[Hidden-tech] Re: ? about self-promo

[Michael Muller]

Giannina,

Wow. That site rocks. I'm impressed. From a software point of view there are several things in there that I've been thinking of doing to my directory function for a long time, and many more things that I now want to do now that I see them. It's really well done, and I almost think we should lift what they're doing and use it for HT. I mean... wow. Definitely, send me an invitation.

And all this conversation is not to say that HT isn't great and hasn't done good things. It is great, and it holds many excellent seminars and networking opportunities. But if we're talking about making HT better, here's a website model that makes me sit up and get excited. It seems to drive the organization, rather than the website being a glimpse of what the organization is about.  This is natural, of course, since HT started as a group of people who wanted to network, and not as a website that wanted to network and promote people.

For a refresher, here's the HT "about" page:  http://hidden-tech.net/about.html

And here's BizNik's "manifesto" page:  http://biznik.com/about/manifesto.html


BTW, It looks like there was an HT meeting in September to vote on a Steering Committee. What was the outcome of that meeting?

Michael



At 12:21 PM 1/4/2007, Giannina Granata Silverman wrote:
>Michael,
>
>Thank you for your excellent insights.
>
>My thoughts mirror your own. While Hidden-tech has been great for me to meet people in a live setting (the offline events have been great), the site does not do any heavy lifting in terms of leveraging our community and our expertise.
>
>I am going to send you an example of a community I belong to in Seattle that is similar to Hidden-tech, it's made of small solopreneur types and indie businesses, but it uses a social networking model. I wish the Hidden-tech site was more like this! It's a self-promotional killer app!!
>
>It is: www.biznik.com
>
>The Biznik community is Seattle-based but anyone can join, and there are members from all over the world who are starting their own local "chapters". And non-members can look within the member directory for people they want to work with. The founders closely manage the site and the vision of the community, but anyone can contribute by putting on a seminar in their area (you get a cut of every seminar you put on) or hosting a networking happy-hour in your area. The more you contribute, or show up, or post on the message board, or bring in new members, the higher you rank in searches. And, you can pay $100 a year to be a supporting member, which buys you a higher search rank and and revolving ads, but otherwise the site is free. I am a non-paying member and my profile gets about 50-80 views a month.
>
>What's great about this network is that they've figured out how to use the internet to it's ultimate advantage.
>The site also has links to member blogs so people can self-promote to their hearts content.
>
>BTW, if anyone wants an invitation to Biznik, let me know via email and I'll invite ya! Or you can sign up on your own.
>Thanks! Hope you're all well!!
>-g
>
>-- 
>Giannina Granata Silverman
>Rocket Ranch Design + Advertising
>gsilverman at rocketranchdesign.com
>
>Seattle: 425.939.6823
>Mass: 413.303.9453
>Cell: 425.780.1693
>
>www.rocketranchdesign.com
>
>
>

--------
Michael Muller
Muller Technologies
24 3rd Street
Turners Falls, MA 01376
work:  (413) 863-0030
cell:   (413) 320-5336
skype: michaelBmuller
http://support.MullerTech.com

Eschew Obfuscation