Melcrum has announced that it is shuttering The Communicator’s Network, the standalone online community for professional communicators that Melcrum launched in May 2007. The site, which went live about three weeks after the official launch of MyRagan, Ragan Communications‘ social networking site for communicators, has not been a vibrant community for some time–at least not in terms of active commenting and new posts to the site.
I heard rumblings about the pending decision to close TCN some time ago, and had mixed feelings. Certainly, I didn’t visit the site enough to contribute to its vitality–and I’m not alone by a long shot. It wasn’t for lack of interest as much as lack of time. It’s the same reason for my infrequent visits to MyRagan, which also has seen busier days in the message and blog sections. (I do credit Ragan staff for their continual efforts to add content and to spark conversations. A recent contest to come up with the best caption for photos was fun.)
Melcrum actually has moved the online discussions and some other content from TCN to LinkedIn, which has become more than just a website for networking. LinkedIn still requires people to register and log-in before making connections, but it has a large user base and recognition. Best of all (in Melcrum’s favor), LinkedIn won’t require Melcrum to cover the overhead of running the site.
I don’t see a groundswell of people shouting for more online communities. (Although developers will continue to try to be the next facebook or LinkedIn.)
Time and energy are finite resources, and communicators will benefit from consolidation of sites over time. Competition is good for generating ideas, but in an increasingly crowded field, I think that Melcrum wisely decided that it was time to cash in the chips in one area, and find a new place to join in the conversation.
Read the announcement from Melcrum here
Entries (RSS)
March 13th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Hi Tom,
When we first started work on launching The Communicators’ Network in 2007, online networks for business were few and far between.
Today, LinkedIn has over 36 million business users in 200 countries. Their discussion group functionality has made LinkedIn THE destination site for online networking for business.
So asking a communicator who’s already a LinkedIn member to join your community is a simple click. The LinkedIn group I set up only a few months ago has over 1,250 senior communicators signed up with dozens more joining them every day.
We had reached a critical decision with the development of the Communicators’ Network website.
Melcrum is a small privately-held business with limited resources, so either we continue to invest in launching new features and functionality on the Communicators’ Network site, or we invest all our time and energies into Melcrum.com.
Customer feedback was decisive.
Over the last six months, we conducted extensive research and interviews with Melcrum customers about their information needs and online preferences.
They told us that they love what we do but want less email and a service that’s altogether simpler. One website for everything. So that’s exactly what we’re doing.
We’re creating a single site with all Melcrum’s research, articles and case studies, easy to search and use, with the ability to rate and comment as well as interact with Melcrum staff and other members.
These new interactive features and upgrades will be launching on Melcrum.com over the coming weeks.
We hope you like them.
In the meantime, you can find the new LinkedIn group for communicators at: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1028787
Robin.
March 13th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Robin, thanks for commenting. As you clearly saw, the advantages of moving to a site like LinkedIn outweighed any reasons to keep The Communicators’ Network going as a standalone site.
Of course, I wish you continued success with building an even greater following than you did with the separate sites (TCN, the HUB and melcrum.com).
For a “small privately-held business with limited resources,” you folks generate an impressive amount of solid content for communicators worldwide. And I continue to be impressed with your staff’s professionalism and customer-first mentality.
See you on LinkedIn!