socialfish online community vendor analysis whitepaper

2 A Note from the SocialFish

3 CEO Interviews What better way to get to know each company than by

interviewing the six CEOs. We asked them some questions via email—yep, just like homework—and included their answers here. We give them straight A’s, by the way.

3 Rob Wenger, Higher Logic

4 Sterling Raphael, NFi Studios

5 Bob Cramer, ThePort Network

6 Chris Bucchere, The Social Collective

7 Scott Balthazor, Socious

8 Mike Steadman, SusQtech

13 Features and Specifications for Each Vendor This document will not include one of those massive charts with

little check boxes. Instead, we thought it would be more useful to lay out the particular platform specifications in a more narrative way—in each vendor's own words.

14 Connecting People

19 Putting People to Work

26 Enabling Face-to-Face Events

28 Satisfying the 1%ers

34 Details for the Techies

38 Marketing Tools

44 Working Together

47 SocialFish Analysis: Putting the Awesome in "Awesomesauce"

48 Next Steps: Contact Details, Example Sites, and References

presents…

FEATURING CONTENTS

Six Online Community Vendors for Associations: An Analysis

Compiled and Edited by Maddie Grant, CAE and Lindy Dreyer

©2009 SocialFish • Share • www.socialfish.org

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e have been approached many times by association colleagues looking to investigate the possibility of setting up a white label social network or online community for their association — something that

would integrate with their AMS or single sign-on, and something that would merge seamlessly with their main website. We’ve been asked, “who would you recommend we look at? Who have you worked with?” The purpose of this paper is to highlight six online community vendors, and show off what we feel makes each special. We’ll be looking at Higher Logic, MemberFuse™ (by NFi Studios), ThePort Network, The Social Collective, Socious, and MemberToMember™ (by SusQTech). We sat down with each and asked all the initial questions we feel are important and compiled their answers for you.

The online community vendors we have chosen for this paper are among the companies we work with. They are also an integral part of the association community—which is massively important. They understand association issues and concerns, and understand community needs based around a framework of membership and citizenship (volunteerism and work). They even helped fund the costs of writing, designing, and producing this white paper so that we could offer it to you as a free resource. There are other great providers out there, and as long as you know what you are trying to accomplish you should be able to find a good slate of people to demo for you; but you can’t go wrong by starting here.

We have very specifically chosen NOT to put together one of those massive tables with check marks that no one outside of the IT department can actually interpret. This paper is aimed at the rest of the decision makers—those of us who are less from IT but instead from marketing, communications, government relations, PR, and membership departments, or those “many hat” wearers from small staff associations whose responsibilities cover several of these areas.

ChOOSING A VENdORThis document is just a starting point. None of the specs are fully detailed, but we feel there is enough information here for you to get a feel for each of the vendors. You’ll definitely want to experience the demos, as we did, so you can see and touch each tool.

Vendor selection is a very individual thing for every association. A few things that we feel are very important to keep in mind…

• Userexperience:Does the platform accommodate the way your members use the internet, or is it something you believe they’ll easily adapt to? This is why demos are so important, along with a list of sites and references for each vendor so you can see the product in action.

A NOTE FROM ThE

• Socialobjects:Social objects are pieces of content that compel members to take social actions. What are your social objects? Or another way to ask the question: what will your members do in the community? The vendor you select should offer the feature set to accommodate that activity.

• Cultureandvision:How well does the vendor’s vision of online community match your association’s vision? The CEO interviews included in this document should help you get a feel for the vision behind the tools.

• Outposts:If your organization has a presence in outposts like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or others—or you’re planning to have a presence—it’s important to consider how your white label online community might feed your outposts and vice versa.

• Compatibility:You may want to make sure the vendor you choose can work seamlessly within your IT infrastructure. We put this last because if this is important to your objectives, we bet it was already at the top of your list.

Most importantly, make sure you approach this process armed with an understanding of specifically what YOU want out of setting up a white label social network for your association. Avoid the “feature creep” trap. Just because many, many features are available does not mean you or your members need them all. Think about your social objects—the things you want your members to DO and talk about in your online community—which is more than giving members a way to connect. Connecting in itself is not enough to sustain an online community. Will they be mostly working on specific committee projects? Will they be posting events? Will they be using it as an information and news source? Will they be sharing photos and videos? It may be all of the above, but some actions will be more important than others.

On the back end, too, certain aspects may be important for you to prioritize. Will your community be more open, or more closed? How important are permissions for different kinds of members to do different things? Will you want to help members link to some or all of their public outpost profiles like Twitter or Facebook? How much flexibility do you want as staff administering the site? Do you want to be able to play around with the design and modules as the community grows, or do you want it to be all set up for you? Knowing the answers to these questions ahead of time will help you focus during your demos and eventually choose the right platform for you.

W

Maddie & Lindy






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CEO INTERVIEWS


ROb WENGER, hIGhER LOGIC

SF: Tell us a bit about the history behind Higher Logic. How did you get where you are now?

RW: I have been designing and building web software for associations and non-profits for over 10 years. Initially, I designed websites and applications that integrated to the back-end systems that organizations used to run their business. Later, I became the principal R&D architect for one of the leading AMS vendors where I designed the next generation Association Management System. While thinking about the future of the AMS, I started looking at social media and social networking tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Google Groups, etc. I realized how well the community building concepts of these tools matched with the goals of most associations: real-world networking, information sharing, and group collaboration. I saw a need for a social media solution that associations could use immediately with little to no customization— a solution that would extend the value in their back-end systems to their members. I was very fortunate when hiring my management team at Higher Logic to bring in many veterans of the association industry. Higher Logic’s Connected Community was developed with input and ideas from people with real world experience and a clear understanding of how social networking can radically change the member experience.

SF: What’s your vision for the company? Where are you going?

RW: During the initial phase of our company’s growth, we focused on getting the platform and the tools built, and on developing a clear understanding of what our clients needed from these tools. This is a never-ending task of course—as needs change, new ideas come up, and lessons are learned. I am very pleased with where our tools are today, and I am even more excited about our upcoming Connected Community suite enhancements and new products. In Phase II, our focus is on what it takes to make social media tools even more successful for our clients. When we started, there was little to no history on social media tool use in associations. However, after two years, we have a much better picture of what works and what doesn’t. My goal is to provide meaningful, tangible ways for clients to measure success, and we are doing that now. By empowering our staff, clients, and industry thought leaders to analyze how the tools are being used, I have no doubt that together we can come up with even better blueprints for success. My vision for Higher Logic is that we continue to innovate and produce exceptional products and provide associations with new opportunities to enhance their members’ experience.

SF: What makes Higher Logic’s platform unique?

RW: If we are just talking about the technology, the actual tools that we sell, I would say there are two major things that make our platform unique:

The focus on integration with the AMS. We built our suite 1. from the ground up with integration to our customers’ back-office systems as a primary architectural feature. I don’t think anyone else has really done this nor does anyone else have anywhere near the experience in doing this that we do. We integrate to 15 AMS systems now and have more coming online all the time.

The extensibility of our platform. Connected Community 2. is almost as much a development platform as it is a social media product. Our services staff, clients, and partners can build customizations or extensions and add them to their community sites using our tools.

Interview continued on page 9






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CEO INTERVIEWS


STERLING RAphAEL, NFI STUdIOS SF: Tell us a bit about the history behind NFi. How did you get where you are now?

SR: NFi Studios was founded on delivering creative and powerful interactive solutions for theme and entertainment companies. Though we have been working with associations since 2004, our earlier years also include work for Disney, Universal Studios, the Orlando Magic, the Pittsburgh Steelers and more. It’s this experience and commitment to building powerful user experiences that allow us to bring creative and refreshing software to the association industry. Our software is not only built with the latest and greatest technology and architecture, but also designed with the goal of meaningful, enjoyable, and intuitive user experiences.


SR: NFi Studios is quickly becoming a technology leader in the association industry. We do not qualify our leadership stance in terms of the number of clients we have, but by the value we deliver to each customer or partner. As technology continues to evolve and change, our clients know that we will lead them in the right direction according to their needs. We help our clients stay relevant by applying new technology solutions to the changing strategic requirements of associations.

SF: What makes the MemberFuse platform unique?

SR: MemberFuse is much more than a Social Networking platform. Although it has many social/community features, our infrastructure is built on a User Centric Architecture (UCA) allowing for a more relevant and semantic user experience. Our features are set up to consider the vibrant data which exists in the association database, the interests of each user, and the activities conducted in the community. All together, MemberFuse offers a tailored and on-demand experience for each individual user. Features like Content Alerts and Member Matching are just two examples of this relevance-based approach in our platform.

SF: How do you see your platform, MemberFuse, shaping the association industry? How does it change “business as usual” at the operational level?

SR: The association world has changed significantly and is continuing to rapidly evolve. Associations are no longer only responsible for producing content, networking, and education. Today’s associations must assist the contributions and conversations already taking place among their members. MemberFuse is set up to allow the association to facilitate user-generated content, membership benefits, and networking. It also aggregates external content sources and integrates with other social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. The MemberFuse platform is configured for each association based on their needs, but the main purpose remains the same: to empower your members to get the most value of their membership, to reduce clutter, and to be an on-demand source for member news and information. Our powerful reporting and analytical tools allow staff to adjust efforts based on the activity and engagement of their community, while providing the communication tools necessary to effectively respond to their audience.


Our clients can and do direct our feature development and often see those suggested updates soon after their feedback was provided.

“

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CEO INTERVIEWS


bOb CRAMER, ThEpORT NETWORk

SF: Tell us a bit about the history behind ThePort Network. How did you get where you are now?

BC: Software development is in the core DNA of ThePort Network. We were one of the first organizations to leverage XML and over the years built one of the most powerful and flexible white label social media platforms in the world. ThePort’s hard-core development focus has allowed us to stay in front of a rapidly changing industry while creating real products tailored for associations that deliver true ROI and reliability.

SF: What’s your vision for the company? Where are you going? BC: ThePort’s vision is to create a comprehensive social media platform that delivers tangible and measurable return on investment for our customers. This means creating new ways for associations to engage their membership and deliver real value to members. Our goal is to create the most tailored platform for associations that is also integrated with their association management systems. With ThePort’s Social Media Solutions, we can help members share news and resources online, create more involvement in association events, and introduce new methods for increasing non-dues revenue. We listen carefully to the needs of the market and then deliver those specific solutions.

SF: What makes ThePort’s platform unique? BC: Being a pioneer in this field has allowed ThePort to assemble a customer list that is unrivalled. There is a reason that so many large and well-respected organizations have decided to work with ThePort. First and foremost, we deliver what we promise, and that is not always the case in this new market. Many companies talk a good game, but delivering the sophisticated solutions that are needed to create online communities is much harder to do. We also support our customers diligently and continue to offer them new capability and functionality as it becomes available. We also pride ourselves on being able to deliver solutions that fit the requirements of organizations large and small.


ThePort’s hard-core development focus has allowed us to stay in front of a rapidly changing industry while creating real products tailored for associations that deliver true ROI and reliability.

“

”

Three words ThePort CEO, Bob Cramer, uses to describe his company? Leadership, integrated, reliable.






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CEO INTERVIEWS


ChRIS bUCChERE, ThE SOCIAL COLLECTIVE

SF: Tell us a bit about the history behind The Social Collective. How did you get where you are now?

