Let us assume there are top 100 analysts in the world mostly using WordPress or Typepad or Blogger to make posts
Managing them is quite a challenge.
What is marketing ROI of analyst relationships for a Business Intelligence vendor- Curt Monash is the Aerosmith of Business Intelligence Analysts so he can tell it better.
How about a magical community where you just use their mostly Feedburner of Feedblitz RSS feeds to create a self automated community.
Serach Engine Optimization can be tricked by keeping that community website free from Google or Search Engines ( yes it can be done).
Use numerical etc as in Linkedin to spur rivalry by shifting their page positions up and down, or by clicking repeatedly on some posts to manipulate their views on blog posts.
What would SAS pay to have all SAS analysts in one webpage. or SPSS to have all SPSS analysts in one webpage.
Six months later suddenly open the website for search engines, and the RSS feed has downloaded all the posts of all the top 50 analysts of the world. Google advertsing wont matter because hey we have a mega vendor sponsor- while individual bloggers / analysts have no collective strength now as the community is too big.
So much blah blah-
What software would you use.
you can choose between
Ning.com ( but it mostly non Blog feeds based)
or Wordframe.com ( which interface and name sounds suspiciously like WordPress software)
Or you can choose a customized WordPress Solution called Buddy Press.
Here is the software-
BuddyPress will transform an installation of WordPress MU into a social network platform.
BuddyPress is a suite of WordPress plugins and themes, each adding a distinct new feature. BuddyPress contains all the features you’d expect from WordPress but aims to let members socially interact. Read More ?
Note this was just a generic case study for making a case for open source based community softwares. Resemblance to any thing is a matter of coincidence – except for Curt Monash of course.
Cost of Customized WordPress Software for communties is a big zero- it is free and open source and tjousands of plugins can be installed and maintained for it.
See an existing installation here
www.decisionstats.com/community
or at www.buddypress.org
DECISION STATS 