Closing the social media space?

[Former Member]

There's an interesting announcement on the space today that it is closing and being merged with this one. I'm just wondering if that makes sense. The social media space has lots of information, mostly blogs rather than discussions, about social media in general - Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn - and how it can be used in many different ways. I've always found it a useful space, but I do have an interest in social media in a wider sense that SCN, and in a wider sense than SAP. If such content is still to be produced, is this space - called , remember - the right place for it? Do we want discussions here about LinkedIn, or would it be better to keep this space about SCN specifically?

The decision has been made to maintain a certain level of engagement with the content, which is certainly a legitimate aim, and which I guess means that the social media space has been a bit quiet - 2 blogs this month, 8 last month, just 2 in March. Or maybe it is about comment count - there are certainly a lot of blogs with no comments. I'm certainly happy with the idea of closing spaces if they are too quiet, and may the social media space qualifies for that. I'm not sure that moving that content here makes any sense though. Is there somewhere else it could go?

Thoughts?

Steve.

[JasonLax · Accepted solution]

We're going to keep .  I'll be taking a lead in that space for the interim and look forward to some more activities in that space. 

If you ever notice something on Social Media and Social Networks that's been posted in the wront space, don't hesitate to reach out.

Thanks everyone for your feedback.

[Lukas_Weigelt · Accepted solution]

Thank god, or rather, Thank Jason. Having the <rant>superflous and cancerous Social Media BS</rant> merge with this subforum would have made me leave it for good...

so..if you ever want to get rid of me..

Nah, jesting aside, thanks for averting this catastrophy.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Jason. I hope we get enough content in the social media space to justify its continued existence. I guess it is now over to us to produce it!

Steve.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Jason!  That's exciting.  Thanks for taking the lead on the space and as Steve said, now it's up to us!

Chip

[Jelena]

Second that. Please no social media stuff in 'About SCN' space. I'm also with Steve on the overview pages. Considering the site's speed, I usually go directly to the specific content or to discussions or the "blog roll". Can't remember last time I visited an overview page...

Maybe we could have a poll on this on SCN? Obviously some organizational changes are needed from time to time, but why not ask the people it's all meant for - SCN users.

[Former Member]

yes, please no linkedin discussions in this community space. for me they count towards the most boring ones imaginable. linkedin is irrelevant in most parts of the world but those in the (one) part(s) of the world where it is relevant fail to acknowledge that fact. the same holds true for a lot of other soc med 'attractions'.

thx for communicating your observation.

just 1 opinion.

anton

[JasonLax]

Hi Steve,

Audits are conducted quarterly on a selection of SCN spaces to identify any that are low on engagement. We look at for metrics during the audit:

• Monthly traffic on the overview page and content tab
• Number of Followers
• Number of Activities in a Month
  • An activity is when a content item is created, edited, replied to or commented on
• Freshness and completeness of the Overview Page

If attempts to rehabilitate the space fail, a decision is made to close or merge the space with another. This process can take place over several months.

As you noticed for Social Media and Social Networks, the activity level is low. And while the blogs receive lots of views (and are really good), it's not via the overview page which does not receive much traffic.

Some of the content will be moved to other spaces ahead of the merger: some belongs in event related spaces and then there were some misplaced items which have mostly been dealt with.  The remaining content will make it's way to About SCN.  Several items already touch on social media in relation to SCN and we determined that there's overlap with the audience: after all, SCN is also social network .

Thanks for raising your concern and let me know if you have more questions and thoughts.

Jason

[Former Member]

I guess my main concern was that this space is not the appropriate place to move general social media discussions to. If everyone is OK with that, maybe there's no problem.

I do have one observation about the traffic analysis, though. I very rarely look at the space overview pages. My main interface to SCN is my "Activity" tab (as I said here), which I find by far the best way of keeping up with SCN content. I do also search, which again leads me straight to blogs and discussions and not to overview pages. Finally, I subscribe to the RSS feed for "all blogs" via an RSS reader (Feedly), and again that doesn't take me to overview pages. I hardly ever browse through the spaces.

Maybe I'm unusual in this, but if not then it shouldn't be surprising to have low traffic on overview pages and higher traffic on the blogs themselves. That's exactly what you're seeing in the social media space. Personally I wouldn't see this as an indicator of low activity.

Just an observation.

Steve.

[JasonLax]

Good question: Why only count the traffic on the overview page and content tab but not the content traffic within?

Generally, many users visit the overview page and content tabs on many spaces to find featured content and links to various resources, in addition to the feeds embedded.  Properly leveraged, these have become really effective in driving more engagement back into the space by becoming a destination on their own. 

During an SCN Space Audit, we evaluate the value of the overview page and content tab as a source of traffic and engagement for the space.  As you pointed out, content (blogs, documents, discussions) can also be found via search, accessed via links shared on social media and other webpages (e.g. Activity), bypassing the overview page and content tab. So, if these two aren't being used, we ask ourselves why keep them? Often, but not always, consolidating the content into larger groups where there will be more interaction and engagement would be better. 

Truth be told, the threshold for traffic required is fairly low and only meant to identify cases where these overview page and content tab are rarely visited. 

[Former Member]

OK, I get that, but just because a space's overview page doesn't get much traffic doesn't mean the content shouldn't be kept together. It may be that the content is specific enough that it should be kept together and not merged with anything else, and we just need to accept that will result in a little visited space overview page.

In this case, since I subscribe to both the social media space and this one I'll still see everything anyway. The merger won't affect me. I can imagine there are people who don't want to see general social media stuff here, though. Like below.

Steve.

[JasonLax]

Hi Steve,

We're still evaluating this planned action that was also raised internally. It's a really exciting topic and I hope some new leadership in that space can make a difference.

About accepting that there will be little visited space overview pages and, for the matter, spaces with less that 5 new content posts a month: unfortunately this can have a negative impact on the rest of SCN and it's operations.  We need to maintain some basic levels of engagement across SCN, as determined by factors like visits to the space's overview page, in order to keep things running smoothly.

Thanks,

Jason