OK, I'm convinced: we're moving our band's fan club from a group chat to its own space here. Wish us luck with the migration.
Going live with the band this Saturday at 8pm, streaming from the Music Lovers space. Bring your requests and your best headphones. 🎸
Big thanks to everyone who came to Sunday's acoustic session in the garden. Forty people, three guitars, and one very patient neighbour. The next one is in two weeks, details in Events.
Almost three months since we moved the band's fan club off the group chat and into its own space here. It's already busier than the chat ever was, and members keep posting setlists from shows I'd completely forgotten we played. :)
Long post, sorry! After six months running the Music Lovers space, here's what I've learned: people come for the playlists but stay for each other.
Our most active threads aren't about songs at all. They're members asking for advice on gear, gigs, and getting over stage fright. If you run a hobby community, make room for the off-topic stuff. That's where friendships start.
Learned a lot from the UNA community forums this week about setting up member roles. Our volunteer moderators in Music Lovers finally have the right permissions instead of full admin. If you're new to running a network, the UNA docs are a great place to start.
Friday playlist is up in Music Lovers! This week's theme is songs with a great bassline, so naturally I added far too many of my own picks. Add yours before Sunday and I'll fold them in. 🎶
Does anyone have a favourite tool for scheduling community livestreams? We're juggling three time zones and my spreadsheet is losing.
Tip: when you share an event link, add a short note about who should come. Bare links get scrolled past. A sentence of context gets clicks.
For everyone who asked how this network is built: it runs on UNA (https://una.io), an open-source platform for communities and social apps.
Late to this, but how is the move going? Happy to help set up the space. One tip from past migrations: pin a welcome post with three things to do in week one, then check how many new members reply to it.