CB: I’ve been running a consulting company for over six years now and about twice a year, we invest some of our bench time and resources into building products. If the products don’t generate any traction, we drop them. If they do, we put more resources into them. It’s very much a “strategy” of throwing lots of spaghetti at the fridge and seeing what sticks. The Social Collective came out of one of these experiments. We launched it at a 1000-person BEA conference in May of 2008 to rave reviews and outstanding usage statistics. We knew we were on to something when we saw how well it was received. I remember thinking that in five years, every conference will be running software like this. It’s just a question of who can get the right product to market at the right time. We went on to do a handful of other small events, but our real breakout moment came when we launched My.SXSW on our platform in early February of 2009. SXSW, being on the bleeding edge of technology, gave us the street cred we needed to approach other events with confidence. We now have a very strong pipeline and some real marquee customers using our software and telling us that they’re getting more registrations, generating more buzz and even saving money (on things like printing costs) by using our hosted software. In the summer of 2009, LaunchBox Digital—a DC-based startup incubator—invested in us and provided the leadership and guidance to attract other investors. Although we have not yet made a formal announcement of our funding status, we’re making significant progress toward a seed round and participating in investor pitch days on the East and West coast in August.


CB: Quite simply, we want to be the hosted social networking, scheduling and vendor community platform in use by every major conference, tradeshow, festival and event in the world. We handle the large, high-end events with our “managed service” and we’re also getting ready to launch a “self service” option whereby smaller events can set up their own sites without ever communicating with our support staff. SF: What makes The Social Collective’s platform unique?

CB: We’re not in the business of loading up our product with tons of features. Instead, we’re focused on the aspects of the software that address and solve real problems. Don’t know who to meet at a conference? Import your Twitter and Facebook friends and search for other attendees by city, state, industry, title, etc. Don’t know how to approach them? Send a quick online introduction using our Twitter-integrated messaging platform. Wondering how best to spend your time at an event? Build a customized schedule, view it on your smartphone (optimized) or sync it to your calendaring software and device of choice. Need to follow up with the great contacts you made? Download their vCards following the event. Need to attract and entice new event sponsors? Use our “Fan Pages” to create living, breathing communities of interest around your sponsor’s products. Every feature ties back directly to a value add for the conference organizer. Our argument is that—for the cost of taking out an ad in a newspaper—you can get social media credibility, generate year-round buzz, increase registrations, get your attendees to talk about you on social networks, and attract more and higher quality sponsors.

Our argument is that—for the cost of taking out an ad in a newspaper—you can get social media credibility, generate year-round buzz, increase registrations, get your attendees to talk about you on social networks, and attract more and higher quality sponsors.

“

”Interview continued on page 11






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CEO INTERVIEWS


SCOTT bALThAzOR, SOCIOUS SF: Tell us a bit about the history behind Socious. How did you get where you are now? SB: Socious was started in 2002. Two of us were batting around the problem that large scale ERP (enterprise resource planning)customers were having: how to find connections and solutions to problems that we knew they all had. While there were user groups and associations out there, no one had developed a secure place for them to share and network with each other over the internet. We contacted one of the largest PeopleSoft associations (the Higher Education User Group) knowing that due to their “Higher Education” nature, they would gravitate towards this type of social interaction. We built the first version of the software with them and Socious was born. We then virally grew quickly as related groups heard about their success. We focused our development and support efforts on making the infinitely configurable tools we have today that fit the needs of any size/style of association or user group. SF: What’s your vision for the company? Where are you going? SB: While Socious has always been a software company, we are a service company at heart. While other companies may have more installations than us, our focus has always been on understanding our customers goals and helping them utilize our tools to meet those goals—not just getting them running. Our vision for the company is to offer unparalleled customer support to make every one of our current (and future) clients as successful as they can be.

ChRIS bUCChERE, ThE SOCIAL COLLECTIVE CONT’d

Our vision for the company is to offer unparalleled customer support to make every one of our current (and future) clients as successful as they can be.

Where we change the game is allowing members to use the tools they already love and the content they already have to participate within your association in a way, before Socious, they never could.

“

“

”

”Part of that support is understanding where the market is going, seeing future trends, and listening to what our clients’ needs are—and bringing those ideas together with cutting edge functionality. We were the first to seamlessly integrate third party social networking content into user profiles, we were the first to have a full event system for chapters and subgroups, we were the first with a mobile application, and we were the first with advocacy tracking tools. For our clients to stay ahead of the curve Socious must stay ahead as well with industry-leading functionality and support. We must continue to have “firsts.” SF: What makes Socious’ platform unique? SB: I think the main thing that makes our software unique is the amount of functionality we offer in our software and the number of ways that it can be configured. While each client may have similar needs, each client is unique in how they want to meet those needs—and Socious has functionality to make sure every need is met. When you look at the depth of functionality in each of our modules, our difference shines through. Socious is not just a social networking tool, but a powerful knowledge repository that considers how a busy member would engage with a site like this. Our biggest advantage is that our developers have put all of this functionality in the software and still keep it easy to use.







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CEO INTERVIEWS


MIkE STEAdMAN, SUSQTECh

SF: Tell us a bit about the history behind SusQtech. How did you get where you are now?

MS: SusQtech started in 1996 as an international, full service digital agency building and hosting large e-commerce and content-rich websites. Our core solution has always been based on Microsoft’s Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform; which today is SharePoint. In early 2005, we transformed SusQtech; deciding to focus exclusively on SharePoint solutions for Associations. We had been hand-selected by Microsoft to be their Association industry partner to help finalize and launch SharePoint 2007, and in the process became convinced that the industry’s long-standing model of custom, proprietary, single-firm solutions would soon change. We recognized that the platform approach is a less expensive, more robust, and safer option for our customers. We’ve grown organically through the years, and today we are proud to be 100% employee-owned with an active employee stock ownership program (ESOP). The ESOP dynamic has really transformed the way our employees think about their customers. Everyone is a shareholder and has a vested interest in our customers’ success, which translates to our success.


MS: Today, SusQtech is well-diversified into four divisions: Training, Products, Solutions, and Support. All four divisions are growing, but the Products Division is by far the fastest growing. Our roadmap to 2010 is already underway. We continue to invest in and grow our Products Division, launching our third major product in Q3, with guaranteed quarterly releases and many new products on the horizon. We’re also gearing up for SharePoint 2010, which will provide new features around social computing, collective intelligence, and social search. Because MemberToMember is 100% SharePoint, all new features will immediately become available upon launch. Long term, SusQtech will continue to combine our deep association experience with our technical expertise in order to deliver quality training, products, solutions, and support to our customers. SusQtech only hires “lifelong learners.” These are the types of people who work all day on their computers solving complex, technical problems, then go home and immediately fire up a laptop and surf the net to relax, learn, or just hang out online. This creates a vibrant work environment filled with some really interesting, often “passionate” discussions, and this passion creates a positive outcome because our solutions and products reflect real-world, current usability patterns. SF: What makes the MemberToMember platform unique?

MS: MemberToMember, unlike any other product on the market today, is based on an enterprise platform (SharePoint). This is different than saying that it’s based on .NET or the popular LAMP stack. These are tools, not platforms. SharePoint provides out-of-the-box capabilities that support core MemberToMember features, like security, document management, alerts, photo and video libraries, colleagues, search, and analytics. More importantly, the SharePoint platform is both portable and extensible. This means flexibility to our customers. A community can easily move between our tier-1 SaaS offering to a third party hosting company, like Rackspace, or even on-premise in the customer’s existing infrastructure. The license itself is equally as flexible. We offer both a one-time perpetual license with annual maintenance and a quarterly license with free upgrades.


SusQtech only hires “lifelong learners.” These are the types of people who work all day on their computers solving complex, technical problems, then go home and immediately fire up a laptop and surf the net to relax, learn, or just hang out online.

“

”






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CEO INTERVIEWS

ROb WENGER, hIGhER LOGIC CONT’d

Beyond the technology, and building on that last point, we have just launched our Higher Logic User’s Group (HUG) which forms a community of our clients and partners. Here, clients can interact with one another, with our staff, and with our partners to share ideas and experiences. Finally, I think that our partner channel may be the biggest differentiator. We have a fantastic collection of partners that offer products and services that really complement our own. This is a 2 + 2 = 5 situation where the result of our integration and collaboration is really much more than the sum of its parts. This is a big area of growth for us now and in the future.

SF: How do you see your platform shaping the association industry? How does it change “business as usual” at the operational level?

RW: I am not sure that I would say “our platform” will change the association industry, but rather that the concepts it seeks to turn into tools and initiatives—the changes in the way our clients interact with their members and more importantly the way members interact with one another—will change the industry. I often think too much emphasis is put on changing the “operations” of the staff organization, and not enough is put on changing the “member experience” of the members. The how? It is about facilitating networking and communication. It is about collecting the knowledge of the membership and making it more easily accessible to the industry. The day our client’s community site is launched it won’t make a significant difference. But a year or two later, when there are thousands of documents online and rated, thousands of questions asked and answered, blogs posted, groups formed, people networking, etc., the value to a new member on the day they join will be huge. The private social network—integrated with the AMS—for the benefit of the members will help shape the future of the association industry.

SF: Ifyoucouldusejustthreeadjectivestodescribe Higher Logic, what would they be and why?

RW: Experienced – The Higher Logic team has a wealth of experience in building web applications for associations. We have over 100 association clients and growing from which we have learned and continue to learn so much more.

Engaged – Social media and social networking for associations and non-profits is what we do. We are engaged with our clients, partners, and peers with the sole purpose of making a better solution for all.

Inspired – We truly are inspired by our clients and by the difference these ideas can bring to their membership. Knowledge is the key to success in everything. Making knowledge more accessible is the future of associations.

ThreeadjectivesHigherLogicCEO,RobWenger,usestodescribe his company? Experienced, engaged, and inspired.

I often think too much emphasis is put on changing the “operations” of the staff organization, and not enough is put on changing the “member experience” of the members.

“

”






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CEO INTERVIEWS


SF: IfyoucouldusejustthreeadjectivestodescribeNFi,whatwould they be and why?

SR:Creative – We focus on delivering powerful and intuitive user experiences. No longer do associations have to settle for outdated or boring technology. Our features are robust and modular. We distinguish ourselves with creativity, and pride ourselves on our response to customer feedback. It is possible for each of our customers to have a completely different look and feel to their solution which maximizes their brand exposure and organizational objectives.

Agile – NFi’s operations and product development approach is agile. We release updates to our software several times a month including new features, enhancements to current functionality, and updated APIs/Integrations. Imagine how you could provide feedback on our product development features and see results within weeks, or even days. Our clients can and do direct our feature development and often see those suggested updates soon after their feedback was provided.

Social – We not only produce social technologies, we live and use them. Our company is actively involved in the association community, both with live events and online. We actively participate within the association blogosphere, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more. This gives us the knowledge and organizational culture to effectively produce relevant tools for our clients, as well as the community involvement to stay in tune with the association industry.

ThreeadjectivesNFiStudiosCEO,SterlingRaphael,usestodescribehis company? Creative, agile, and social.

STERLING RAphAEL, NFI STUdIOS CONT’d bOb CRAMER, ThEpORT NETWORk CONT’d

SF: How do you see your platform shaping the association industry? How does it change “business as usual” at the operational level? BC: The association industry can take their relationship with members to new heights with the power of social media. They can do this cost-effectively and with great impact. By giving people who share a passion or interest a place to congregate, exchange ideas, and become thought leaders, associations can increase member participation—and also develop new tools to drive revenue.

SF: IfyoucouldusejustthreewordstodescribeThePort,whatwould they be and why?

BC: Leadership – ThePort is a clear market leader for associations who want to deploy their own socially enabled communities.

Integrated – ThePort has built the most open platform in the industry allowing us to link together with other association management systems and databases to let appropriate information flow where it is needed.

Reliable – ThePort has the most experience and most users of any company in our space.

By giving people who share a passion or interest a place to congregate, exchange ideas, and become thought leaders, associations can increase member participation—and also develop new tools to drive revenue.

“

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CEO INTERVIEWS



CB: The tools we’re using have already been proven to work in a social context—look at Facebook and Twitter—and in a business context, e.g. LinkedIn. As I mentioned earlier, in five years, every event is going to be using these tools. Those that don’t take the plunge will quickly become obsolete. If an association has outgrown the free toolset and is looking for a “social media in a box” strategy, The Social Collective is a great choice. SF:IfyoucouldusejustthreeadjectivestodescribeTheSocialCollective, what would they be and why?

