Hard to believe that August is here and soon my son Jack will be heading back to school. One of the daily school rituals I enjoy with Jack is asking him “What did you learn today?’ After sharing an interesting fact, he usually asks me, “What did you learn, Dad?”

In the spirit of that question, here are the Top 10 things that I have learned about CollectiveX users and groups over the past year:

1. Most Users are “Newbies.” Most CollectiveX users are not techno junkies who spend hours on end online. Most are active participants in their communities and groups and were invited into their first Groupsite as an extension of the activities they pursue in the real world.

2. Pictures Make a Difference. The most active groups also have the highest percentage of members who upload their profile photos.

3. Not Just for Kids. The average age of a CollectiveX user is 38.5 years old! At present, there are more users over the age of 60 using CollectiveX than between 18-21 (the prime college / Facebook years).

4. Good Things Come In Small Packages. Some of our smaller groups (25 and less members) are getting the most done.

5. Bet You Can’t Eat Just One. A large percentage of our most active users wind up joining another (or creating their own additional) Groupsite after 90 days of being on the platform. That’s exciting for a lot of reasons – including because you can explore entirely new possibilities for collaboration, with specific CollectiveX functions, when you’re a member of multiple groups.

6. Forgetting Passwords is Universal. We have Groupsites in over 100 countries. Every one of them has at least one user that has contacted CollectiveX Support saying, “I forgot my password.”

7. Reminders Help. We always have a spike in new memberships on Mondays. A lot of this is due to pending members receiving weekly updates (which mail earlier Monday mornings) reminding them of what they are missing.

8. Civility Rules. We receive a surprisingly low percentage of complaints from users who feel they are not respected within their group. The large majority of discussions are viewed as being on topic and valuable.

9. Champions Rock. The members of our users’ group champions.collectivex.com keep us grounded. They also come up with the best ideas for making things happen and keeping it simple.

10. Users Talk. The vast majority of our growth has come from word of mouth and viral growth from users inviting others. Thanks, everyone!

At CollectiveX, our sole focus is helping groups communicate, share and network. As we add features, we always ask ourselves two questions:

1. Will 90% of our users benefit from, and actually use it? and

2. How can we design it to be simple and intuitive.

A good example of this is the “Basic” tab on our WYSIWYG editor which contains 90% of the formatting choices you will use 90% of the time.

Editor Modes

As you can see in the image there are four editor modes, but most of the time you will only need to use the Basic Editor mode (The last two are for the geeks). In Basic Editor mode you have all the standard functionality of a WYWIWYG editor like Bold, Italic and Underline, but the Paperclip on the right is where the magic starts to happen.

The File Manager

By clicking on the paperclip a file browser window pops up allowing you to select a file to link from your file cabinet. If the file you want to embed or attach is on your local machine, you can click on browse to find your file and upload it.

Embedding Widgets and Videos

We have tried to make it as easy as possible to embed widgets and videos. From the Advanced toolbar clicking on the filmstrip icon will popup a window with a text area for you to insert embedded objects, video and widget code.

Sources for Embed Content

In the Widget window we have provided you with links to popular content sources like YouTube and WidgetBox that will open in new windows so you can quickly browse around without closing the editor.

Wrapping Things Up

We’ve outlined only a small amount of the functionality in our WYSIWYG Editor. The important thing is to be an active participant in your group and we hope this feature helps you do that with expression. Try it, you’ll like it.

This month’s manager’s tip comes from Andrew Rose who manages multiple Grouspites. His advice: have a purpose and make it known. Here’s what Andrew shared:

“I’ve got several Groupsites, but the most vibrant is a peer support/educational Groupsite for marketing executives, primary located in the Baltimore/DC region (mdsg.collectivex.com). Since I am a firm believer in making things obvious and apparent, our Groupsite’s opening paragraph is customized to plainly state who we are (and aren’t – we’re not a leads group, for example) and some basic ground rules (like a non-solicitation policy).

