At FreshNetworks, we aim to bring you the best posts in social media, online communities and customer engagement online. Why Drupal is a great social media platform (in layman’s terms). Five reasons why the content management system Drupal is a great social media platform. From having the component modules that are suited to building an online community, through being great for SEO to good scalability. Drupal is a popular CMS and social media platform used by large brands and governments. Image by Hilarywho via Flickr. The Economist on Social Networking. MORE >>

We’ve already looked at two of the key topics  from our social media in financial services round table event ( niche communities and customer driven markets ) and now it’s time to move on to a topic that comes up time and again in relation to the financial services industry – the issue of transparency. The current situation. Matt Colebrook, CEO of First Direct bank, defines transparency in 2 ways: People need to feel secure and know that their money is protected – part of this is knowing what banks and other financial services institutions are doing with it. MORE >>

There is an active community engaged around the programme, many of whom are developers and data analysts. drupal ed thompson FreshNetworks government open open data Open source social social media social media week transparencyYesterday I went to a Social Media Week event hosted by the Central Office of Information (COI) that focused on data.gov.uk. Data.gov.uk is a programme that was initiated under Gordon Brown’s tenure of Labour leadership and now continues on in a slightly slimmed down version under the coalition government. How is the project using social media? MORE >>

It would behoove you to take the time to get to know them and add them to your personal digital community! Ty is one of the smartest people we know when it comes to Drupal. First I’d like to say thank you to Justin and Samantha for putting together this blog where we can come together as a community, exchange ideas and help build on each other.  I hope to write on Develop Socially from time to time and I’m always in support of positive communities like this one. Over the next few weeks Develop Socially is going to introduce you to our friends who are doing just that. MORE >>

Online Community Strategist Angela Connor on Growing Successful Online Communities Home About Angela Contact Popular Speaking Media Press Tips Subscribe to feed Ning is phasing out “free&# and communities will die April 23, 2010 in Ning | Tags: online communities , Ning If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands or even millions of people running an online community on Ning, it’s time to pull out your credit card or look for new digs. Their transition will likely be extinction, and as a community advocate I find that extremely sad. MORE >>