Create a Social Networking Site and Monetize it

DAVENPORT, FL, January 19, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ — There are many people that will agree that the United States education system needs some work. The recent movie, ‘Waiting for Superman’ pointed out many of the issues and made some suggestions towards resolving some of these issues. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, donated $100 million on the Oprah Winfrey show towards this cause. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Rupert Murdoch and other tech giants all have gone public with their position on the need to make America more competitive with education reform. And now a new social network called Moolakee has been created to help with this effort. The site was recently featured on Fox News (http://tinyurl.com/moolakee-foxnews) as a 21st Century Teaching and Learning tool and has just partnered with Costco to provide discounts to its members.

The following is from a recent interview with Jewell Folta, the Founder/CEO of Moolakee and her vision of how she can help the school system compete better with Moolakee.com.

What is Moolakee.com and why did you create the site?

“ESCAPE to Moolakee! is a place where educators feel they are valued and have purpose. ESCAPE to Moolakee! is a rewards-based social networking community for educators that promotes excellent educational standards, resources and rich dialogue while contributing to benevolent cause.

“Because I interact with teachers on a daily basis, I see how stressed out they are. I also see how much education has changed over the recent years; while the change directive means well, it has put a lot more pressure on educators and I see how this change has affected their once cheerful personalities.

“I wanted to create a place where teachers could engage in a professional environment however, they would feel appreciated and have fun with it, too. Another reason I am passionate about this idea is because ESCAPE to Moolakee! gives purpose by providing 21st Century practices as well as giving to philanthropic causes.

“If I may elaborate more on this, there are many children and adults who are very sick with cancer and other diseases. Currently, students sitting in classrooms, right at this very moment, have the potential to be our future scientists, researchers, presidents, etc, that will find cures for these diseases. Don’t we owe it to our teachers and students to give them everything they need, so effective teaching and learning can happen? It’s all one big circle and each depends on the other. That’s one reason why ESCAPE to Moolakee gives so much of the membership fee to charities. All of these things, as whole, will make a difference in our world’s future.”

Do you have a background in Education?

“I’ve been in education since graduating from Miami University of Ohio in 1996. I also hold a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Technology. While teaching high school Biology at Lakota Locals Schools, I also served as the building’s Student Government Advisor and supervised students to raise thousands of dollars for local charitable organizations. I was deemed one of the district’s Master Teachers and was one of four key leads the district’s successful goal, for all faculty and staff, to become Novice Certified. I accepted an Administrative position as the district’s Educational Technologist, at Springboro City Schools focusing on 21st Century Teaching and Learning. I also conducted several eTech Ohio presentations and organized the district’s Summer Technology Mini-Conferences, participated in Battelle for Kids Value-Added Data for Learning initiatives, was a Discovery Education Star Educator and also was on the High Schools That Work committee, before founding ESCAPE to Moolakee!

“Several years ago I was a part of an educator network that provided teachers with excellent resources and professional development. However, to be a part of it, one; the district had to purchase their product and two; the educator had to apply and there were requirements and expectations. Therefore, not all teachers could be a part of this exclusive community. When I was part of this community, I remember thinking how wonderful it would be if there was something this great that ALL educators could be a part of. Opportunely, I acquired a position to work with a company that had this vision in mind. However, the company did not see it to fruition and decided to finish the work. Web 2.0 is a way that teachers can connect with each other from all over the country and the world therefore adding priceless, incessant value.”

How were you able to create this social network website?

“I am technology savvy when it comes to the user interface however; I am not experienced in writing or developing a program and definitely needed someone to do it for me. After several months of trying other do-it-yourself solutions, I knew I had to find a company that could help me. I found rSitez.com via a Google search using several search terms for example, “white label social network.” I liked a lot of the out-of-the box features that rSitez provided and rSitez beat competitor bids with customizations that ESCAPE to Moolakee! needed. Not only were the out of the box features wide-ranging, Rohan, the company’s CEO, is very cordial, accommodating, professional and really took the time to understand ESCAPE to Moolakee’s needs.

