Is anyone else creating interest-level social networks?

[Brian]

I see a lot of talk about creating social networks for existing students and alumn, but little or no talk about creating interest-level social networks around the degree programs that your school offers in hopes to recruit new students. It can serve as both a branding initiative (a unique way to put your school brand in front of an audience of enthusiasts), as well as a method of directly capturing leads.

I've built 4 of them now and we've been seeing some success. I don't work directly for a school, but for a company that owns schools and came up with this on my own. Two of them were built for our design school (IADT) - they are VisualDiner and FashionDiner, and two of them were built for AIU, one for the masters of education program (Educator2Educator) and the other for the business program (TheMarketingScene).

I haven't spent a dime on marketing them and we have not only grown the member bases to a substantial number, but we're seeing direct enrollments as well.

I feel like i'm the only one creating these custom social networks that are aimed at the interest level. Has anyone else attempted this? If so, please share!

[Susan]

We've not done this, but what a wonderful idea!

[Brian]

If anyone is interested, I'd love to share how I built the sites and how we've recruited members

[Susan]

Cool! Are you going to HighEdWeb in October?

[Brian]

Noo - I didn't know anything about it. I'd love to go. Can you send me the details?

[Susan]

Here's the site for it. http://www.highedweb.org/2008/default.aspx

I think several that are part of this forum/network are going. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and networking.

[Brian]

:) I'm there! Thanks for passing this along.

[Susan]

No problem! I'm glad we'll have one more comrade! I'm trying to get us all together one evening for a meet up...we'll see if that pans out.

Maybe you can tell us about your social networking prowess. :-)

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

[Andrea Panucci]

I would love to hear more about how you did this and about Expression Engine if you're still willing to share.
(Sorry if I'm late, I notice you posted this last August)

[Bradley Livermore]

Are those ning sites?

How much resources are devoted to each site?

It's a great idea and we've thought about it but there's just so much other stuff on our plates right now every "cool idea" has to get pushed to the side.

[Brian]

They weren't built with Ning - they were built with Expression Engine (a great CMS by the way). Expression Engine gave us a little more control with user data and functionality.

[Omega Goodwin]

Hi Brian,

I'm on exactly the same thought regarding interest-based groups - focus on what people are interested in, rather than a university-wise group.

Would love to hear how successful the two webpages are as it will help me sell the idea internally!
My email is [e-mail]

Cheers,

Omega