Lesson 2: Building the Group
In this Lesson, we will break down the where
and how of building an online support group. We will look at current
hosting options such as with Yahoo! Groups, what a basic online
group needs to function, setting membership requirements, deciding
on rules, looking at building a separate web site, and the initial
size of your group.
Where To Go
and What You Need
Places where you can create your group, or find
one to join:
Of course, you also have the option of building
a web site that would serve as the group. This can be very time
consuming and expensive. So before deciding if you want a web site
to function as your online support group, let's look at the basics
a group should have.
- Message board/Forum or Email
- Owner/Manager contact information
- Area for rules, resources, and associations
- Additional space or areas for group specific information
Now, we will break down the top two
places to consider hosting your group with: Yahoo and MSN.
Yahoo! Groups:
Public and private group listings
Three membership levels – open, restricted, and closed
Web based and email delivery of all messages
Links area
Database area – good for rules and associations
Special @yahoogroups.com email address for group owner/managers
Group members personal information can be viewed by all, only members,
or group owner/managers
File storage area
Photos, calendar, polls, and promote functions.
MSN Groups:
Public and private group listings, plus ability to rate audience
level
Two membership levels – open and restricted
Web based messages – optional email delivery
Personalization of multiple pages
Although from the outside these options
might look alike, they are quite different in functionality.
MSN has some good benefits in that you can create
as many or as few group areas as you want. One of the drawbacks
to it is that the group has to be private to keep non-members from
viewing the group's information.
Yahoo! has the best functionality, in my opinion.
It is easy to use and provides just about everything a group could
need. Permission levels can be set so that the public, just members,
or only the owner/managers can have access to the different areas
of the group. Plus, you can have different access levels for different
areas.
|