This is my first level of defense from sales people and vendors trying to get into a group of “their prospects.” I also set the Groupsite’s visibility to “Limited,” which means that prospective members can view the Summary page, but to go any deeper, they need to apply for entry.

Next, I use the Custom Profile Questionnaire feature. I ask prospective members only one question, “What is your role within their organization?” Their answers provide me a filter for about 80% of those who I don’t feel meet the criteria for membership within the group.

It is important to me to make sure the right people are in the right group for the right reason.

Many times, people ask to join this group when there is not a true fit. I happily suggest other groups that may be more appropriate. If I’m not aware of a Groupsite that fits their needs, I’ll often suggest they consider creating their own and I show them how easy it is.

Once someone is a member of my group and understands the purpose of the group, I try and help keep things on track.

I allow members to put items on the Calendar directly, as long as they are marketing oriented or have a philanthropic message that I think is meaningful to the group. I did have one member post a calendar item for another group that I didn’t feel reflected our ethics and values. I removed the item and told the member, in a nice way, why I had taken it down. On rare occasions there have been posts which I didn’t feel were appropriate and I removed them, as well.

One of my biggest challenges, initially, was getting the entire group on my listserve (~260) to join the new CollectiveX Groupsite. Some of them had legitimate concerns: they are high profile people in gargantuan firms/organizations and would just prefer to receive the emails rather than engage dynamically on the CollectiveX Groupsite. When I first put the Groupsite up, I encouraged people to join in my weekly emails. This was a minor success. My true numbers came when I invited my entire mailing list to join and clearly stated the purpose for the group. Since then I have reached a solid critical mass and have a few people joining every week.

The group has monthly presentations that address advanced marketing techniques and the speakers will often provide us with PowerPoint displays. I began putting them in the files area and it didn’t take long to max out the freebie space (25 megs) CollectiveX provides us. I sent an email out to the group for a sponsorship that would pay for the extra space and immediately found someone that would take that over for us.”

Anyone who has ever met Andrew knows that he is always going above and beyond to help others. He does this everyday, with a purpose. His use of Groupsites is just one of the ways he helps people make things happen.

Urbanite is a publication on a mission. Their manifesto on their Web site says it all:

Living in a city is a lot like being in a relationship. It’s not some one-night stand. It’s a long-term commitment. It takes work, trust, and honesty. It takes discussion and involvement. And someone’s got to do the laundry.

Urbanite is a publication dedicated to addressing the issues affecting the relationship between the city and those who live there. Urbanite sees city living as a philosophy and a lifestyle. The magazine is free, available to anyone. Combining entertaining and compelling features with captivating design, Urbanite looks at the story behind the story, exploring issues from fresh angles and providing readers with new ideas to confront life’s bigger questions in smart and constructive ways. The decisions we make today within our relationships – and within our city – create the realities of tomorrow.

Urbanite realizes that. And we know that we are all in it together.

Urbanite publisher, Tracy Durkin, shared how she became aware of Groupsites powered by CollectiveX:

“Over a year ago, I was invited to a Social Network Marketing Panel that had set up a Groupsite for the seminar attendees. I then was invited to join a few Groupsites that were being used by groups I was actively involved in supporting. Pretty soon, it seemed everyone I met who was making things happen in a group setting was using a Groupsite as a tool.

I decided to look at how Urbanite could put a Groupsite to work, for us. The obvious answer was to use it as our corporate intranet. Our hardworking team is constantly meeting, dropping by each other’s offices and barraging each other with endless emails as we go about our jobs. By creating a space where we could share a calendar and common files, we began to work much more effectively. The ability to have online discussions archived and visible to the entire group, instead of buried in everyone’s overflowing inboxes, has also proven to be helpful.

Using a Groupsite as our corporate intranet works so well that we decided to let our readers create their own at www.collectivex.com/x/urbanite.

Our readers make things happen. Groupsites help them make things happen collectively.”

The newsletter for people who communicate, share and network through CollectiveX-powered Groupsites.

Issue 4, July 2008

Issue 3, June 2008

Issue 2, May 2008

Issue 1, April 2008