CB: Exciting – Get the word out about your event and get people talking about you in social media.

Cohesive – Transform your once-a-year face-to-face community into a buzzing hub of year-round marketing.

Essential – Give your attendees the tools they need to make your conference a must-attend event.

ThreeadjectivesTheSocialCollectiveCEO,ChrisBucchere,usestodescribe his company? Exciting, cohesive, and essential.

ChRIS bUCChERE, ThE SOCIAL COLLECTIVE CONT’d SCOTT bALThAzOR, SOCIOUS CONT’d

We’re not in the business of loading up our product with tons of features. Instead, we’re focused on the aspects of the software that address and solve real problems.

“

”

SF: How do you see your platform shaping the association industry? How does it change “business as usual” at the operational level? SB: Many associations look at social media as their outpost strategy (how they use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc) and their private social network strategy (on their own site) as two separate strategies. Our belief is that those two strategies need to be one overall social media strategy and each of those functions must compliment the other. Socious gives associations the tools to integrate content from their members’ outpost accounts and repurpose it for use with the association. Your members already have pictures on Flickr, updates on Twitter, profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook, and videos on YouTube. Don’t try to be a substitute for these tools because your website never will be. Where we change the game is allowing members to use the tools they already love and the content they already have to participate within your association in a way, before Socious, they never could. SF: IfyoucouldusejustthreeadjectivestodescribeSocious,what would they be and why?

SB: powerful – Socious has the functionality to turn your website into a destination.

Seamless – No matter if we are integrated with an AMS, LinkedIn, YouTube or any other third party system, it is easy to share information with the Socious system.

Supported – With Socious, you have a support team that is not only there for you, but cares about your success.

ThreeadjectivesSociousCEO,ScottBalthazor,usestodescribehiscompany? Powerful, seamless, and supported.






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CEO INTERVIEWS



MS: We acknowledge that all communities are different, and no matter how they begin, all communities change and grow with each member interaction. Market demands often force change, as users expect their association community to quickly adopt new online usability patterns. Because of our platform approach, we can meet market demands faster than our competition. This is best defined by example: Let’s say community leaders need functionality that provides a mashup using member location and maps. MemberToMember customers have options. They can purchase one of thousands of inexpensive third party SharePoint Web-Parts and install it themselves via the browser. They can find an open-source solution on CodeProject.com or any of the thousands of SharePoint blogs. Or, if they have the skills, they can build it themselves. This flexibility means they can spend less time thinking about technology and more time on engaging their community members.

SF: Ifyoucouldusejustthreeadjectivestodescribe MemberToMember what would they be and why?

MS:Engaging – Our communities are designed to be visually appealing and available 24/7 from any web platform or device, including a brand new iPhone app launched this month. Members can subscribe to virtually any element on the community through alerts, and common sticky UI components like “rate this,” and comments appear throughout the product.

Simple – This was the #1 design goal for end-users. We know SharePoint is massive, so our “win” was to leverage its power without compromising usability and simplicity at the end-user level.

Interoperable – Our suite of web-services-based API’s continues to grow on an almost daily basis. We didn’t start at zero—SharePoint comes with hundreds of API’s out of the box.MemberToMember has successful integrations with every major AMS on the market today.

MIkE STEAdMAN, SUSQTECh CONT’d

MemberToMember customers have options. They can purchase one of thousands of inexpensive third party SharePoint Web-Parts and install it themselves via the browser. They can find an open-source solution on CodeProject.com or any of the thousands of SharePoint blogs. Or, if they have the skills, they can build it themselves.

“

”

ThreeadjectivesSusQtechCEO,MikeSteadman,usestodescribehiscompany? Engaging, simple, and interoperable.






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omparing features can be overwhelming. We’ve actually found that while many of the same features are available in each platform, the way they are implemented can be quite different. That’s why these narrative descriptions of the features—in the vendor’s own words—are so valuable.

We’ve also divided this analysis into sections to make it easier to follow. The first four sections have to do with what users see and experience. The last three sections are behind-the-scenes details.

Features And SpecificationsFeatures And Specifications

C 14 CONNECTING pEOpLEWhen it comes to helping people connect, there are several important features to consider. From the user perspective, nothing is more important than the individual profile. This is the ego piece at work—everyone wants to look good in front of their peers. Other important features in this section deal with how people make connections individually and through groups, and how they stay connected through email notifications.

In this section: Individual Profile, Friending/Connections, Groups and Subgroups, Badges and Flair, Email Notification

19 pUTTING pEOpLE TO WORkSo what about the more functional elements—what we want our members to actually DO while they are inside the community? How do these platforms handle blogs, wikis, document sharing, photos/videos, and any functionality that enable content-creation and collaboration?

In this section: Blogs, Forums and Listservs, Polls and Surveys, Wikis, File Management, Media, Other Unique Stuff

26 ENAbLING FACE-TO-FACE EVENTSSince face-to-face is so important for building community (including online community!) we specifically asked each vendor about event features they’ve integrated into their platform. The responses are wide-ranging.

In this section: Events and Event Registration, Calendars

28 SATISFyING ThE 1%ERSWe also wanted to know about the really social, 2.0 features—the community building stuff like tagging, rating and reviewing, and how the platforms connect to outposts like Facebook or Twitter.

In this section: Mobile, Tagging, Site Search, Ratings/Reviews, Easy Sharing with Outposts, Connection with Outposts, RSS

34 dETAILS FOR ThE TEChIESIt’s time to start checking behind-the-scenes and under the hood. Prepare to unleash your inner geek with this list of the back-end features of each platform.

In this section: Code base, API, AMS Integration, Hosting, Security/Permissions

38 bEhINd-ThE-SCENES MARkETING TOOLSMarketing folks will appreciate these back-end features that enable better branding, search optimization, measurement, and revenue generation.

In this section: Branding and Style Sheets, Foreign Language Support, SEO, Flexibility of Design, Metrics, Advertising/Sponsorship

44 WORkING TOGEThERSo what’s it like to work with these guys? What’s their pricing model? How long does it take to get the site up and running? What about customer service? We collected the answers.

In this section: Deployment Time Frame, Pricing, Customer Service/Tech Support

Clockwise from top left, Higher Logic, Socious, MemberToMember (SusQtech), MemberFuse (NFi Studios), The Social Collective, and ThePort.






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FEATURES ANd SpECIFICATIONS


INdIVIdUAL pROFILE (“My pROFILE”):

The profile may be used at both the individual and organization level. Users can specify their own preferences to determine what pieces of information display on their profile. For each user, the system automatically puts together a “network” based on the various criteria identified in the profile to suggest people with whom they should connect. The profile also includes a blog, inbox, contact list and index of groups to which the user belongs.

MemberFuse features both individual member profiles and profiles for organizations within the community. Along with info and photos, other users can post personal recommendations on your profile page. Our Member Matching feature suggests potential contacts based on common characteristics from the individual profile.

ThePort profiles are designed to highlight what is unique about each user and highlight their activities in the community. Profiles feature information such as member certifications, education and location, enabling members to connect through these similar qualities. This information is also pre-populated in member profiles when integrated with our partner association management systems.

Profiles also display users’ actions in their activity feeds, including when members make comments, join group or create new friends. Member profiles also display each person’s Twitter activity. Activity feeds increase activity and give members “something to do” when visiting the community. Finally, profiles have three tiers of privacy settings so that users have complete control.

We support individual profiles for all conference attendees, speakers, organizers and sponsors. Beyond the traditional contact info, you can share links to your site, blog, or the rest of your social media graph. Your profile will also show your contacts, your groups, your event schedule, your public sent messages and other information. We auto-populate as much information as possible into your profile from your conference registration so you never have to fill out the same field more than once.

We can accommodate both group and user profiles with complete search functionality. Each member can have a profile in the Socious system that can pull information from their profile in your AMS. We enable users to share content from LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and other social networking sites right on their personal association profile. Also, it’s easy to search for members and groups—we customize the user and group search on every site to enable users to find others using the terminology and criteria unique to your organization and industry.

Individual profiles can include both personal and profession information. The community administrators can decide how many fields they wish to include in the profile and which ones are required. Each field can have its own security level (public, private, or colleagues). The profile also includes areas of interest which correspond to the community’s taxonomy. This allows MemberToMember to target and personalize community content to each individual user, as well as make colleague recommendations. Other information displayed in the member profile includes blogs, images, groups to which the member belongs and colleagues in common.

CONNECTING pEOpLEIn this section: Individual Profile, Friending/Connections, Groups and Subgroups, Badges and Flair, Email Notification






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FRIENdING/CONNECTIONS – ASyMMETRICAL (LIkE TWITTER) OR SyMMETRICAL (LIkE FACEbOOk ANd LINkEdIN)?

Symmetrical—when a user connects to a colleague, the colleague accepts the connection, and they show up in each others list of contacts.

Invite any member to become a mutual contact, or find new friends through MemberFuse with a matching system that brings together members with common interests. Coming soon we’re launching the ability to “Follow” or “Subscribe” to a user’s activity (if not private).

Symmetrical – all users must approve new connections. However, users can choose to have their profiles public (viewable by anyone), private (only viewable by connections) or completely private (viewable by invitation).

In The Social Collective we have taken on a Twitter-like following structure where you can follow as many people as you like. Those people have the option to follow you back (or not). Without a two-way “mutual” connection, you cannot exchange private messages. Also, having a mutual connection unlocks certain parts of your profile, including your event schedule.

Socious does not have friending capabilities currently. We are evaluating the best way to use it for associations for a future release.

The privileges associated with being a colleague are similar to LinkedIn. When receiving a colleague request, the member can accept, ignore or request more information. Members do not need to be colleagues in order to send messages to one another. Members can only invite an individual who is already colleague to join a group. Social distance between members is displayed anytime another member is displayed on the site, again, similar to LinkedIn. The site also recommends colleagues based on common colleagues, interests, groups and content.


Group profiles from SusQtech, The Social Collective, and Socious. (Left to right.)






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GROUpS ANd SUbGROUpS?

In our Directory 2.0 product, we call groups “communities.” Communities can be set up by invitation, pre-populated from the AMS, or created ad hoc by members..Groups can be further limited by using the security model found in your AMS to ensure that only individuals with the appropriate permissions may view, browse and interact with the community. This allows an organization to set up public groups as well as private groups to support a variety of recruitment and retention initiatives. All communities can feature discussion lists, a resource library, a calendar, and their own website.

Collaborative Groups enhance your member value with niche networking and sharing. Both association and/or member-created groups can also be used as department or project centers and auto-filled with members based on your AMS fields. Set groups to public, private, or hidden to protect your information. All group pages include features such as group announcements, discussions, wikis, resource/document sharing and much more! Our Sub-Communities feature allows an association to have more than one community each with a separate design, Members, Resource Libraries, Groups, and Organizations.

Groups and subgroups can be created by administrators, community members, or automatically created and populated from data in your association management systems. With ThePort’s Social Object technology, community administrators can even create their own custom groups such as chapters, committees, or businesses. These Social Objects have unique fields and information. Any committees or chapters managed by your association management system can also be created within the community.

All groups contain their own administrators, settings, permissions and members. Additionally, every group receives its own events, photo and video gallery and invitations. Groups also feature custom profile questions.

Groups are a key component of any successful social network. The Social Collective allows the event organizer to either control group creation or open it to members of the community.

Our ‘Community” pages are especially designed for committees, chapters, or special interest groups who need a home within your online community. Each group can have static HTML pages to build out their own site, plus their own members’ only area complete with forums/listservs, file library, Polls/Surveys, blogs, wikis, picture library, calendaring, announcement lists and an event management and registration system. These community pages can have their own administrators that can layout their pages the way they wish, or choose from predefined templates. They can have external websites for their group, generated by our content management system. With Socious you can give your groups and subgroups a website within your website.