“I couldn’t find a white label service that provided ALL of the features and options that I needed to be available for educators, in ESCAPE to Moolakee! specifically, a document library, reward structure. I don’t think there is even one out there that will do it all. Most likely, if you want to set yourself apart from other competition, you’re going to have to invest in some customization.

“The rSitez team has been delightful to work with. They are very talented have been prompt in response to support tickets. I also value that the team has been very professional and courteous. I wish I could take them all out for Starbucks!

“I’ve had several very nice surprises from rSitez. One day I logged in and the theme was absolutely beautiful! I had no idea that rSitez was working behind the scenes on a brand new theme that captures the feeling that I wanted ESCAPE to Mookee! to have; and I didn’t even ask for it! That was the big one however, I’d like to mention there were a few other functionalities that rSitez understood were important for ESCAPE to Moolakee! and they surprised me by creating them. Very thoughtful and rare to have a company help you this way. I’ve been very pleased with the experience and rSitez has given me some customizations that I did not have to pay for and I really appreciate that.

“Working with rSitez has been a very nice experience. The management and the development team are hard-working, professional and courteous and really listen to understand what your company and social network needs are, during the custom development process. I’ve been impressed with everyone that I’ve worked with. I would like to mention that I value that Rohan, the company’s CEO, especially understands the challenges of an entrepreneur and seems to become part of the entrepreneur’s team by valuing and supporting the company’s mission and objectives.”

rSitez specializes in creating unique social networking websites. Each site comes with a variety of social networking features including blogs, chat, video, photo sharing, audio and a lot more. The sites are integrated with Facebook for content sharing, and include a variety of monetization features to allow the site owner to generate revenue from the site. The sites are 100% white labeled and can be customized to the last detail.

Maybe you have an idea to create a social networking website.  Not one like all the others that you have seen.  Many of them look the same and have exactly the same features.  You have an idea that will make your site … unique.  A vision that will make your social network stand out from the rest.  You have thought about how to grow and monetize the site.  You know what features you would like to have on the site.  You have a targeted niche audience and a clear value that you would like to provide. The problem now is to find someone to build the site exactly the way you like and to do it within your budget.  How do you go about this?

You can create a social network within a few minutes by simply going to rsitez.com.  However, rSite go beyond the 1-site fit all approach often used with social networks.

rSitez makes creating a custom social networking site easy by using the UDD methodology to develop a custom social networks.  These sites are based on your specific requirements.  This approach involves 3 steps in the process.

rSitez UDD Methodology

Understand (U) – A Project Manager from rSitez team will give you a call to discuss your vision for the project.  The technical responsibility of the project definition lies with the Project Manager, not you.  So you don’t need to understand the technology, code, technical jargon or fill out long forms in order to try to explain how the software should work. You will simply need to explain in your own words on the phone with a live person what you want the site to do.

The project manager will be able to ask follow up question to get a clear understanding of your project, the features you would like, and how to implement these features.  The focus will be on your vision for your social networking software.  Once we are clear about what you want from our discussions with you we are ready for the next phase of the UDD methodology.

Develop (D) – Our Development team is responsible to developing the application per your specific requirements.  They convert your vision for your social network to actual code for the application.  For example, instead of searching for members by city you may want to search on members within a certain radius (ex: within 100 mile of your location).  The development team will write the code to do this.  Or you may want to have integration with your corporate system where someone can click a link from your corporate application and automatically login to your social networking site without having to sign in again.  Our developers will write the code to do this or any other custom features you would like for your site.

Some examples of recent custom features our developers have created for clients include:

- Single signon where members from a corporate system can automatically login to their social network

- Facebook feeds with comments and friends

- Radius search to target geographical advertising

- Facebook integration where content and branding from the client site is posted direct to members facebook wall

- Full document library where any type of document can be uploaded and shared with other members

- Webcam and video sharing features

- Payment and monetization options and integration with different payment processors

- Different member types where specific features and access are given to members based on client specification

- Points and reward systems

- Management content reporting and downloads

and much more

Deploy (D) – Our development team will help you to deploy your application.  This includes providing full documentation for custom developed features, responding to any questions about the application, and providing technical support. The team continues to support the application indefinitely after the deployment based on our licensing agreement.  The team is also available to create additional features or meet new development requirements per request.

