BLOGGING COMMUNITIES

All bloggers are part of an online community which is a group of people who interact with each other via the Internet. (Tuomi, 2001)

Types of Communities

Various types of blogging communities exist such as special interest blogging communities which are a gathering of a group of bloggers who all share and write about a common interest. An example of special interest blogging communities is Spill.com which is a website for bloggers who are interested in movies. A Malaysian example would be the Lowyat.net Forum, a local online community for technology enthusiasts and traders. Another type of blogging communities are the blog advertising communities like Nuffnang and Advertlets.

Steps to Build a Blogging Community

 Source: ProBlogger

1. Network with others in your industry
Begin by getting yourself acquainted with bloggers that have similar interests as you (Schwartz, 2007)

2. Comments
The most natural place to start to build ‘community’ is by interacting with bloggers in the comments section. (Rowse, 2009)

3. Reader Centered Posts
Show readers that you value them by regularly publishing posts that are for them. Some methods are like: posting questions for reader discussion or highlighting a reader and his/her blog. (Rowse, 2009)

4. Provide ways to ‘join’ or be a ‘member’
Provide ways for readers to subscribe to your blog and update regularly with interesting posts to keep them interested. (Rowse, 2009)

5. Be the community
Involve yourself in discussions and activities happening within your blogging community (Rowse, 2009)

BloggerUnited

 Source: Jejaktrend

Bloggerunited is a social blog aggregator which helps promote visibility for bloggers and their websites by forming a social network for bloggers. The newest posts published on your blog will be promoted in Bloggerunited according to the genre and subject matter of your blog. The more readerships your posts get, the longer Bloggerunited will promote you on their site.

 Source: BloggerUnited

The website forms a symbiotic relationship between it’s blogger members to help promote each other to reach higher readerships.

References

1. Rowse, D 2009, "8 Tips for Building Community on Your Blog," online, retrieved 18 November 2009, from http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/02/28/8-tips-for-building-community-on-your-blog/
2. Schwartz, B 2007, "Building Your Blog Community," online, retrieved 18 November 2009, from http://searchengineland.com/building-your-blog-community-10556
3. Tuomi, I 2001, "Internet, Innovation and Open Source: Actors in the Network," First Monday, Vol. 6, No. 1, retrieved 18 November 2009, from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/824