Community Administrators determine whether members can create their own groups or if a moderator must create. When groups are created the group owner decides if group content will be made public, allowing all site users to view it, or private so that site users must be a group member to view the content. The group owner also sets group registration to either auto approve or require approval. In auto approve, everyone who requests to join the group is accepted. In require approval, the group owner approves or rejects the request to join. It is important to note that architecturally, groups are SharePoint Sites, so group-level security, administration, and even interface design (creative) may be applied to any group at any time by a Community Administrator.







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bAdGES ANd FLAIR TO Add TO A USER pROFILE ANd FEEd ThE EGO? pOINTS FOR ACTIONS? (LIkE LINkEdIN OR GROUpSITE pROFILE METER)

On the Directory 2.0, you can associate a social badge with users, as well as award virtual ribbons to individuals or communities. The virtual ribbon is created from a tool that steps you through its creation, step-by-step. Connected Community also includes an Engagement Center. Organizations can assign a point value to over 75 user actions within the community site. Once determined, the points are automatically awarded based on user action and a social badge of “Most Valuable Member” can be associated with certain individuals meeting set criteria.

Currently there is a recognition tag that can be placed on a member’s profile that staff can fill in for a specific achievement or award to the member. This will display on the specific member’s profile when viewing. User Points including a reputation engine is currently in development.

ThePort’s Badges & Points enable organizations to reward members within their online community. Badges can be customizable and rewarded based on any specific activity users complete, and points can be rewarded on a custom basis depending on what activities members participate in inside your community. Any organization can also customize the look and graphics utilized for badges and points. Points can also be awarded to users for virtually any action. The amount of points received for each action is fully customizable. Points, badges and activities can all be aggregated to create unique member rankings within the community. All properties of badges and points can be customized within the administration modules.

Not yet. Our user profiles have a lot of flair without badges and “flair.”

Socious gives users the ability to add badges to their user profile that links to their profiles on popular 3rd party social networking systems such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, WordPress, Blogger and others.

If enabled by community administrators, users can add flair to their profile including certifications, links to public social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, and other accomplishments. MemberToMember customers can request the inclusion of site standard flair as well.







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EMAIL NOTIFICATION?

Users of Connected Community receive a variety of different email notifications depending on what task is being performed. Common emails include 1) Emails inviting an individual to connect or to join a group 2) Personal one-to-one emails between members 3) Emails upon joining or leaving an eGroup, 4) Emails informing users of upcoming events or news updates. Additionally, eGroups allows members to receive an email in their regular inbox as well as within the social networking website. Receipt of emails in their Microsoft Exchange inbox or other email inbox is based on preferences set by each individual user.

MemberFuse provides a full advanced email notification system for all areas in the community. Members, and even Groups, can customize notifications to make sure they stay relevant and aren’t overwhelming. Our new digest version aggregates all of the latest community activity into one HTML email.

Users can receive email notifications for practically any event that takes place in the community. These include: New inbox messages, new friend requests, comments on blogs/photos/videos, event invitations, document uploads/changes and forum replies. All notifications can be turned on/off by the user. Additionally, Activity Feeds are RSS-enabled so that users can actively view these updates within their favorite RSS reader (Outlook, Google Reader.)

The Social Collective actively uses email notifications when you have received new messages, new follow notifications, direct messages, changes in schedule, and many other actions. We also offer conference organizers the ability to send mass emails via a templated mail-merge to segments of their conference attendees (or everybody).

The Socious system has a targeted email engine that can be used for notifying members about different things going on within the organization. The system also has automatic email notifications that get triggered when new content is added to specific areas of the system. In addition, committees, chapters, and sub groups can have their own announcement list to manage communication to their members.

Individual users select the email alerts that they would like to receive. Email alerts are available down to a very granular level such as a specific comment in a discussion thread, a new entry in someone’s blog or the addition of an event to a calendar. Email alerts can be received in real-time, as a digest at the end of the day, or on a weekly basis.


This user profile from Higher Logic features an Executive Committee badge at the top right.






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bLOGS?

The Directory 2.0 profile automatically assigns users a blog, but organizations have the ability to decide whether or not to utilize this feature. Blogs feature the ability to view/post your own blog, view the blogs of your contacts, as well as view all blogs within the community. The blog tool features a full editor to allow you to easily input your post and/or cut-and-paste. Each post has security around it to allow you to determine who is allowed to read your post (public, members-only or your contacts) and who can make comments on your blog entry.

If you have an existing blog, through Wordpress, Blogspot or another blogging service, we can integrate it into your MemberFuse site. Don’t have a blog? We create and customize a Wordpress blog that integrates seamlessly with MemberFuse with both authentication, users, and content.

ThePort’s Blog Publisher is a WYSIWYG editor and enables publishers to embed photos and videos into their blogs. Blog authors also maintain administrative and moderation control over comments to their blog posts. All blogs can also be shared on other networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Users can also add new blog posts with ThePort’s Mobile Blogging feature. Users can also import their own RSS feeds from platforms such as Blogger, Wordpress, Twitter or Facebook.

We’ve consciously decided to stick to connecting people, and leave blog platforms to the many great commercial and open source providers out there.

The Socious Blog Platform enables your organization to have site level, group level, and user blogs. Socious gives you a full blogging platform with the ability to show images and video in the blog to give your members, groups, and the organization a voice within your online community. Since the Socious blogging platform is integrated with our powerful security features, creating external bogs, internal blogs, and private blogs allows you to insure the right people are getting out the appropriate messages on your site. Our blogs have full comments and rating systems and are fully searchable within the sites’ search engine.

Upon joining the community and any time thereafter, users have the ability to create a blog which is linked to their profile. Community administrators determine whether blogs are automatically created or if they must be approved prior to creation. The OOTB blog templates contain a WYSIWYG interface, the ability to upload images, rating, commenting, even rating on the comments. Community administrators can easily modify the blog template using SharePoint Designer™, a free tool from Microsoft. Blogs are categorized within the site under “Most Recent Posts,” “Highest Rated Posts,” “Highest Rated Blogs,” and “Most Active Blogs.”

pUTTING pEOpLE TO WORkIn this section: Blogs, Forums and Listservs, Polls and Surveys, Wikis, File Management, Media, Other Unique Stuff

The blog publishing tool for users of ThePort.






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FORUMS ANd LISTSERVS?

The Connected Community eGroups tool combines listserves and forums into one product. Both the email messages (HTML format) and the online archives have a user-friendly interface. Users can be automatically subscribed to lists based on the AMS, or can opt-in themselves. Users can decide between daily digest, real-time, or mobile-formatted messages for each list, and they may format their own signature line. Users can even add and tag attachments that are automatically archived in an associated Resource Library where the document can be downloaded, commented upon, rated, forwarded, and saved to favorites. The online archive of discussions allows users to view all messages based on threaded view, by date, by author, and by keyword searches. RSS subscriptions are also available.

Every group, whether public or private, created on your MemberFuse site contains its own discussion forums, resource library, group announcements, and wiki pages. Groups can be predetermined by data from your AMS, and pre-set members to a Group based on committees, chapters, interests, etc. Group activity produces notification emails to members, based on their notification settings creating a Listerv-type functionality. Users can receive discussion notifications instantly or through daily or weekly digest emails.

ThePort’s Forums are a powerful way for members to create discussions and share information. Forums can be public or private. Members can create topics, posts and comments. Forums updates are also delivered via email or RSS to each member, transforming the forum into a Listserv. Members can also attach files to their forum posts, send private messages within the forum and create their own custom signatures within the forum. Polling and surveys are also available within forums. Forums can be created at the group level so that each group has its own place for discussions.

We offer a more Twitter-like, short-form messaging system rather than a traditional forum.

The Socious forums and listservs are fully synchronized, meaning that you can take part in a discussion online as well as from your email. Members can subscribe to a forum which allows them to participate in the discussion via the listserv for that forum. Once subscribed to the forum, you can initiate a discussion, reply to discussions and add attachments all without having to log in. You can choose to receive listserv emails immediately or in 4 different digest versions. Our unique security process virtually eliminates spam and out of office notifications. Discussion and attachments to discussions, including PDF documents, are fully searchable in the site wide search so that past conversations can help future members.

Online forums or Discussion Boards are a standard feature in SharePoint. MemberToMember has an add-on, known as WaveBoard which email enables the forums. Community administrators, or Group Owners can specify whether an individual forum is “email enabled” or not, thus making that forum a listserv (or not). Members can choose to receive forum entries in real-time as they occur, or in a digest format either daily or weekly. User can respond to them directly through email or by going to the Web site.







21



pOLLS ANd SURVEyS?

The Connected Community product suite does not, itself, offer this but it is available through several of our strategic partners including Informz, High Road Solutions, and Results Direct.

Right now users can “rate” resources in the Resource Library. We’re currently working on developing polling and survey features for the MemberFuse platform. Keep an eye on our blog for updates!

ThePort Community members can create their own polls and surveys within ThePort’s forums. Polls can be multiple choice, or yes/no questions. Administrators can also embed their own survey widgets within the community.

We support various polling/survey applications and we have a robust crowdsourcing module that allows the organizers to get their communities participating in the “call for sessions” and other user-driven activities. Many of the events we are assisting are opening up speaker slots, allowing members of their community to propose a session they themselves would like to deliver, and then allowing attendees to vote on the sessions they want to hear.

In Socious, you can do both general polls/surveys that can be viewed and answered by everyone in the system, and targeted polls/surveys only visible and answerable by certain members based on group affiliation, membership type, or virtually any other criteria listed in their user profile. Our surveys can even be set up for voting in elections. Our easy to use reporting tools allow you to see responses to date in a collated version or detailed format.

Polls, surveys, and voting are a feature included within the SharePoint platform. Additionally, thousands of additional third party SharePoint ‘widgets’ or components may also be easily added by the community administrator. MemberToMember also has Quick Poll add-on that provides graphically rich, instant online polls.


Higher Logic’s resource library.






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WIkIS?

The Connected Community product suite includes a product called the Wiki Glossary that allows users to submit terms/definitions into a centralized repository where the community can hone the definition through interactive tools. The Glossary allows users to ask others for additional feedback/help and subscribe to the Glossary to receive updates on industry terms and definitions. The Wiki Glossary can be set for access by the public or only to logged-in members. Public viewing allows for increased organic search rankings.

Fully customizable wikis are a part of the groups module, allowing members with the proper permissions to add, edit, and share information easily.

ThePort’s Communities are integrated with WetPaint wikis, which is the leading wiki platform in the industry. WetPaint wikis feature 1-2-3 Simple Site Creation, Click and Type editing, Photo and Video Galleries, Discussion Threads, Page Revision Tracking, Attachments, Widgets, Analytics and Email Alerts.

We’ve consciously decided to stick to connecting people, and leave wiki platforms to the many great commercial and open source providers out there.

Socious enables your organization to have fully functional group level and site level wikis. Our wiki includes all popular wiki syntax, a sandbox for users new to wiki to get acquainted with using a wiki and full history of pages so you can always see how the page has progressed and who was a part of its’ collaboration. Our wikis can be internally or externally available and are completely searchable in the search engine. Our rating and commenting system for wikis allows the best content to be determined by members and easily found.

Wikis are available throughout the community both standalone and as part of Groups. Community administrators set permissions to indicate which users can create or edit a Wiki entry.







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FILE MANAGEMENT?

File management is handled in a variety of ways in Connected Community. Within the Microsites product, standard content (HTML) can be stored within a virtual directory structure. File attachments (PDF, Word, Flash) can be uploaded directly through the Microsite’s WYSIWYG editor and stored in a centralized Document Manager area. Files (video, audio, Microsoft Office, PDF) can be uploaded into a Resource Library entry and tagged for archiving, viewing and sharing in a Resource Library.

