One of the great things about blogging is that it’s given me the chance to assemble a community of people who interests overlap with my own. But so far that community only becomes interactive through the comment threads and, to a lesser extent, Twitter.
I’ve wondered if it would be worthwhile to invest in cultivating more sense of community at The Noisy Channel. I have no desire to replicate social network functionality available elsewhere, and I trust that most readers use some combination on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
But I could do some things here that might be helpful:
- Create an opt-in directory page that lists readers with a short tagline and a contact URL. For example, mine would be:
Daniel Tunkelang
Chief Scientist, Endeca
http://thenoisychannel.com/ - Post job descriptions targeted at readers, along with contact information.
- Institute a regular appearance of guest blog posts.
Do any of the above appeal to people? The directory strikes me as the simplest first step. I’d love to find out more about who my readers are, and hopefully I can make it worth your while by directing some traffic in your direction. Conversely, a list of Noisy Channel readers with short descriptions sounds like just what the SEO doctor ordered. Of course, it would only take off even enough people are interested in being on this page.
I’m intrigued by the possiblity of posting targeted job descriptions, but that’s only worthwhile if there are enough of them. I have no desire to compete with the large job sites!
Finally, guest posts are something I’ve talked about before, but that somehow have never taken. But a directory might make it easier for me to know whom to ask.
If any of the above interest you, please give me feedback in the comments. I’ll take silence as a lack of interest.
