Is Biznik still a community?

My involvement in Biznik has also waned, but not because of any pricing changes or difference in policy or structure. There are several unrelated reasons, but...

Biznik is like most of my other interests and values in my life: under-appreciated, under-utilized, and under-valued by the masses. Biznik is too good. FaceBook has mob appeal - it is shallow, superficial and selfish.

I had breakfast with someone that I met through Biznik recently. She now has a husband and a 5-month old child. We had a great visit, did some networking - they are both professionals with whom referrals back and forth are an option, and basically we re-affirmed a real relationship in real time that was made possible by Biznik.

As recently as yesterday I was thinking of hosting an event here in Everett that was considered way back when: a workshop on training abs. A gym recently opened up in my neighborhood and I thought of it as the venue; I thought of Biznik as a vehicle for connecting to potential participants.

We'll see.

From a technical standpoint, I am concerned to hear that you are not receiving your upcoming events mailings.

I will be in touch with you regarding that as it might be a glitch.

Every week Biznik events are hosted around the country, and members RSVP. Just as an example, here are two events in Seattle that continually garner attendees:

• The SEO meetup

• Dex Small Business Summits

I think your question is easily enough answered though: Of course it is!

Yes, I am biased - but the numbers are not.

We continue to see top notch articles and events being posted and hear from members (like Dennis - but from many others as well) that Biznik is the sole reason for the solid business relationships they have.

This community was built as a super responsive, robust, and transparent place to network.

Like anything, you get out what you put in.

I've been paying for membership for months and haven't been on here at all! That may be part of the problem... So many solopreneurs are back-logged with things to do that we just don't find time for the connections that it seems are possible here. But for myself, I also don't have a clear idea of where to start (which is blatantly my own fault.)

Hey Miriam, I am seeing the same thing as you. Dennis and Matts observations and feedback are good, but having been a member, like you, and a paying member, for sometime, I have seen changes in the behavior here. From my perspective I see the most activity in article publishing.

As far as events, and someone that makes a living doing them, yes, you are right, numbers have dropped. There are a select few that get decent numbers, and I don't think that is just based on the event itself. Events that use to fill up for me with 30+ peeps, really started dropping in numbers the beginning of this year. That is why I dropped many of them.

Also, it appears more of us are reverting to Beyond Biznik events to fill the seats... unfortunately I can no longer depend on a "Biznik only event" to fill it up.

I really feel the focus has shifted more on content, than events and conversation. My activity has decreased, but it was a result of seeing an overall decrease here. Maybe it's a domino effect...

I became a top level member shortly after I joined in Jan. 2008, and have been since then. I have gotten a lot out of Biznik, met incredible people and built great relationships. But again, it has changed in my perspective, and the decision for me come Jan. at renewal time is "Is Biznik still working for me". Time will tell...

I remember reading a post about Meetup (probably back in 2007) about how their site provided an example of the long-tail effect. Something like less than 5% of their meetings had more than 1 or 2 RSVPs. In this era a niched online community with participation from more than 1% of their population is considered a success. It's been a pleasant surprise that Biznik's events haven't followed the same trend as Meetup.

Biznik's encountered many changes -- and so has the entire landscape of online communities. Changes in our events calendar are influenced by the changes around us. When Biznik was founded in May 2005, Facebook didn't even exist. It took LinkedIn another 3 years to add an events calendar to their site. Now users find networking and educational events through Facebook, LinkedIn, Meetup and Eventbrite, along with a myriad of other niched online communities.

One of Biznik's unique charms is that it's a community of member-generated content. You host the events, you write the articles, and YOU need to attend the events, comment on the articles and share all this awesome content with others. YOU are the content providers -- if you're noticing a waning in the content -- then it's time to provide! :)

I've always provided : )

I, too, have noticed a change. I’ve been in since 2006, became a paying member some time later. Here are some observations.

When Biznik was young and small, members were far more entrepreneurial, solo-preneurial. As it grew, I started seeing more people who were more traditionally employed, but in roles that required them to seek out clients – real estate, law, accounting, and such. Biznik is becoming more Facebook-like; more LinkedIn-like.

Events used to be more in the evenings and on weekends, thus a lot easier to attend. Now they are more often during the work day, the key word being work, and I just don’t have the time. Maybe this is a reflection of the above - solo-preneurs do this in their down time; employees do this on the clock.