MemberFuse has a Resource Library Module that is available community-wide, or within a particular Collaborative Group. The Resource Library allows staff or members to upload resources such as documents, videos, pictures, and links. Each resource references the original author and contributor and includes the ability to comment or rate on the content. The MemberFuse platform also supports Document/Resource Versioning (keeping track of changes over time), Check-In/Check-Out functionality, and Sharing features.

ThePort communities contain full resource and document management libraries. Documents can be managed by administrators, groups, chapters, events or individual users. Users are able to tag, rate and comment on all documents. Users can also create their own folder structures to manage documents. Revision tracking is also enabled to allow users to roll-back files to previous versions. All major document and media files are supported, including Microsoft Office files. Recent document uploads are displayed within the community and user activity feeds.

We’ve consciously decided to stick to connecting people, and leave file management platforms to the many great commercial and open source providers out there.

Organizations can have one central file library, and within it can be found both general member and private file areas—the users’ security determines which files they can access. Any file type can be stored in our file library. Any text based document, including PDF documents, has every word in the document cataloged for easy searching. Socious also provides the ability to upload file sets, converting of files to PDF automatically, and cross categorizing of files. Our file library also catalogs content outside of our system so your site can be a “one-stop-shop” for your members looking for information.

Document management is a key function of the SharePoint platform. Users may upload documents to their individual profiles, and apply security at the document level (me only, my colleagues (and me), or everyone.)Any type of file including Microsoft Office documents, PDF, CAD/CAM, Multimedia or proprietary can be stored in a document library. Documents can be checked out so that a read-only version is available when someone is editing the document. Individuals and Groups can have document libraries with the Community administrator determining the maximum available storage.







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MEdIA (phOTO/VIdEO)?

Photos, videos, podcasts, and files of all kinds can be uploaded and stored in the Resource Library product. Video can be streamed directly from the Resource Library. Our Image Scroller can be added to a Resource Library to present images in a slideshow. Images in the Image Scroller can be hyperlinked to more information, making it a great way to present exhibitor/sponsor images. Organizations can also automatically put a watermark to images or add a short commercial to every video uploaded. . We also support the inclusion of Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, polls and forms through user controls which source the content and display on a Microsites page.

Right now, photos, videos, and other media may be uploaded to the Resource Library. Those resources may be shared openly, or protected by selective and private permissions. Coming soon…an interactive multimedia center for streaming video, viewing slideshows, and downloading podcasts.

ThePort Community members can upload photos, videos, sound files and rich media into the community. These media files can be stored at the group, chapter, committee or user level. All media files can be set as public or private. Popular and recent videos can also be highlighted in featured models that help members view the best content.

The Social Collective supports many forms of media. Our event pages, profiles, sponsor pages, and other pages support images, embedding audio and video content, and other forms of rich media. In addition, our event pages serve as aggregators, bringing down links to content from blogs, Google searches, Flickr photos, YouTube videos, and tweets from Twitter.

Socious enables an individual or group member to embed photos from Flickr or Picasa and YouTube videos to a user profile or community page. Users can also directly upload their pictures to their personal or community media center. This media center displays the pictures in a gallery or slideshow format on their user profile page or on their community page. Video files can be directly uploaded to the site video library and streamed directly within the site. Access to these videos can be limited to members that pay for access if you desire, which is great for webinar recordings, for example.

Photos and images can be uploaded by registered users. Administrators are able to set limits on the amount / size of data that can be uploaded.







25



OThER UNIQUE STUFF

Connected Community allows you to build as many communities as you would like and mix-and-match the products to meet the needs of the community. You can create as many Microsites as you may need to best serve your membership, complete with discussion lists, calendars, and resource libraries. . We also offer a full partner channel that provides services and complementary products that are pre-integrated with Connected Community.

NFi has a suite of Event Technology solutions focused on creating collaboration and commerce before, during and after your meeting or trade show. The NFi Studios ShowMatching product matches exhibitors and buyers around compatible interests, and includes a meeting scheduler, show planner/itinerary, messaging, targeted advertising, comprehensive reporting, and more. Other NFi products include PaperLess Events and Meeting Mosaic. In addition to our solutions, we’re a full-service web design and development firm. If you can dream it, we can build it.

Two things: 1) ThePort’s Social Market 2.0 is an interactive supplier directory where businesses and sponsors can create a presence within your community and interact with users. Featured listings within the directory can be sold to businesses. Customers are creating as much as $50,000/month in new revenue. 2) ThePort’s Social Spaces enable organizations to create their own custom groups around practically any object. For instance, members can join actions, causes, committees, neighborhoods and businesses.

Crowdsourcing and the ability to turn an event into a User Generated Conference (or at least a portion of it to get the crowd enticed and participating like never before) is a big advantage.

The Socious Issue Tracking module allows users to submit legislative, technical, or industry items to the organization for resolution. The module is a perfect tool for groups that want to track and discuss issues that are pertinent to their organization in an integrated, secure tool. Socious has a built-in CMS system that gives your organization the ability to manage internal and external HTML web pages. Socious also allows you to configure your community and main landing pages in infinite ways. The best thing about it, you need no HTML experience to configure a page within your site, making it easy to have an engaging site with no technical experience.

Rather than list additional features/functionalities of MemberToMember, we would like to point out that ALL SHAREPOINT features, web-parts, or widgets are 100% available for use with the MemberToMember community. There are literally thousands of third party products available, many of them free and open-source.







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EVENTS ANd EVENT REGISTRATION AS A SOCIAL ObjECT?

Connected Community will include the Event Manager (eM) product [General Availability: October 2009] that allows for components to offer event registration at the local level in an easy and economical manner. eM allows components to set up their own events with details and conflict resolution rules, pricing, member requirements, and fee collection for event registrations via PayPal.

We have an Event Registration module that displays a list of current and archived events (often populated by the AMS). Members may create Events that allow users to RSVP, with guest and ticketing options. Association staff can highlight important company or sponsor events at the top of the page by marking them “Featured”. All Events and reservations update right back into the association’s AMS.

ThePort enables organizers to create and manage their own events within the online community. Conference organizers can also create session modules for their events that feature presenters, attendees, session videos comments activity and session material downloads. Session presenters can also administer their own session pages for each event. Events and sessions can also be instantly shared with AddThis to networks such as Facebook and Twitter to drive event attendance. Session attendees can also register to attend individual sessions and leave comments for other attendees and presenters. All events also appear in the community’s event calendar. Events also feature activity feeds to alert community members when changes or updates are made to an event.

For associations managing events with their association management system, ThePort can automatically create events, sessions and attendees based upon event registrations stored in your association management system.

Our platform was designed to support events and event-centric organizations. We’ve been used by some of the biggest and best events around, including SXSW, The National Arts Festival of South Africa and Oracle OpenWorld. We integrate with many commercial registration providers and also provide our own event registration module. Once attendees are granted access to our system, they can submit and vote for proposals for speaking slots, browse and search for people, add/remove people from their networks, import their friends from Twitter, Facebook and Ning, download contact information, browse, build and export personalized event schedules, send messages to people, join groups, take part in polls and surveys and interact with sponsors.

Socious gives your organization, and all of your chapters, and sub groups, a full speaker management, , event management and online registration system. Our system manages all of your tracks, session, and room scheduling, and allows users to create their own agenda online. Users at the conference can search the agenda right from their mobile phone through our mobile application. Our event email engine sends out marketing emails as well as automated notification emails. Our online registration system integrates with our member database or your AMS. We have credit card and invoicing features that make it easy for your members to pay by credit card (all major merchant accounts are compatible), check, or have their organization pay for them. Each user can access their past registrations from their user profile and a very robust reporting engine helps you mine the event information from all events across all of your groups quickly and easily.

You can schedule and promote events as well as create registration forms.

ENAbLING FACE-TO-FACE EVENTSIn this section: Events and Event Registration, Calendars






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CALENdARS?

Connected Community offers the Event Calendar product that provides communities with a graphical and list view of events. The calendar can organize events by type, location, and by community name. Users can add events to calendars, and each community can feature its own local calendar that can be rolled up into one Master Calendar. The Master Calendar includes search options to view events at a local level (e.g. chapter or section).

Currently, calendar features are present in our Events module. Users can toggle the Calendar in day, week, month or year views. Users can also add one or more events to their own Calendar (Outlook, iCal, Google, etc…). Even more extensive calendar features are in the works.

ThePort’s Calendars contain any event that you have created or signed up to attend. There is also a public events calendar that contains information for all upcoming community events. Users can also search event calendars to find new events.

Through our highly social Scheduling Module, users can personalize their event schedules, get recommendations, and see where their mutual connections are going. Users can also define private engagements and non-official sessions on the fly. Users can sync their iCal, gCal and Outlook calendar, and get alerts of any important changes to specific events. Soon, users will be able to embed their schedule as a widget on their blog or website, and have schedule updates posted to Facebook. We’re also working on a grid view to allow users to visualize schedule conflicts more easily.

Socious has powerful calendaring functionality. Each sub group with your organization, as well as the organization itself, has a calendar. The user’s calendar aggregates all of the events that particular user can access based on their group affiliation and membership on one calendar for easy viewing. Attachments can be added to calendar events and calendar event notifications can be sent out via email. Users can download calendar events to their Outlook calendar.

Calendars are available in many places throughout the site including groups and events. Users can synchronize these calendars with their Outlook calendar as well as sign up for email alerts when an event is added to a calendar or modified.

ENAbLING FACE-TO-FACE EVENTSIn this section: Events and Event Registration, Calendars

An event page from NFi Studios, and the schedule page from The Social Collective. (Left to right.)






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MObILE?

eGroups include the option for mobile-formatted messages for each list. The Wiki Glossary and Resource Library include the ability to rate, rank, review, comment and share content. Microsites includes the ability to pull in posts from Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

Mobile browsing templates are available. Community notifications via SMS is optional. iPhone and Blackberry applications are in development.

We have a Mobile Blogging feature that enables community members to submit blog posts via their mobile phones. We are also enabling partners to build smartphone-specific interfaces through ThePort’s Open APIs.

We also have full mobile functionality on next-gen devices and SMS support for non smart-phones. Often someone can’t lug around their laptop through a conference or event, but they certainly have their phone with them.

We have a mobile event application that links to our events system and enables attendees to view the events agenda and search for sessions based on presenter, session name, time slot, track, and more.

We have a brand new iPhone app launched this month. Users can provide links to their external sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) on their individual profile.

SATISFyING ThE 1%ERSIn this section: Mobile, Tagging, Site Search, Ratings/Reviews, Easy Sharing with Outposts, Connection with Outposts, RSS

SusQtech’s brand new iPhone app for MemberToMember.






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TAGGING?

Connected Community features a centralized tagging structure that allows for tags to be created and used across the various products of the suite. Tag structures include setting up the tag group name and then specifying tags contained within the group. Users can tag blogs, eGroup posts, Resource Library entries (content such as documents, videos, podcasts, PowerPoint, etc), Wiki Glossary entries (e.g. terms, definitions), Calendar event entries, and Communities. Each tag group created will be included in the overall search of the site to allow users to search across all products based on tags.

There is a tagging ability available for use with Groups, Resources, and other content sources. MemberFuse has a full tagging taxonomy inherent in the platform, so each new feature released will contain powerful search and browsing capabilities.

Any piece of content within the community can be tagged. Users can then search all content by tags and also view tag clouds of particular types of contents (blogs, events, photos, videos). Content that can be tagged includes profiles, events, groups, photos, businesses, campaigns, blogs, photos and videos.

Adding tags to every object in our system is on our roadmap, though not currently available.

Users can add keywords to content to be found in tag clouds within the site. Socious goes a step further and catalogs every word in files, forums, forum attachments, news, issues,wikis, and blogs so we are not just hoping the poster tagged the content correctly—we allow members to search the content itself. Blogs and wikis can be tagged with a classification. This allows users to find all blogs that pertain to a particular subject. This is very helpful as your blogging community grows.