The end result is a custom social network with unique features that meet your specific requirements.  This will enable you to provide a targeted offering and let your social network stand out from other networking sites online.  This could help your site to grow faster and better than competing social networks. In the end your members will appreciate the specific details, value, and targeted approach provided by your network.

About the author

Rohan Hall is the Founder/CEO of rSitez, Inc. (www.rsitez.com), a technology firm that helps entrepreneurs create custom, revenue-based social networking sites.  He is the author of Stop Working, a book that teaches entrepreneurs how to use technology, globalization, and networks to build a global business.  He has developed technologies for a wide range of entrepreneurs and Fortune500 clients including HP, Corning, Oracle, Honda and various others.

I had coffee with a couple friends this morning on the beach in Barcelona.  I live only 2 minutes walk from the beach and these guys are my neighbors.  They have an idea for an online business and wanted to get my opinion regarding how to pursue the idea and if the idea was a good business idea.  This is the summary of my response to this question.

I don’t really believe in the concept of a good business idea or a bad business idea.  Every entrepreneur has his own vision of their idea and why the idea would be successful.  I have see what I thought was a good business idea surrounded with great technology fail miserably.  And equally I have seen far fetched ideas become a success.  The main factor in either case has been the founders of the business themselves.

When I think of business ideas, what is really important is how committed and available the founders are to making the idea a success.  In many cases Plan A will fail, simply because it’s often hard to tell how cold the water is until you jump into the lake … so to speak.  At that point it’s really how well can you swim.  Can you come up with a Plan B or even a Plan C if needed?

Entrepreneurs ability to be creative in making their business a success in a difficult time was tested severely in the last 3 years.  Many businesses that seem to be stable fell apart and other businesses flourished.  Last year during the middle of the crisis our business more than doubled revenue and profitability.  I think we were able to do this because we were able to implement Plan B and even Plan C when the getting got rough, and we created opportunity out of chaos. We’re doing the same again this year.

So is this business idea a good idea or a bad idea?  In the end, it really has to do with you the entrepreneur.  Do you have what it takes to make your vision a success?

Techcrunch announced that Ning has layed of 40% of their staff and will be discontinuing their free services.  All Ning network owners will need to pay for Premium services to continue using their Ning network or they will need to migrate their network to another platform.

The news was released in an email from  Jason Rosenthal who took over Ning CEO Gina Bianchini position about a month ago.  The email from Rosenthal stated:

“My main conclusion is that we need to double down on our premium services business. Our Premium Ning Networks like Friends or Enemies, Linkin Park, Shred or Die, Pickens Plan, and tens of thousands of others both drive 75% of our monthly US traffic, and those Network Creators need and will pay for many more services and features from us.”

At the end of the day the lesson learned by Ning is that “FREE” is not a business model.  Even with over $120 million in investor funding, Ning still needs to generate revenue to pay its bills and to grow its business.  At some point, investors need to start seeing a return on their investment as well.

At rSitez, we understand this very basic business fact and provide a variety of payment plans for everyones budget.  Our plans include more features than Ning and we provide the opportunity to fully customize your social networking sites.  We will literally develop any feature you would like to make your site unique and competative and are loved by entrepreneurs for this reason.  Additionally, network owners own all the content in their network and take it anytime they like.

rSitez continues to grow every year and more than doubled revenue last year.  We’re a financially and technically strong company and do understand the reality of having a solid and reliable business model.

We wish the best of success to all the Ning network owners and welcome this opportunity for them to compare our offering and prices at www.rsitez.com with offering provided by Ning or any other network provider.

That’s the question Citibank asked in a recent survey and the answer it got?  No.  Many small business leaders said that they did not see results from their efforts on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Over 60% of the 500 respondents said that social networks did not help generate leads.  Only 12% found social networks somewhat or very helpful, and 13% said they were not very helpful.

Why does it seem to be all the rage for larger organizations, but not so much for smaller ones?  Here are some of the stumbling blocks that small businesses may have when it comes to social media.