These changes have been gradual, but it seems to me that the required paid membership served to accelerate them.

Lara mentions the on-line content, I assume the articles. Although that has grown as well, it seems to be the same writers several times a week, much of it largely repetitive, and quite frankly approaches spamming.

I appreciate hearing Matt’s and Lara’s concerns, but with all due respect, they are biased. I hope, for them, that the required paid memberships are finally rewarding them (and they do deserve it). But from a user perspective, Biznik has lost its uniqueness. It has also lost its edginess; bring back “Networking that doesn’t suck”.

I like Matt's comment: "I think your question is easily enough answered though: Of course it is! Yes, I am biased - but the numbers are not."

I was againist the recent membership policy change, but if it has helped keep this boat afloat, then it was the right decision.

Hopefully biznik can continue to fine-tune itself to become bigger & better in every way.

I hear you, Miriam. I respectfully disagree that Matt and I respond in haste and do not really hear the observations and complaints. I have observed the decline of event creation and attendance. I shared my opinion on one of the possible causes of that.

I appreciate your observation on the changes to the "network" functionality. I would love to share the background on the events that led to that change.

I again respectfully disagree that the new "follow" functionality is like Facebook. It's actually the *opposite* of Facebook. Facebook is a 2-way network, meaning approval is required by both parties before a connection is made. Prior to the changes last winter, Biznik's network functioned the same way. Acceptance of an invitation to network was required before the other person would appear in your network. In return, if they appeared in your network, you appeared in theirs.

The problem with the Biznik network was that the purpose was never established. We know why to use the Facebook network (until the changes that permitted filtering and grouping and hiding content from some friends and not others) it was pretty straight forward -- you made a "friend request" if you want to see the posts on their wall, and grant them access to the posts on your wall. LinkedIn was also clear. Again, these platforms have evolved some but at the root of the LinkedIn connection was permission to view their full profile and contact that person. You don't need to follow a Twitter user to see their tweets, you can go to their profile, "following" puts their tweets in your stream. But the other reason to follow a Twitter user was to grant them permission to message you directly.

Biznik didn't have any of that clarity. We don't have a wall for status updates, so a network connection didn't give you access to another person's activity. Biznik profiles are visible to all users even non-members, so a network connection did not give you access to profile details. Until recently, all users could send messages to other users (now messaging is a benefit of paid membership), so a connection is not required to message someone.

We posed the question (inside our team meetings, with a number of consultants, and in conversations with long-time members), "Why do you make a network connection on Biznik?" The unifying answer was a variation of, "To keep tabs on what they're doing on Biznik."

Some people wanted to follow an event host -- they wanted to know when an event host created a new event; and event hosts wanted to message their network to let them know a new event had been listed! Some people wanted the same functionality in articles -- to know when an author had published a new piece, and to let fans know that a new piece had been published.

We determined that this sounded a lot like "following" another Biznik rather than "connecting" with another Biznik, and that the ability to learn of an author's latest article shouldn't require the author to accept your invitation to connect.

So after much discussion and deliberation we came up with the idea to change "network" to "follow" and to compliment the change with the Network Activity Updates mailing. The "follow" functionality doesn't work if you're not getting notified of the actions made by those you follow. But no one wants to follow 100 people on Biznik and get 100 individual email notifications each time they do something. The weekly summary report solves that.

I appreciate that every change has the potential to cause disappointment. I don't like a lot of Facebook's changes -- it forced me to use Facebook differently. I have strong opinions about Path's UI changes and use Path less because of them. I expected some users to not like the change we implemented yet felt compelled to make them anyway. I respect your displeasure.

I'm sorry to hear that Biznik no longer has a "nourishing at home feeling." I suppose it was inevitable. It would be nice if it could have grown and stayed feeling small. I don't have a response to that.

I regards to the old tagline, "Business Networking That Doesn't Suck," again -- I appreciate the feedback! This is *your* community, I have the responsibility of taking care of the container that holds that community. It is not a role I take lightly or frivolously. I have a deep respect and a warm regard for the community that sprouted out of nothing, and for those who continue to show and participate through their invaluable contributions.

Each and every addition, change and "improvement" is carefully considered and deliberated on. It took us close to two years to update the tagline and I'm still not entirely at peace with the decision.

