existing already. In other words, if I wanted to start a topic called “How to budget for social media”, there should be a fence or filter before the topic goes live. Someone could monitor: if the topic exists already, you will be redirected to the thread(s) addressing this topic. If it doesn’t exist, then you go live.
I have noticed some topics get doubled up, in particular when the thread dries up and gets relegated to page 2 or 3 on the club main page.

2. Need for moderation
Things are OK for now, in beta mode, but once the floodgates open, there will absolutely, certainly and without a doubt be spammers and folks trying to “pitch” their services in here. It’s inevitable. But with an “army” of moderators at hand, this can be mitigated. We certainly don’t want to go the LinkedIn groups way, do we…

For the record: these clubs are awesome, and I can only hope the authenticity and dynamic conversations will live on once you go public.

Cheers,

I agree with those that are leaning towards waiting until everything is in place before opening it to the public. A bad user experience will not only turn that user away, but also anyone they share their bad experience with. Not to mention that overwhelm for the moderators and club leaders will limit their time for participation.

That being said, there will always be tweaks and changes and it will never be perfect. So, just be sure the infrastructure can handle the load so that the whole thing doesn’t come crashing down.

JoAnn

@samscholfield

You can turn off notifications for email friend requests.  The main advantage of friends is tracking just your friends activities and of course private messages

@mike-stelzner

I love the site.  Yes, there are some bugs and I know you and your crew are working hard to correct them.  Those of us who are on the site now knew we were coming in an the beta stage and are patient and expected issues to come up.  We trusted in you and your product enough to know you would produce a great place to network and you are delivering on that promise. 

However, it still has some bugs and not everyone in the larger public will understand some of the gliches.  A great first impression is very important and I would hate to see all of your hard work be degraded or dismissed because of launching too early.  I also think it is imperative to have more moderators. 

That is my opinion.  Thank you for this platform and all the hard work to get it done.

Vicki

I say wait till it’s in tip-top shape – and that’s speaking from personal experience with a program I launched that was “almost there” and we launched it – the little things really bugged people.  Love what you are doing – wait till it’s totally “cooked.”

Thanks for the message Mike. When you do a Launch, it is like the honeymoon of an marriage and therefore I fully agree with  @doriandickinson. The Beta is the engagement before the special day (launch) and you do not marry until you are 100% sure that you’re ready and therefore I think I can not agree with  @keitheverett because look at all the failed marriages in this world (after they thought they were perfect and ready). Look at the enrollment number. Look at the world 7-billion people, Facebook 8-million and Socialmedia @ almost 1,500 members. Are you satisfied with this figure? Do you think you have all the kinks and knots worked out? When you can answer Yes to these 2-questions, then it’s time to Launch Mike

@mike-stelzner
I think the clubs should be available for public soon. Work in the most important bugs and take advantage of the momentum. In my experience the site works very well. Of course there are always things that can be done and fix but you’ll have a better picture over time.

Great job creating the clubs, Congrats!

@mike-stelzner Thanks for inviting the feedback. I’ve launched a few community sites (to technically challenged market groups, no less – always a potential for disaster!) and see the pros and cons of everything being said above. 

I think you should launch sooner vs. later – however, there may be some elements to put into place to help you find problems faster, and help users help themselves or each other so it doesn’t take as much of your bandwidth. to that end some of these things may be helpful:

• create a club specifically for “site usability” where people can post questions, concerns, tech questions about the site as well as offer suggestions for new features – it can be seeded with some of the questions you think most folks will have… (what are points? how do i stop emails? etc etc) what you don’t want to see are usability questions, complaints etc sprinkled all over your groups.
• a static site FAQ may also be in order which shows people how to manage their email – with clear links to this throughout the site
• there’s no reason NOT to keep the site “beta” for awhile longer. when you announce it to your next phase, let them know this… you appreciate their patience and if they do have a question, have them post it in the “site issues” group where perhaps some seasoned pioneers, adventurers and innovators can help out!
• perhaps you could stagger your next invitation in groups of 25k vs. the entire batch… this may be easier on your servers and allows you to test the waters and see what “new” issues are starting to emerge and fix those before the next 25k is released…
• agree with comments above to perhaps broaden the club topics a bit more so there’s a bit more breadth and areas to participate in right off the bat – some ideas are: twitter, linkedin, youtube, social media apps and tools, social media corporate (vs small biz) etc etc

There is so much great content on the boards. I’m learning a lot from the participants and wonder how it will be when 1000s of people join. I really like the suggestion that @alanmartin had about members inviting people. It has certainly worked well for Pinterest. 