1. It takes time to get results.  The whole aspect of social media is about building relationships, and that can’t be done over night.  If a small business starts a Facebook Fan page or a blog and hopes for immediate results, she will be disappointed.

2. It takes up time.  Small business owners have a lot to do just in running their business.  Building and maintaining online social networks takes time and consistency.  And, unlike larger organizations with more staff members to delegate to, in a small business, it’s hard to let someone else convey the corporate message.

3. It takes resources. Not only do small businesses need manpower to handle the online communication, they also need sources of information and research in order to establish that role of a “thought leader.”  Large companies can do surveys and hire researchers to write innovative white papers, but with their limited budgets and staff, it’s more difficult for small businesses to offer new and fresh information.

4. Some businesses may make a half-hearted entry.  For the businesses that are doing social media because they are “supposed” to, it won’t take much to convince them it won’t work.  The company president may have a LinkedIn.com account, but has few connections and doesn’t strengthen those or build more.

5. Lack of hard results.  It’s true.  Most of the stories of success using social media are anecdotal.  Factual, but not always in hard numbers.  So it’s difficult sometimes to show the actual benefits of using it.  How do you know, for example, that a potential customer decided to call you because he saw you on Facebook?  Can you measure the amount of people who developed a favorable impression of you after reading your blog?

Despite the negatives from this survey, social media experts are sure that small businesses can benefit from this form of marketing.

Mashable, a website specializing in social media, countered with several examples of small businesses that have seen sales growth and increased brand recognition through their social media efforts.

Other examples abound throughout the Web, from the success of Chicago’s Sprinkles Cupcakes on its Facebook fan page to the non-profit organization Epic Change and how it effectively used social media for fundraising.

But maybe there’s another option.  Maybe small businesses could use a different type of social networking system that’s more tailored to their size and need for flexibility.  rSitez, a software development company, helps entrepreneurs and small businesses create their own social networking sites by taking the best attributes of the popular sites and blogs and tailoring it to the individual company’s needs.  In effect, they create a community for each company, making it much simpler for businesses to reach their target audience.

Where are you on the social media spectrum?  Have you been using it for years?  Thinking about testing the waters, or somewhere in between?  What results have you seen?

When we start marketing and networking on social media sources like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, we sometimes forget some of the simple rules of engagement.

In his book, “Everything I Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten,” author Robert Fulghum reminded us of the basics of getting along with others. Although it was originally published in 1989, his observations are timeless.

Even in our high tech world, we can look back at some of the lessons we learned in elementary school, and see that it applies to establishing successful relationships online.

1. Don’t be bossy. If you are a small business owner or entrepreneur, chances are you are bursting with excitement about your product or service. You want to shout its praises from the rooftops. But when you are building tenuous relationships with others, especially across the Internet, you need to take a more subtle approach.

Instead of delivering a heavy handed sales pitch, focus on your customers and what they need. What problems are stumping them? What is costing them time, energy and efficiency? Then, let them know how your products or services can help.

2. Don’t say anything you don’t want your mother to hear. Although social networking has a casual element, keep in mind that you are building a reputation online for your business. Be careful before disclosing too much personal information or getting caught up in controversial discussions. If someone posts a negative comment on your blog, don’t immediately shoot back a flaming response. Mom wouldn’t like that.

3. Listen to others. The whole purpose of social media is to get others to interact with you. That means you have to create an environment where people want to respond. If you have your own blog, you can do this by asking questions. You can visit other blogs and find out what others are thinking and join that discussion.

If you have your own social networking site, like ones offered at rSitez, you can start a community discussion through blogs, forums, and chats. Once you’ve gotten your readers talking, listen to them and let them know you appreciate their interests.

It sounds simple, but how many times have you clicked on a website looking for information and been inundated with heavy sales copy? Or read a blog where the author dismisses comments that contrast his? Or see where someone says something completely inappropriate on Facebook that diminishes your view of him?

By remembering the basic social rules that you would use in establishing face-to-face relations, you’ll have success in creating relationships online.