If you'd like to know *why* we changed the tagline, I shared the reason in a blog post I wrote 2 years ago.

At the root of it is a disconnect inside of me. I don't think networking sucks. I think networking with peers is inspiring, crucial, beneficial and fun! The burden of creating a place where networking doesn't suck, implies that it does. What sucks are people who abuse the networking container by only thinking of themselves and trying to sell to others.

Maybe it's semantics and Biznik's 95/5 Principle helped make Biznik a place that doesn't suck... I don't know. I hear you. I appreciate you. And I thank you for taking the time to show up and share in this forum. When you show up you make this place awesome for everyone else.

I haven't noticed any changes, but then I'm still fairly new here. I haven't been able to attend any get-togethers yet but hope to be able to soon.

I haven't been on biznik in quite a while and just popped on because I had an article swirling in my head I wanted to put out somewhere - and I knew I could do it here. I realized I hadn't really engaged with biznik for a while and started looking around, which is where I found this conversation.

I have to say that I agree that biznik used to feel big and now it feels small. I think it was all the people who were here for free who were, in effect, the audience and participants for those of us who had the pro memberships who planned events and put out content. It used to be I would get invitations to cocktail parties, now everything is so marketing related. This used to be a place for business owners to meet other business owners to make friends and create supportive peer to peer relationships - now it feels like I'm always being marketed to. It used to feel like people wanted to give me something, now it feels like people want me to give them something. People used to join biznik, now it feels like they try to use it.

I'd like to change that.... but honestly, in biznik's hay day, my business, and everyone's businesses were really slow and we were all reaching out. Now, I'm super busy and not taking the time I used to to reach out any more.

Not sure what to do about it. I haven't given it as much thought as I should. Maybe soon..... I guess that's the problem, isn't it?

It's interesting that I stumble on this thread the day I finally remembered that I've been paying $29/month for something that I've largely ignored.

When I first joined in 2011, I thought it was going to be an engaging community. I even posted a few articles. As the pricing changed, I decided to stay for the ride and see what happens. Yes, I got busy and stayed away but when I did remember to come by or saw an email, I largely felt like @Jim about the content: "largely repetitive, and quite frankly approaches spamming." I guess those people write commercials as part of their marketing strategy and then post them on 12 different sites. My point is that I never saw a business community. It felt like the free LinkedIn groups. Some people wanting to be genuine and most just trying to sell you something.

I do see tons of 'marketing' going on but no real connecting. That is what I originally was looking for. Sad to say I didn't find that at all even among other people. The Groups are repetitive (How many women's networks do we need unless they're meeting in person?) The content is becoming vanilla (I see a flood of articles about Wordpress that are saying the same thing.) The concept was great and it looks like at one time it really meant something for your business. I think @Jim hit another point that you have employees vs. business owners on here. Their mission is to sell and network, not share resources and ideas about how to run your business.

I have noticed a change in Biznik as well of course.

The change seems more natural to me though. I have participated in many different networking groups over the years and they all change over time.

This change is necessary for the organization to survive. Gone are the free members gone are some of the people we networked with that couldn't keep their businesses, gone are those that couldn't get any value from Biznik.

In come the new members, in comes the new businesses; this is a networking site if you aren't getting value from it then you probably aren't putting value into it right now. Normally networking is only as effective as what you have done this month.

If you haven't logged on in three weeks well? I've been super busy as well.

I'm not dropping though no way.

I can come anytime apply myself and receive value. That's good as gold. If you want an evening event: sponsor one.

I've done a few of those over the years and they were always good for me.

I have a little different angle of view on this conversation. Being a Feng Shui practitioner in the past, I always aware of the balance between physical space and the energy. The virtual community of Biznik (“the energy”) had a great success because it created real connections between members during live events. I very value the combination of two possibilities: meet in person and after connect with that person virtually.

Biznik is excellent tool to virtual connections! But I see the need of creating a physical space where members could come at any (reasonable) time, meet in person, get support, share their knowledge, learn something useful and have fun!

The Au Business Club is open now and it serves this purpose. We have large common area, classroom, conference room, and offices. It is a comfortable space for getting serious work done and for after work entertainment. On October 10th we have networking events for members and guest. Be my guests and see for yourself! It is great location in downtown Bellevue, free parking.

