Building Online Professional Networks: Three Stages to Success

by Suzanne Rainey

For several years I have helped build online professional networks for clients of my firm, Forum One Communications (publishers of the Online Community Report). Jim Cashel, Editor of this publication, asked if I might share some of the lessons of this work with the readers of the Online Community Report.

Online professional networks in our definition refer to networks of professionals working in the same field, though typically representing different firms or organizations, different sectors within a given field, and often living in many different countries. This definition can overlap with the trendy "Communities of Practice", though CoPs often refer to communities within a single large organization; our work principally involves networks of organizations. A prototypical professional network is the International AIDS Economics Network that I direct, http://www.iaen.org/, comprising over 5000 AIDS economists and policymakers in over one hundred countries.

In designing and launching sites like IAEN, we have learned first and foremost that building effective online professional networks is hard work, and requires an up-front commitment to time (years) and constant attention to keep the network vibrant. Specifically, we find that three stages of development are required:

Stage I: Information (one-way dissemination)

Before anything else can happen, we need to get the attention - and begin to earn the loyalty - of the professionals we care about. This generally begins with the production of an excellent e-mail newsletter, providing news and information that proves indispensable to the professional. Most of our newsletters provide sector news and analyses, but when possible we include content we are sure is compelling: jobs, funding opportunities, sector events, datasets for scientists, and best new resources. We also make it easy for professionals overseas to obtain as much information as possible via email to allow for slow or unpredictable connectivity. Our hope is to attract several thousand professionals (or more) to our networks.

Stage II: Participation (two-way interaction)

In stage II, we try to move users from being passive (and hopefully satisfied) consumers of our information to active participants. Any idea we can think of to get readers to provide feedback or to engage with our editors is a step in the right direction.

A good way to start is to enable user submissions to the information resources of the site. We might send a survey asking user feedback on any issue of importance. Published user Q&A areas have proven effective. We also have found that online professional directories are a popular feature, allowing users to post personal information and start professional networking. We have sponsored competitions. For example, we recently ran a "call for papers" on the IAEN in which economists from around the world submitted their latest research. "Winning" papers earn the authors airfare to this July's global AIDS conference in Barcelona. The ability to solicit feedback and participation in large quantities is a testament to the success of a network. We also do our best to feature the work and personality of members of our communities.

Stage III: Collaboration (multiple interaction)

In the third and final stage, we encourage users to interact not only with the site and its editorial staff, but also directly with each other. To us, that is true online community. One tried and true strategy is to hold offline events, which always offer wonderful synergies with online activities. We periodically hold time-delimited online events, although these can be very resource intensive. We launch moderated or unmoderated listserves as appropriate for the community. We also can provide private workspaces for working groups or individuals.

What We Don't Do

Good judgment comes from bad experience, and our good judgment these days has us avoiding several things. We rarely use ongoing message boards, because they are very resource intensive. We have yet to find a useful implementation for chat. We also never ask members to use any technology more sophisticated than a web browser, despite the wonderful features that many software clients can provide. Maybe we simply haven't implemented ongoing message boards, chat, or sophisticated software in a smart way, but our experience with these has been not encouraging.

The good news is that online professional networks can be exceedingly impactful. I expect in coming years that every professional will be intimately involved with several online professional networks, some of which aren't tied to their own organization. Despite the decentralization and blurring of loyalties this represents, online professional networks offer remarkable promise to enhance efficiency - and job satisfaction - in a way unimaginable to previous generations. I am fortunate to be able to work with these networks every day, and encourage you to think about the online professional networks that should be created in your industry.


Suzanne Rainey is a Managing Director of Forum One Communications. She can be reached at srainey@ForumOne.com.