Tagging is possible through both site-defined meta-tags as well as user generated “folksonomy” tags. Site-defined tags are easily administered through a Taxonomy Administration tool. Tags can be applied to any content element within MemberToMember including Blogs, Documents, Wiki entries, Group and Events.







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SITE SEARCh?

Yes! The site search allows you to search by file type, keyword, tags, and library. The various other products include targeted searches to find emails, people, groups and content topics.

MemberFuse includes a site-wide search that searches through all members, groups, organizations, and resources, as well as the public website if the system is integrated. “Plugins” can also be developed to hook the search functionality into any existing source of data.

ThePort’s communities feature global-site search that enables searching of virtually any object or field. This includes searching users, groups, events, files, forums, photos and videos. Users can then filter searches according to date, tags, and popularity. ThePort can also extend its search functionality to search customers’ entire websites.

Yes, site search is fully integrated and powered by Xapian.

Our search not only keys on titles, descriptions and metadata but also catalogs every word in many content areas of the site.The Socious system can search across every word in forum discussions as well as any attachments added to the discussion, every word in text based documents (including .PDF) in the file library, across all blogs, wiki pages, news stories, issue and issue comments, as well as additional information in titles and descriptions. Information can be searched on by time frame, word or word phrase, posting group, or by category/topic. Once content is in the Socious system it is very easy to find. Users can also easily search for other users and groups within our system based on virtually any field within their profile that the member is willing to share with other members.

MemberToMember site search not only searches across the entire social networking site (profiles, discussions, events, Wikis, Blogs, Documents) but can also search the main website and any other sites or databases that you wish to include.


Search results from ThePort.






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RATINGS/REVIEWS?

Ratings can be input on Resource Library entries, your contact list, and Wiki Glossary entries. A formula can be added to adjust how ratings are weighted when displaying the cumulative community total.

Each Resource has the ability to be rated, based on the permissions set by the association.

Members can rate any community content on a 5-star scale or offer thumbs up/down. We are also releasing the ability for community members to “like” another members’ status update. Ratings and reviews for content can be utilized to rank community members and content.

Integration with UserVoice is on our roadmap.

Socious has both a 5 star rating system and commenting within our software. We even allow for external viewing, commenting and rating of blogs and wikis. This enables you to make the Executive Directors blog, for example, available to members as well as available to anyone on the internet. Our external commenting and rating uses Captia functionality to restrict spamming of comments.

Ratings and reviews are available for all content components including blogs, wikis, discussions and articles. You can even rate and comment on comments.

EASy ShARING bETWEEN USERS ANd TO pOpULAR OUTpOSTS LIkE TWITTER, FACEbOOk, LINkEdIN?

Yes, you can forward/share/rate content within the Resource Library product.

The ShareThis button, which enables sharing through email, webmail, and popular social networking sites, is integrated into the MemberFuse platform. This may be turned on or off based on specific association needs.

ThePort’s communities are enabled with AddThis so that users can share content with their networks on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Digg, etc. This is true one-click sharing that allows users to post community content to practically any social-network in existence. Community members can also display their Twitter updates within their profiles.

We have built-in support for cross-posting to Facebook and Twitter.

Through our integrated sharing functionality members can share certain content within our system via email, webmail and on 54 sharing sites helping you maximize the reach of your content.

MemberToMember Community administrators can enable sharing through email, and social networking sites like Digg, del.icio.us, FaceBook, Twitter and many more.







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CONNECTION WITh OUTpOSTS? CLOSEd/OpEN INTEGRATION?

Connected Community is built on a provider model that allows it to easily connect with AMS or similar systems through web services. This allows Connected Community to integrate with LMS,CMS, CRM, email marketing and AMS systems.

MemberFuse has recently released extensive Facebook integration via Facebook Connect. We also support Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube integration. LinkedIn integration is coming soon. And in addition to integrating with all leading AMS solutions, MemberFuse integrates with most CMS, LMS, and CRM solutions.

ThePort has the tightest integration with association management systems available today. ThePort provides Single Sign On, Profile Sharing and automatic data transfers between the community and AMS. This means that anything managed by your AMS, such as committees, chapters, certifications, events or purchases can automatically be shared and socially-enabled within the community. ThePort also pulls user Twitter updates into their profile, and members can publish any information to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, etc using ThePort’s AddThis Widget. Community members can also chat with their Facebook friends using Facebook Connect. ThePort will soon enable status updates within each community that can also be pushed to Facebook and Twitter as well.

Our messaging interface is a close replica of Twitter (for inter-community use or for those who aren’t Twitter users) and also a full Twitter client. That means that posting in our messaging platform will seamlessly re-post on your Twitter account. Making changes to your schedule and certain other actions will trigger posts to the Facebook wall and/or Twitter, depending on your settings. We also support content aggregation from outpots and friend-matching from Facebook, Twitter, and Ning. Gmail, IM, LinkedIn and other forms of friend-matching are on our roadmap.

Socious provides Single Sign On and integration to most AMS systems and even legacy databases. We are an open system that currently supports the easy sharing of content from outposts such as Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Picasa and Flickr.

MemberToMember can be easily and seamlessly integrated with any AMS, CRM , LMS or CMS solutions. Additional integration with third party sites such as FaceBook Connect, Twitter and other sites can be provided upon request.


The Social Collective has a Twitter-like interface and close integration through Facebook Connect and the Twitter API.






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RSS ENAbLEd? WhERE ANd hOW? WIdGETS (TO pUSh OUT ANd pULL IN CONTENT)?

Yes, RSS can be found throughout the Connected Community suite to allow users to be updated. RSS is offered for each Resource Library, for each discussion list, Wiki Glossary, and blog author. A user control that allows for the pull and display of RSS feeds from external sites can also be placed within any of the page layouts to allow for the display of external sites’ content. For example, you could include a section called “News Updates” that pulls from CNN.com to your community homepage.

Content Alerts and the Feed Center are two powerful, yet simple modules that syndicate RSS Feeds and distribute content to users based on their profile interests. Widgets are available to integrate RSS feeds, Twitter feeds, Flickr photos and many other avenues of content. This makes it easy to import and export information from your association websites and databases.

Forums, Activity Feeds, Photos, Blogs, Events and Groups are all RSS-enabled. ThePort can also display updates from the community in XML-powered widgets on any web page.

All messaging and schedule items are RSS enabled.

The Socious system is fully RSS enabled. A user can subscribe to the RSS feed for specific content they want to be notified about in the News Network, Blogs, Forums, File Library and Wikis. RSS feeds can be set-up as full HTML content or teaser. Socious can also pull in RSS feeds so your site can be updated with content from other sites you find interesting.

Administrators can choose to RSS enable any and all content on the site.







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COdEd? (.php, .NET, ETC)

ASP.NET (Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, C#, ASP.NET, SQL Server 2005)

The platform is built using Apache, MySQL and PHP. MemberFuse uses an industry standard Model View Controller (MVC) design pattern, providing a clear separation of business logic and presentation.

Microsoft .NET, MS SQL Server, Lucene Search, Open Architecture

Ruby on Rails (Apache, Phusion Passenger, Linux)

Linux, Apache, MySQL and php

.NET (Sharepoint)

ApI? OpEN OR CLOSEd?

Open API

Open API, with access granted to clients and authorized partners and developers.

Open API. We’ll gladly provide you and your partners API access to your community! (REST/SOAP/JSON)

Open API

Closed API

Open API

dETAILS FOR ThE TEChIESIn this section: Code base, API, AMS Integration, Hosting, Security/Permissions






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dOES IT INTEGRATE WITh AMS’S? REAL-TIME OR ASyNChRONOUS?

Currently, 15 pre-built integrations exist which represents all of the major AMS makers and associated product lines. It has both real-time and asynchronous to allow for an optimized performance. When a user signs into the community site, his/her profile data is automatically pulled over from the AMS to populate the Higher Logic database (or update it as appropriate). An asynchronous sync occurs each night at a scheduled time to bring over new groups and people (e.g. if Chile was newly set up as a section in the AMS, it will be shown on the Higher Logic side following the nightly sync).

Yes! MemberFuse integrates with your AMS. Based on the specific association’s AMS and their licensing, both real-time and asynchronous options are available. If implemented with synchronization, syncs can be scheduled to run automatically at set intervals, or may be synched manually at anytime. MemberFuse integrates real-time through Webservices and SOAP calls through a robust API.

Yes – ThePort integrates with the leading association management systems, including Avectra netFORUM and TMA Personify & TIMMS. Data is shared in real-time – any time a user signs into the community or updates their information, this information is instantly shared between systems.

Additionally, ThePort has the deepest integration with association management systems in the industry. ThePort enables Single Sign On, Member Profile Sharing and the sharing of any information managed by an AMS, including events, committees, chapters, certifications and purchases. The sharing of data between the AMS and community creates waves of activity and participation among members.

Not yet, however this is on our roadmap for an upcoming release and we are able to do a custom integration if necessary.

Socious integrates with all major AMS systems and relational databases. We can link both real-time and asynchronously, depending on the desire of the client and the AMS we are integrated with. We also have a complete membership database that can link to your existing AMS system, or be run as a standalone system.

Integrates with AMS, website, or other data sources in real-time. A multitude of integration options are available. On one end of the spectrum there are many built-in RSS/XML web-parts that a non-technical Community Administrator can configure, and on the other end is the Business Data Catalog™ (BDC), which is the SharePoint engine for integration, offering integrated search, security-trimming, and read/write capabilities; all exposed through a suite of BDC Web Parts™.







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hOSTING? SERVERS?

Connected Community is offered in a SaaS model and therefore, hosted at a central site. Images, documents, stylesheets are hosted through Amazon EC2 with the base code residing with a managed service provider partner. Connected Community runs on VMware-powered virtual servers (ESXi virtual infrastructure) on Dell hardware that is co-located at a hosting facility in Arizona.

MemberFuse is a hosted Platform as a Service (PaaS) solution. The difference between PaaS and Software as a Service (SaaS) is that our platform allows for application development and extensive modularity and portability of features. All hosting fees are included in platform licensing. MemberFuse is hosted on a private cloud of servers to allow for secure data yet provide hardware failover and scalability as traffic increases. Our hosting is managed by a premium partnership with Rackspace, and our servers are redundant and backed up daily. Dedicated hosting is available for Enterprise clients.

ThePort is a SaaS solution. Our servers are hosted in a best-in-class Tier-4 data center, which features multiple backup locations, fully redundant power, HVAC, and temperature monitoring. Our uptime record is 99.9%. Unlike standard datacenters such as RackSpace, Tier-IV datacenters have more than one power source and are “disaster-proof.”

The Social Collective is a fully hosted, SaaS solution on Mosso, the Rackspace Cloud.

Socious is offered as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. For one monthly fee, we manage all software maintenance, hardware, back-up of data and software upgrades. Our servers are managed and hosted at a secure hosting facilty. Socious also has a published disaster and back-up policy and we include our Service Level Agreement in every contract. For very large file libraries we host those files through Amazon S3. This allows us to infinitely scale with you as your content grows.

MemberToMember is available in both a hosted SaaS solution or as a license that runs on the client’s hardware. Again—this is based on SharePoint, which is to say that any MemberToMember implementation is portable. Customers may move their platform from a SaaS model, to an internally hosted environment, to an external hosting provider such as RackSpace. The number of servers required is dependent on the activity on the community site and the required throughput, but most organizations will only need a single server.


Administration panels from SusQtech and NFi Studios. (Left to right.)






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SECURITy/pERMISSIONS?

Connected Community offers a robust security model that is typically dependent on the AMS (if integrated) or on imported data (if standalone). Security and permissions are determined first based on good member standing based on information in the AMS. Member types are typically read from the AMS and stored as security groups on the Higher Logic side. Access rights to content, products, navigation items and discussion lists can be locked down to security groups. Additionally, Connected Community includes the security levels of “Public”, “Member,” and “Authenticated”.