We will have events at different times to make it comfortable to everybody. Welcome to organize your event also.

Thanks for the tip on the space you have available, Olga.

I think one of the most valuable aspects of hosting events is a commitment to frequency.

When members trust that the events being hosted are worth attending, we can see deep engagement from members over the course of months to years in some cases.

(That said, if you have a wild hair - and want to host a one off networking event, GO FOR IT! We'll do everything we can to help make it a success.)

I am one of the many who have been with Biznik since nearly the beginning. I have been busy in the last few years and hadn't attended as many events, Biznik included. As summer has rolled by my thoughts have turned more business-y inward and thought I would check into to see what is happening on Biznik. My reaction was similar toe Miriam's - shocked and saddened to see that there seemed to be nearly no well attended events compared to the past where there were dozens of them. It made me wonder what has happened, where did everyone go, etc? I am quite grateful to Miriam for her courage to starting this topic and for everyone who has chimed in. I feel much better already.

The story I am telling myself is that Biznik is smack dab in the middle of its rebirth, that the vitality and thriving energy that once was here can return. Right now it seems a bit bleak but like many things, this too shall pass. The warm homey feeling that Miriam spoke of, I miss it too, but that had to pass as well. Not to beat the cliches to death, but seems fitting for a "the only constant is change".

When Biznik returns to feeling like a place of vitality, I don't expect it to be in the same form. The small cozy connections that were the majority of the early days of Biznik are probably not going to be the majority of the future of Biznik. It will be and already is a larger community. Sure, those small cozy connections will still be here (I wouldn't do it without them!), but I envision the intention of Biznik as a whole will be "grander" (not quite the word I am looking for) and fulfilling larger needs. I am by no means an expert on corporations/larger businesses, but I imagine this is similar path that many organizations and companies go down as they get bigger and change their structure. The ones that suck the life out of everything around them seem to forget their humble beginnings or never had them in the first place. I hear plenty of that good humility in Lara's voice.

Miriam, it's great to "see" you on here, and I also appreciate your honesty and observations. I resonate with some of your comments.

I met you, Bob, Jason, Olga, Dennis (and hundreds of other people, including Biznik's fine owners and staff) through in-person events here on Biznik, and loved the vibrant energy of the old Seattle group. And yes, it's a bit of a shock to see events with no attendees (the point that Matt missed, thinking you hadn't received announcements.) I made the same observation myself this last Sunday evening.

Things do "change" and yes, change IS the only constant. (Fun fact that Biznik preceded Facebook!) Biznik does feel "smaller" to me, too, though I have no idea what the real trends are in membership numbers. Perhaps now us Seattle-ites are experiencing Biznik a bit more like the rest of the country/world, where there have been less people attending events.

In my view, the paywall definitely affected energy, participation, and attendance, though I realize there are pluses to the paywall as well. (Recall there was outright spam then, not the marketing you see now, which I think was always present. And remember the discussions about "freeloaders?") And of course, if the old model wasn't sustainable, from a business standpoint, then it had to evolve.

I think the reasons people are here have been changing... perhaps more people here for SEO/marketing purposes, less people here to personally connect/support. Like the chicken and the egg, not sure if changing paywall or purpose came first. I am happy that the articles are alive and well, and I swear, I'm gonna start submitting some GREAT articles again!

I like some of the changes - the "follow" makes sense to me (cause there was an awkwardness before if someone wanted to connect with someone else and it wasn't mutual.) I also liked the new (as well as the old) tagline - but that change was some time ago!

Olga's point is well-taken - there also needs to be PLACES where Bizniks and entrepreneurs gather. Many of the places where events were once held changed policies and pricing (Mosaic, Friends teahouse), or even went out of business (The Village in Bellevue).

And, interestingly enough, I heard about Olga's new club talking at a new PLACE with an old Biznik friend (Ron Warkentin) a couple weeks ago. Brew Coffee, Beer and Wine in Bothell is a new place dedicated to business networking during the weekday (the focus shifts to happy hour and football some evenings, as well as some networking.)

I'm test-driving the venue tomorrow for a Book More Business event with Patrick Snow (Wednesday Oct 10, 2-5pm), you'll see it under events tab. But I'm also thinking of NEW events to potentially offer there... perhaps I'll start a new thread to poll people about what they'd like to see.

