You've heard us say it you: Welcome to Gather.
Now it is your turn to say it to your friends. There are multiple benefits to you as an author, and to Gather as a community, to grow your personal network on Gather. It helps you increase the number of comments your articles receive. It raises the possibility of your appearing as a Most Read Author or Top Rated author. And your network adds to your ability to accrue greater rewards on Gather. Here are some ideas on how to build up your network as the Gather audience increases.
Invite your friends, family, and colleagues. The easiest way to get started is to invite people you already know. We have initially provided three types of networks for you to build: one each for family, friends and colleagues. If you have people with whom you like to share photos, political thoughts, investing techniques or stories about last Saturday night, you can publish them to the entire Gather community, or just to the people you want to share them with. Build your networks with this in mind, and you will be able to share dating advice with college friends without tipping off your folks that you might have met "the one." Just click on "Connect -> Invite Others" to get started.
Connect to people you meet on Gather. Another great way to build your network is by meeting people here on Gather. We have seen many individuals' networks grow as people who share similar interests in knitting, cooking, politics or business comment consistently on each other's articles, or write an article to answer another member's query. People who meet this way get more familiar with each other as they get email notifications that people in their network have posted new content. It is also a great way to gain knowledge about a subject you were unfamiliar with from members you might not normally meet in your offline geographic or social sphere.
New network-building tools planned. Over the coming months, Gather will introduce more tools for building your network. First will be the ability to form Groups on any topic you want. It's a great chance to publish beyond your family, friends or colleagues, to clubs you belong to, circles of friends, corporate work groups, or special family members. Second is private messaging, which will allow you to communicate with Gather members in a new way that complements the ability to comment on an article. Over the course of the year, other tools like off-Gather email and the ability to see statistics on the traffic your articles receive will add to your ability to manage your network.
Maintaining your network. Of course, your network will also grow as you keep your content fresh and engaging. Personal updates, comments on comments, and publishing photos are great ways to add content. Other ideas are to keep a journal, create a weekly (or daily!) column, and comment on your connections' articles. Keep them interested, and your network will grow stronger. It's your audience. Welcome them to Gather.
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David Cooperstein is Editor in Chief of Gather. His other comments can be found at david.gather.com. "The Editor's Desktop" is a weekly column that will be published every Wednesday to help users get the most out of Gather. I look forward to your comments.
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Comments: 10
David, this sounds great. Do you know of other sites that track stats for contributors like this? I don't. And of course, the rapid creation of sub-groups here will be critical to building the larger network.
Allan
Rick