MemberFuse has a fully customizable system for determining permissions. Any number of User Roles may be created, with permissions within each role having a detailed level of control.

ThePort Security settings are defined by your community administrator. Every section of the community can be defined as public, private, or hidden. Owners of groups, events, photos, video and other content can customize security and permission levels for their content.

Yes. Our security and permissions settings offer flexibility.

Socious is built on a powerful security model that permeates all areas of the site. What a user can see and do is all determined on the membership type of the user, the roles they have within the organization, their committee or chapter or what special security override they may have been given. This security can be applied within Socious or within the AMS system (if we are integrated). Administration rights can be given to staff or users for specific modules or specific topics. This allows you to have central site administrators and support administrators that have admin rights in specific areas of the site or over specific communities or groups.

MemberToMember has granular security trimming which only exposes those elements to which the member has access. When integrated with an AMS user roles and permissions in MemberToMember can be determined by settings within the AMS. When it is a standalone solution, user roles are defined by the site administrator and applied by appointing users to security groups.







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bRANdING ANd STyLE ShEETS?

Subscriber organizations can choose from a pre-set selection of graphical “looks” for their community site, or may dictate the look and feel of their community site to be built to specification (commonly called “white labeling”). Stylesheets are typically dictated by the subscriber organization and applied across all content and Connected Community products.

NFi Studios is at its core a creative-technology organization. We focus on delivering powerful user experience, based on the association client. Each time we set up MemberFuse for a new client we create a new, custom branded theme, just for them. Our creative team will be glad to match the styles of any existing association website to provide a seamless look.

ThePort’s communities are white label and take on the look and feel of your existing website. This includes your site’s header, footer, and CSS. ThePort utilizes your current CSS to integrate the look and feel of your community with your existing website. Any and all elements of a community layout can be completely customized to meet customer requirements. This includes customizing where content is placed on the page within your community.

Additionally, ThePort’s user-interface is designed, out of the box, to be user-friendly and drive activity in a social networking community.

Yes. We work with your team to match The Social Collective’s interface exactly to that of your site (whitelabeling).

Most aspects of the Socious system can be tailored to the existing web branding of the organization. All color schemes, layout, navigation, headers and graphics can be tailored to an organizations existing web branding and terminology. Aspects of the organization’s style sheets can be incorporated into our site to make the user’s transition from your external website into the Socious system as seamless as possible.

Customers can choose the level of branding they desire. Site structure is provided via the .NET standard Master Page model, while all visual/style elements are controlled by Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Everything is customizable using the free Microsoft tool, SharePoint Designer™.

bEhINd-ThE-SCENES MARkETING TOOLSIn this section: Branding and Style Sheets, Foreign Language Support, SEO, Flexibility of Design, Metrics, Advertising/Sponsorship

Website marketing tools from Higher Logic.






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FOREIGN LANGUAGE SUppORT?

Our Microsites product allows users to create websites in any language. Our other products have been built with resource files and therefore can be translated to other languages and some communities have taken advantage of this.

Foreign language support is available and configured on a per customer basis.

We provide full support for foreign languages within our community. Our platform supports Unicode Transformation Format, which enables ThePort to display unique foreign-language characters.

We have support for foreign currency, date and number formats and we will develop support for foreign languages on an as-needed basis.

Socious link menus and action buttons only support English. However, the drop down menus and any content posted into any of our modules can be done in foreign languages.

Member to Member natively provides 100% Unicode support throughout the product. Further, SharePoint provides 37 free “language packs” which convert all administrative, search, help, menu, and content authoring screens to the native language. Language packs also provide search word-stemming and word-breaking capabilities across the product.

ThePort’s administration control panel features tools for marketers.







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SEARCh ENGINE OpTIMIzATION?

Connected Community is optimized for SEO in the following ways: 1) Master page includes metadata, keywords, and descriptions 2) Content can be set to public view which can be indexed by SEO 3) URL paths are created using document name that gets indexed by search engines. 4) Higher Logic offers a “search web service” to allow third parties to include content on the community website.5) User controls exist to pull in content from third party sites for display on the community website which increases the unique content that you have publicly available; thereby, increasing your search rankings.

Through keyword placement, inbound links, and smart coding, NFi can help your member community maintain a high rank on most search engines. Any content in the community can be made public to allow for search engine “spidering”. Vanity URLs allow association staff and users to create more search-friendly website addresses.

All pages feature SEO-friendly URLs, meta tags, anchor text, and ALT tags. ThePort’s design templates are also built on an SEO-friendly DIV structure. Communities also can display any RSS feeds, enabling communities to increase their number of indexed pages.

Additionally, as the most important elements of SEO are links back to the community, ThePort works with clients on their launch campaigns and provides online press releases to generate awareness for all of its clients.

We’re well designed for SEO using open event pages with proper titles, keywords, descriptions, etc.

The pages that are behind the login within the Socious system are considered private to the organization and not searchable by search engines. However, many of the modules have external components such as making blogs, news, and wikis externally available. In those cases any external page, as well as any page created by our CMS system and made externally available, can be searched by search engines.

If the Community Administrator chooses to allow content to be exposed to search engines, MemberToMemberTM uses search-engine-friendly URLs that enhance SEO. All content also utilizes meta-tags, taxonomy and folksonomy which enhances the MemberToMember spidering by search engines.







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FLExIbILITy OF dESIGN (MOVING MOdULES AROUNd, pRE-dESIGNEd TEMpLATES, ETC.)

All of Connected Community is built on user controls that can be moved around and placed onto page layouts to achieve a variety of designs. Subscriber organizations may move/add/edit their own navigation structure, content, and product configurations to achieve the desired experience for their members. Connected Community comes pre-configured so that you can only tweak what you need, or you can build your own layouts from scratch.

MemberFuse is completely modular in design. While most features already provide a significant amount of configurability, each can be overridden to provide customized implementations if needed or desired. The theme system is similar. You can start with the base platform templates and change only what you need, anywhere from just your logo and colors to completely customized layouts.

ThePort features multiple user-friendly templates from which customers can choose for their community out of the box. Templates can also be fully customizable as part of ThePort’s professional services. Any object or layout can be fully customized according to a customer’s specifications. Customers can also gain complete access to the site’s layout and CSS, and ThePort also provides site interface training to customers.

Yes, the site is quite flexible in how you design and lay out the various modules.

Recently released functionality allows organizations to lay out their main pages with information from within our site or pull in content from other social networking sites. Customers can layout the page the way they want it to look. Best of all, you need no HTML experience to change the layout of a page. Customers always have access to their dedicated account manager that can help them if there are any issues, and there is no additional cost for that help. Because the product is built on SharePoint, moving around elements is as simple as dragging and dropping SharePoint Web Parts. In addition the Web parts that come with SharePoint and MemberToMember, thousands of Web parts are available from providers around the world to customize the functionality of the site.


NFi Studios provides this engagement dashboard for marketers.






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METRICS/MEASUREMENT/REpORTING/ANALyTICS INTEGRATION (E.G. WEbTRENdS/GOOGLE?)

Metrics may be obtained in a variety of places: 1) Each master page includes a place for the organization’s Google Analytics code. 2) Each Microsite includes a built-in WebTrends-like graphic reporting tool. 3) The Resource Library allows you to run reports to identify top contributors of user-generated content, document types and details, tags used, search terms used, and document access history to identify who is looking at which documents. 4) The eGroup product offers reports to show the number of posts to lists, number of subscriptions and length of subscriptions, and the search logs for each eGroup. 5) The Engagement Center helps you identify your most valuable members based on actual participation within the site.

In addition to full support of Google Analytics, MemberFuse also offers a comprehensive Community Reporting area, with statistics on member activity, groups, resources, and much more. Reports can be viewed in spreadsheet format or 3D graphs. Additional engagement metrics are soon to be released.

ThePort offers community reporting and analysis of community and member activity. Customers can also utilize ThePort’s integration with WebTrends to analyze their community activity and traffic. ThePort can also add your own analytics package (Google Analytics, Omniture) to the community.

We provide our own feature-by-feature reporting and integration with Google Analytics for the basic metrics, e.g. PVs.

Socious has its own set of internal reporting and analytical tools that help administrators determine how the site is being used and who is using it. Organizations can see who is subscribed to lists, who has joined as members of a group, which files have been downloaded and what are the most downloaded files and accessed pages. You can see who has participated in polls and survey as well as many more metrics to give you an idea of who is using your site and what they are interested in. We also can integrate Google Analytics to any Socious site for groups that would like that functionality.

In addition to the OOTB SharePoint Analytics (search analytics, user analytics, etc.), MemberToMember can easily integrate with numerous analytics applications including WebTrends and Google Analytics.


Administrative tools from Socious, including advertising options.






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AdVERTISING/SpONSORShIp?

Advertising and sponsorship features exist in the Resource Library, eGroup, and Microsite products. 1) Advertisers could sponsor a commercial added to all videos uploaded in a Resource Library. Advertisers could sponsor an entire library or have one library just to house their own marketing material. 2) Each eGroup discussion lists feature a banner ad in both the email and the archive. 3) Each Microsite master page may hold multiple banners ads that may either connect to a URL or be linked to a pre-established banner ad service.

Targeted Advertising is placed throughout the MemberFuse site, allowing for non-dues revenue generation. Staff can setup and manage multiple ad-campaigns as well as integrate with Google Ads. Additionally, Associations may choose to allow sponsors to upgrade an organization profile with our advanced Premium Sponsor Profiles allowing functionality such as product features, testimonials, user-discussions, and custom branding/themes.

Customers can place advertisements of practically any size anywhere within the community. Advertisements can be placed on page areas based upon customer requirements. Ad performance, such as page views and clicks can also be tracked.

ThePort also offers the industry’s only interactive supplier directory – Social Market 2.0. This enables customers to sell space within this supplier directory to sponsors and also create featured listings. Businesses can then interact with community members and create a social presence. Customers are generating more than $50,000/month with Social Market 2.0.

Conference sponsors/exhibitors can set up Branded Fan Pages, their official brand “voice.” The sponsor/exhibitor can then launch quick-burst competitions highlighting their products.

The Socious application includes an online vendor program. This allows vendors to have a limited view of the information within the system in exchange for a subscription fee paid to the organization. Vendors can have their own profile pages, forums, blogs and participate fully, or in a limited fashion based on the comfort level of the organization. We have banner advertising and listserv taglines. You can also lump vendor benefits into packages, so you add a vendor as a “Gold Vendor” to your system for example, and all of the users from that vendor will automatically get the appropriate access. We have a vendor buyer’s guide which allows members to search for vendors based on the services and products they provide. Socious also offers all services, vendor contracts, and marketing materials necessary to help make our online vendor program a complete success.

Advertisements and sponsorships can be run throughout the site as well as on the forum messages. Ads can be targeted to members based on their indicated interests.







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dEpLOyMENT TIME FRAME?

We view deployment in 3 phases: 1) Provisioning typically takes minutes for a new copy of the software to be deployed onto a virtual server. 2) Configuration involves working with the your staff to review options and best practices—this typically takes two weeks. 3) The rollout phase is your time to work with the tools to populate content, input images, and create appropriate strategies to encourage member adoption of the tools. This is completely up to the organization who can take as long as needed. A successful project typically runs 10-12 weeks.

NFi Studios conducts requirements gathering with each client to determine platform configuration, design, AMS integration, training and an effective beta/launch strategy. This process typically takes 8 - 10 weeks but can be as quick as 2 weeks.

ThePort works hand-in-hand with the customer during the consultation, design, implementation and launch phase. ThePort’s consultants closely work with customers to determine the best mix of features for their community. ThePort’s design and implementation team then works with customers to ensure that the community design and setup is created specifically according to customer requirements. ThePort then helps customers develop a launch strategy, provides best practices documents, and supports customers with press releases, blog posts and case studies. We’ll even come to your conference to launch the community!