Thanks @mike-stelzner and the team at SME for providing this valuable opportunity to connect, share and learn.

I am loving this group and the interaction and that it is very personable – i just hope this doesn’t get lost when the flood gates open. I agree @fredericgonzalo @katiecavanaugh  – I think dynamics will certainly change and do think moderators need to being place as on any forum or network.

@dongrandy great idea – with information overload and so many networks to mind over it would be nice to get a daily or weekly digest email of the latest topics.

Great job to SME – keep up the good work and looking forward to the summit next month!

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/clubs/ahh! the “getting started” piece is already in place which is excellent. perhaps it could be placed in a more prominent place – or perhaps more links to it thoughtout (like a sticky post in each group) my navigation path was clicking on: Learn how you could be here under the Leader Board. i’m not sure i see any other ways to get there, but i’ll keep a look out.

I’m in the “fix it all first” camp. To be honest, I haven’t been able to keep up with all of the postings and can’t imagine what it will be like with a zillion people. The sheer volume will probably cause other issues, so fix the “small” stuff now. The information has been great and the friendliness of all is wonderful. I wonder if that will continue? I just wish I had time to absorb it all! Maybe we need a club for “social media/time management?” Thank you!

Hi @mike-stelzner 2012 is for me all about taking ‘Imperfect Actions’ and ‘Feel the Fear, and do it anyway’.

There are many great suggestions already mentioned here. And it is not that I disagree. 

I think you already have lot of great elements in place to make this valuable network for the hole SME community. 

Yes, there will be some new challenges when you open it to the crowd. But that will be the case no matter how ‘perfect’ you make this product. 

At the moment there is Blogging, Facebook and Small Business Network here. And I am sure it will be a demand for more groups. Plus there might be a need for sub-groups to filter some of the noise.

I like the idea of group-managers similar to how LinkedIn do it. But actually when you see how LinkedIn Groups has evolved and improved, it all happens on the go.

To quote Nike ‘Just Do It!’

Cheers..
Are Morch – Hotel Blogger

@mike-stelzner  firstly this site is a great gift to a growing community. I am quite new to all of this and hopefully rapidly learning.

 I think it would great to open it up to others bearing in mind some of the comments/suggestions re: moderation, topic mgt etc. I don’t if it’s possible but it would also be brilliant if there was a way to link topics so users could seach on terms like i need to, I would like to xx and get 6,8,10 more relevant threads.

@czeital

Hey Craig – Topics actually are already linked.  When someone tags a post it creates a unique directory for all other posts with the same tag.  Next time you read a post, click on the tags at the top of the post

@mike-stelzner – I think opening up the membership will be a good thing for all the users but I can see it getting overwhelmed.  A few suggestions:
Add more clubs and also sub-clubs that are a little more specific 

• Facebook Parent

1. FB ads
2. FB Pages
3. FB insiders – (people who provide FB services)

• Blogging
• Google
• SMB

1. Business Owners
2. Service Providers

• Video
• Newsletter
• Etc.

What is the rush, you can’t drive a race car to win the race if you can’t rely on the engine and components.

@mike-stelzner

Congratulations on a great job so far.

Is there a way to let the Beta Members invite the people they know on your SME 125,000 subscribers?

That way you will grow to include all your fans on SME to see themselves as the next wave of pioneers.

Also, I feel you should turn off the 5 points for every friend you make. I receive too many friend requests, many of whom have not checked out my profile. Or make it just 1 point, so that it does not become an easy way to climb up the ranks.