As Brew uses the meetup platform, I had to post event there and cross-promote here... Definitely open to any feedback from Matt about how to do that successfully! Or maybe I could have done it the other way around... though I think it has become harder to do "Biznik only" events (as Bob and others have observed) because of paywall. And I hear about "Biznik lite" but I'm confused as to whether that's a "grandfathered in" thing, or if new people can still sign up for free account to attend events. (Another Q for Lara or Matt.)

Anyways, I hear you Miriam, and I appreciate the conversation that has ensued. (Hmm, maybe it's time for an event to talk about events! Or perhaps... it's time for me to utilize different aspects of Biznik that work better with how current members and readers use it. No sense in putting out cassette tapes in a mp3 world.)

I'm enjoying following these thoughtful comments.

To answer your specific question, Kate. You said: "And I hear about "Biznik lite" but I'm confused as to whether that's a "grandfathered in" thing, or if new people can still sign up for free account to attend events. (Another Q for Lara or Matt.)"

No, we do not have a category of users "grandfathered-in" with special privileges. Biznik Lite is a free account on Biznik. In all essence, it is a place-holder until the user chooses to engage as a member at one of three paid levels. The Biznik Lite account includes a web card in place of a member profile and the Lite user is unable to create new events or articles or participate in some areas such as Biznik Groups and Biz Talk.

Lite users can RSVP for events -- it would be too punitive for the event host if they couldn't!

(For anyone interested in reading more about the changes made in the spring of 2012 -- this page provides a full description: biznik.com/about/change)

It remains true as it always has, that while changes to the features may require significant coding very little is cast in stone. We're constantly making improvements and will reverse things that don't work and bring old features back. Like the ability for Lite users to comment on articles that Matt announced today.

Hope this helps make more sense!

Lara, I just posted a "Yay!" over there, because I look forward to the lively energy of having a larger commenting community. That was the FIRST thing I noticed about Biznik, was the great articles and the lively, thoughtful COMMENTS that followed. Bravo!

SO many of the changes Biznik has made (or unmade) are thoughtful and sometimes quite brilliant. I like the "ticker" tape up top that reports activity... the ability to be on an event waiting list... and even though I have done a lousy job of utilizing them, the "groups" function was a great idea, too. Hated the IM thing that said how many people were online... (that actually made Biznik seem smaller than I thought it was, speaking of perceived "size") and look... it went away!

Thanks to you, Matt, Andrew and all the others who work to be somehow proactive and responsive all at the same time, putting up with a diverse online community with a lot of opinions.

And Miriam, I've thought more today about your comments. Of course, you are the Voice Dialogue gal. You are highly skilled at recognizing and working with those "hidden" voices. And you've brought out an important voice. You've noticed an elephant in the room and weren't afraid to name it - a palpable change in energy and participation. I think that's a voice that has been missing - the voice that is simply raw, honest, and doesn't try to put on a smile or a marketing face (and yet is also without malice or accusation.)

It's the opposite of voice and the face we typically see in networking - put on your smile, be polite (even if not entirely honest), fake-it-til-you-make-it, and put your best foot forward. There's nothing wrong with any of that (and I think we all do it, to some extent), but true authenticity is refreshing and, I believe, magnetic.

As Biznik has "grown up," it's gotten a little more polished, a little more professional, perhaps a bit less real, raw, and messy, for better and worse. At the same time, we've seen Facebook, Meetup, LinkedIn, Google + (and more) all offer events and groups with some similar functionality, perhaps splintering energy and activity. (Who isn't overwhelmed by the plethora of options?)

Dynamics have changed, but I do believe that as Biznik responds and flexes thoughtfully, we could see "community" both thrive and revive. (And if Biznik ever needs an objective think-tank moderator, I nominate you, Miriam!)

Miriam, I am appreciative of those types of referrals and connections. I still network with Justin and I'm in contact with him every week. My point is that things need to change to survive. The main question for all of us is how does Biznik grow? This is something that benefits both Biznik and the members at large. I like the update to allowing non paying members a voice. That type of interaction will encourage them to become paying members I think. My main feeling is that I have never lost sight of the value of Biznik. Biznik helps me even when I'm not looking at it or going to events just with its presents.