We can launch a community in less than 24 hours or take longer according to the customer’s unique requirements.

The site comes up in minutes but it takes 2-5 days to complete all the branding, setup and customizations.

Each Socious customer has a deployment manager that initially comes to your facility for one day and is your guide during the entire implementation process. Each implementation is different, and your deployment manager will guide you through the entire process and make suggestions on how to best set-up your system based on your needs and best practices of other customers. Socious sets up your site for you and makes sure it is matching the vision you have for your online community. Our implementations typically take 30-60 days, but can be done much quicker if desired. During the entire process your deployment manager and account manager will be setting up the site based on your specifications. Your account manager is involved so they know why your site was set-up the way it was to better support you when the site is live.

Less than two weeks for our hosted model.

WORkING TOGEThERIn this section: Deployment Time Frame, Pricing, Customer Service/Tech Support






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pRICING? (WhAT IT’S bASEd ON, IF ThERE’S A SET-Up FEE, STANdALONE OpTION, LICENSING ETC.)

The pricing model for Connected Community is based on the annual operating budget of the organization and the number of products that the organization wishes to include in the subscription. Each product carries a fee that is tiered to organization size. The right fee is determined and is multiplied by the number of modules to identify the sum total of the subscription. A nominal set-up fee is typically included to cover single sign-on, provisioning, and hours for advisor services.

There are different tiers of pricing depending on how many registered users are made active in the community. There are also a variety of module packages including Standard and Premium. Some of the premium features include Content Alerts, Member Matching, and the enhanced Resource Library.

ThePort is the only community provider that enables associations to choose from more than 30 features that can be included in the community. Customers only pay for exactly the features they want. Our pricing begins at $500/month.

One year contracts based on buckets of users, e.g. < 500, 501-1000, 1001-5000, 5001-10,000, 10,001-20,000, 20,001-50,000 and 50,001+

One-time set-up fee and a monthly fee. The set-up fee encompasses all aspects of setting up the organization’s Socious site including AMS integration, security and site set-up, graphical design, go-live coaching, conversion of existing files and listserv archives, etc. The monthly fee is an all-encompassing fee that includes unlimited access to the system and all future upgrades and is based on the size of the organization and the modules they would like in their site.

Pricing for all but the enterprise site license is based on number of users and where the site is hosted. Set up fees cover installation, branding, and integration, and are dependent on the customer’s requirements. Enterprise site licensing is based on the number of servers being utilized.







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CUSTOMER SERVICE/TECh SUppORT?

Higher Logic offers unlimited support ticketing to take questions on products and help subscriber organizations troubleshoot/fix issues. The Higher Logic User Group (HUG) is another customer service tool that subscriber organizations and members of subscriber organizations may use to access product training, materials, and discussion lists. Service plans may be purchased from solution partners or Higher Logic for organizations that require additional help or support.

NFi Studios takes pride in our ongoing partnership with our clients. NFi provides exceptional and timely support and responses to customer needs. Each client is assigned an account manager, project manager, and business representative. We provide regular business hour phone support and emergency 24/7. We also leverage Zendesk ticketing systems, and have robust documentation, an online support forum, tutorials, and a helpful wiki.

Support is available during normal business hours. ThePort’s online ticket system is available 24/7, and most issues are resolved within 24 hours. We respond within hours to email requests.

Phone and e-mail.

During implementation, Socious offers a dedicated deployment manager and a dedicated account manager. Your dedicated account manager stays with your account as long as you are a customer with Socious. You can contact your account manager as often as you would like and there is no additional fee for live support. All Socious customers have access to the Socious Customer Support Center site, where clients can access the latest news and information on the Socious tools and upcoming releases, help documentation, and overview documents. Site administrators can participate in Socious Boot Camp, and a variety of regular webinars. Forums for each client enable private communication with Socious, private archives of files related to their implementation and more. Support available via email and telephone, Monday-Friday from 8am-6pm.


Socious provides ongoing education for customers.






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ach of the six vendors included in this whitepaper have something that we feel is especially unique and valuable. Here’s what we find is the “awesomesauce” for each one.

Our analysis is based on our work with them, our experience using their platforms or conversations with people who use their platforms, and most importantly (for us), our confidence in the people behind these products who are a part of our association family.

ThE ThOUGhT LEAdERS Higher Logic has earned their great reputation in the association community through a focus on giving back, especially

in terms of educating association executives on the business implications of social media. For years, they’ve been at every ASAE conference, as speakers and as exhibitors. They truly understand the complexities of association management from both the data side and the people side. We love that their platform has evolved smartly by adding social features to the familiar—for example, the member directory and eGroups/listserves—making the transition for members painless. Also, their Microsites are fantastic for enabling chapters, special interest groups, and components of all kinds.

ThE VISIONARIESNFi Studios brings a fresh perspective to the association space. They are really engaged, extremely interested in filling the

needs of their association clients, and they have an incredible eye for the possibilities of the semantic web. Their Member Matching feature is an example of using data to deliver that relevant experience, helping members connect with other members in various organic and user-focused ways. They are infused in the social media world too, constantly listening and learning from thought leaders on the subject so that NFi can anticipate where this technology is going. They are big picture thinkers who are always looking to innovate and enhance, and they have a fantastic team of developers and designers to keep their platform in pace with their vision.

ThE TRAILbLAzERSThePort has a fascinating 10-year history as pioneers in the media space, helping

newspapers adapt their publishing model for the web. They are ahead of the curve in terms of advanced advertising scripts, SEO, and analytics. Their Social Market 2.0, an interactive supplier directory, is a truly awesome way to give vendors and suppliers a role within your association community and bring in non-dues revenue. These guys really understand social media—both technically, with their open APIs and interactive widget functionality that pushes content from their platform out to outposts like Facebook, and also strategically, with their focus on social “actions” and their understanding of the importance of defining social objects within your space.

ThE ROCkSTARSThe Social Collective is a newer player in the association space, and clearly unique compared to the other vendors featured here because

their platform is very specifically about adding a community layer to conferences and events. But the fit is so perfect—for many associations their annual conference is their most valuable member benefit and biggest revenue generator, not to mention the biggest community energizer. We love the social scheduling, and the way each individual session can become a social object. We also love that attendees can create informal events. But the real awesomesauce is the close integration with Facebook and Twitter, which we feel is way ahead of the curve, and essential for an audience that uses those outposts extensively.

ThE RINGMASTERSSocious has a great reputation for prioritizing their top-notch customer service, and their

platform is incredibly responsive to the many needs and wants of the many different pieces within one organization. Their platform is a feature-rich option for all kinds of chapters and components—even including a fully featured event system that components can use themselves. We especially like that their platform can stand alone for smaller associations without a separate AMS or CMS. Beyond these features, we find they have a true deep understanding of the difference between homebase and outpost strategy and how the two fit together—and they use that knowledge to create user-friendly, efficient, and interactive sites for their clients.

ThE ShAREpOINT kUNG FU MASTERSSusQtech listened and responded to the

association community, and their MemberToMember platform has turned SharePoint into something that can now easily match other social networking platforms. We’re incredibly impressed with how this social platform uses all the good things about SharePoint, like its incredible taxonomy, document management, and thousands of “web-parts,” and minimizes the difficulties by changing the user experience. We love the social distance feature a LinkedIn-like way to show how far removed someone is from other colleagues—and the addition of folksonomy/user generated tags.

SOCIALFISh ANALySIS: pUTTING ThE AWESOME IN “AWESOMESAUCE”

E






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o now, you have the basics on each of these vendors. Hopefully, you also have a better idea of the types of decisions you need to make in order to make the right

choice for your white label online community. Remember, all six vendors are always improving their platforms, and always working on the next release in order to keep up with the needs of the market. Even with all this information, you’ll want to get their latest demo when you are ready to investigate further.

Want more information? Here’s where to get it. We’ve included contact information, example sites you can look at, and a couple of references of organizations they have worked with. Shoot an email to individual vendors to get the contact information for their references.

higher LogicMark [email protected]://www.higherlogic.com

Sample Siteshttp://network.corenetglobal.orghttp://www.ngoconnectafrica.orghttp://www.phisigmasigma.org

Client References Contact Higher Logic for contact info.CoreNet GlobalNGO ConnectPhi Sigma Sigma

NFi Studios/MemberFuseSterling [email protected]://twitter.com/nfistudioshttp://www.nfistudios.com

Sample Sites Contact NFi Studios for visitor log in info.http://ibat.orghttp://sema.orghttp://mpi.memberfuse.com

Client References Contact NFi Studios for contact info.Specialty Equipment Market AssociationIndependent Bankers Association of TexasPICO National NetworkMeeting Professionals InternationalVirginia Association of REALTORS

Theport NetworkAaron [email protected]://twitter.com/ThePortNetworkhttp://www.theport.com/blog.aspx (blog)http://www.theport.com Sample SitesRepublican National Committeehttp://our.gop.com/American Academy of Pediatricshttp://ypn.aap.org/National Association of Elementary School Principalshttp://principalspace.naesp.org/

Client References Contact ThePort for contact info.Restaurant Facility and Management AssociationNational Association of Elementary School Principles

NExT STEpS: CONTACT dETAILS, ExAMpLE SITES, ANd REFERENCES

S






http://www.phisigmasigma.org/

mailto:[email protected]

http://twitter.com/nfistudios

http://www.nfistudios.com/

http://ibat.org/

http://sema.org/

http://mpi.memberfuse.com/


http://twitter.com/ThePortNetwork

http://www.theport.com/blog.aspx

http://www.theport.com/

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The Social CollectiveChris [email protected]://twitter.com/nowgetsocialhttp://blog.thesocialcollective.com (blog)http://www.thesocialcollective.com

Sample Siteshttp://my.sxsw.comhttp://www.nationalartsfestival.co.zahttp://converge.nadp.org

Client References Contact The Social Collective for contact info.SXSW NAFSA Converge

SociousPaul [email protected]://twitter.com/paulschneiderazhttp://www.socious.com/paulschneider (blog)http://www.socious.com

Sample Siteshttp://www.pmihouston.orgThis external site was built using the Socious CMS system to manage their entire external website. The education section of this site links to event data created behind the login and updates automatically. http://www.heug.orgThis external site was built using the Socious CMS system to manage their entire external website.

Client References Contact Socious for contact info.American Red CrossDestination Marketing Association InternationalAssociation of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs

SusQTech/MemberToMemberJen [email protected]://twitter.com/susqtechhttp://www.susqtech.com

Sample Siteshttp://www.TheSug.orgThe Sharepoint Users Group

http://collaborate.asaecenter.orgASAE & The Center

Client References Contact SusQTech for contact info.ASAE & The Center Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO)Women in Cable and Telecommunication

Lindy [email protected]://twitter.com/lindydreyer

http://www.socialfish.org

Maddie Grant, [email protected]://twitter.com/maddiegrant

© 2009 SocialFish

Please share this and quote from it freely, just remember to link back to this, the original source.

The costs of writing, designing and producing this white paper were shared between SocialFish and all six vendors discussed here, in order to be able to provide this as a free resource to the association community. After all, there is no charge for awesomesauce.

NExT STEpS: CONTACT dETAILS, ExAMpLE SITES, ANd REFERENCES







http://twitter.com/nowgetsocial


http://www.thesocialcollective.com/

http://my.sxsw.com/

http://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za/

http://converge.nadp.org/

http://twitter.com/paulschneideraz

http://www.socious.com/paulschneider

http://www.socious.com/

http://www.pmihouston.org/

http://www.heug.org/

http://www.susqtech.com/Pages/Default.aspx


http://twitter.com/susqtech

http://www.susqtech.com/

http://www.TheSug.org/

http://collaborate.asaecenter.org/


http://twitter.com/lindydreyer



http://twitter.com/maddiegrant