Engagement activity on each club should be the key criteria for climbing the ranks.

Sumit

@mike-steltzer

Jumping  in late to this but another week or so will not matter.  Prioritize the points and technical and get started on moving to a set date to roll out.  If you are having to ask the question, you probably know you need a bit more time.

I agree with the majority views to wait until all the bugs are worked out and improvements initiated. It’s a great site and service, but it does compete with our limited time already stretched thin with Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and a dozen other SM daily activities….Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy the clubs and have read some very helpful posts. I’ll be more active as time allows. But the thought of 1000′s more people joining and posting is daunting. Don’t know how to manage it so we can keep up with it all…. 

Michael  @mike-stelzner and @kristi-hines @rich-brooks @andrea-vahl @cindy-king @phil-mershon these clubs are a wonderful medium to get to know the community and engage on a more personal level.

I would recommend doing a “Google +” slowly drip new entrants, while continuing to test the waters.

It’s an enormous undertaking and I’m sure with all your collective expertise the final product will be beyond what we all hope for.

All the best

@mike-stelzner, good time to be in beta, and so far have not met up with any bug that let you wait before going public so time is perfect to make it a perfect shot! Just a little personal opinion from my side, is it possible to develop “Reply to all” option in the comment/reply box of forum. For example: If i am replying you on question of getting public with clubs, i need to click on each @name button on the right side of each member name to whom i want to include in reply, but making it like gmail or yahoo and availing them reply to all would really a great deal! 

This is just a little opinion from my personal mind!

 First, let me start by saying I love the site and Clubs.  I’ve been involved with both since their respective launch.  My personal opinion is if you feel the bugs are serious enough to hamper performance and user experience then I say hold off.  We, that are here now, know  the platform is in beta and are early adopters so it is fair to assume we have a higher tolerance for those little quirks that occur in beta launches.  This may not be the case with the general social media public and could hinder that all important first impression.  Either way, I’ll still be hangin’ around though.  Keep up the great work.

Hi, I think that this is by far the best forum that I have come across.
I am in sales, and I know that you have only 3 seconds to make a really good first impression, so my only suggestion is to make sure that it is capable of keeping up with a sudden, huge influx. If it is, then I say go for it! If it’s not, then I suggest that you wait until it is able to keep up with that, or people may lose interest if it doesn’t run smoothly.

@mike-stelzner Hi Mike, I support you.  I love this social media examiner club, eventhough I am not active here because of my busy work.

Hi Mike,

Go public when the points you stated have been cleared and the team has expanded to take on the capacity. This site might explode like Facebook and jump to several million members and be to much to handle.

Regards

Eric

My two cents:

Though you don’t need perfection – certainly moderators would be needed to handle the new flow. 

I also find the speed an issue now. If this becomes worse with a larger group then it would be an issue for most of us. 

Good luck!

Mike  I have had the geatest time here in the SME networking clubs. Any bugs I experienced were negligable. I will be highly recommending them to others. You are right to want the diamond to be fully cut and polished. So my suggestion to you is; As soon as possible!

First of all, the clubs are GREAT!! You guys are a class act. A gradual roll out has its attractions.

First impressions count. I say wait until known issues are fixed or at least additional moderators are in place.

It would be a shame to let the technology and usability of the Clubs let it down, especially when it’s such a great resource. So I’d say, iron out the quirks first before going public

I tag along with all my fellow explorers, adventurers etc that consider “waiting” the best strategy.On a personal note, I haven’t gotten “the moves like Jagger” yet on how to best utilize interaction and the clubs have limited access.Francesca

@mike-stelzner I think it makes more sense to wait for another couple weeks and get a few of the kinks worked out, then move forward with pushing it to everyone. I think Beta testing is going well, but getting the moderator and bug issues sorted out is important to having a quality roll-out.

I’m enjoying the club but like many others, finding it hard to keep up with the posts. I would appreciate the ability to have a daily or weekly digest of the new topics.

This has been one of the most amazing networking experiences I have had. With the number of people who will log into this networking group I would fix the known glitches before they are multiplied.