How-to video: How to build an online community, via Epic Fu
Brief synopsis: You may use Twitter, or perhaps you are just a Facebook enthusiast. Maybe you'd like to expand your online community. The best way to create a truly interactive online community is to build a brand for yourself or your digital classroom, using multiple Web 2.0 resources. Rather than just Tweeting or uploading photos to Facebook, you can easily create free accounts Twitter, Blogger, Facebook and Flickr, and you can combine all of them with some simple web links. This sort of syncronization of your Web 2.0 applications will build a solid online community with lots of followers, as well as a group of people who will help you improve in your own area of expertise -- your own Personal Learning Network or PLN.
Benefits: A solid online community, complete with the use of multiple Web 2.0 applications, like blogs, wikis and social media, will help you build your own Personal Learning Network. For teachers, a PLN is a critical part of success in the digital classroom, as a Personal Learning Network can help teachers create their own professional development, without the help and constraints of administrators. Many new connections can be made by building an online community and PLN.
Drawbacks: There is a slight learning curve to building an effective PLN and newbies are often frightened by the prospect of dealing with strangers.
Conclusion: The how-to video above, produced by Epic Fu and Zadi Diaz, demonstrates many ways to build an online community, using various Web 2.0 applications.
