Here\'s some of the work I lead in building a Social Network for the Web Analytics Association

1. Web Analytics Association (WAA)
Building a Social Network
Presented By:
Marshall Sponder
Elena Haliczer
Jared Freedman
Social Media Committee, WAA
February 1st, 2007, Miami

2. Needs Assessments
• Audiences (primary/secondary/subsequent)
• Competitive Landscape (Sphinn, Specialty Content networks, and
web analytics sources, groups, other reference points)
• USP (Unique Selling Point) / WAA is the only professional
association serving Web Analysts
• Services (Mentorship, Networking, Viral Media (KickApps))
• KPI’s (quantitative/qualitative): membership increase to network/,
tracking of influence on the web through rss and viral widgets
• Revenue generation

3. Technical Decisions (Jared/Marshall)
• Open/Closed?
• Domain Masking/ CSS Style Sheets mimicking main site
• SSO (Secure Sign on)? Open ID? (Kickapps had SOAP interface
– we have to write code to it) – Jared
• Membership Authentication (Open/Closed?) Unique Situation
(existing user base)

4. Rollout Process
• Content Strategy
• User Agreements
• Promotion
• Approval Process and Management
• Beta Testing and Training

5. Content Strategy and User Agreements
• Content channels
– Committee content
– Vendor content
– Consultant content
• Influencers
• User agreements
– Existing membership
– New members
– Site visitors

6. Promotion
• Leverage existing membership and community
connections
• Leverage sponsors and vendor members
• Buy and resell advertising
• Generate revenue
• Manage advertising

7. Approval Process and Management
• Board of Directors
• Committees and sub-committees
• Volunteer Members
• Operations management company, Virtual

8. Beta-Testing and Training
• Communicating with vendor
• Training other committees and members in
network testing and usage
• Evaluating success
• Deciding on next steps

9. Dealing with the Unexpected
• Competition
• Internal constraints
• Timing
• Refining process
• Vendor relations
• Refining technical decisions based on internal changes