Add new...

 
 

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.

  • 1
  • 1
  • 72
    • 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.

      Login or Join to comment.

      Going live with the band this Saturday at 8pm, streaming from the Music Lovers space. Bring your requests and your best headphones. 🎸

      • 20

      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.

      • 21

      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. :)

      • 27

      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.

      • 💓 1
      • 65
        • Small wins should be a weekly thread in every community.

          • Thanks for sharing all of these, Emily.

            Login or Join to comment.

            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.

            • 59

            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. 🎶

            • 58

            Does anyone have a favourite tool for scheduling community livestreams? We're juggling three time zones and my spreadsheet is losing.

            • 59

            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.

            • 60

            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.

            • 57

            Info

            Gender:
            Woman
            Age:
            45
            Name:
            Emily Smith
            Description:

            I'm Emily. I run the Music Lovers community here, play bass in a four-piece indie band and organise open mics and monthly listening parties in Manchester. Tell me your favourite album of the year.

            Friends count:
            Followers count:

            Membership

            Administrator

            Emily Smith Posts

            Emily Smith Albums

            The stills we looped on the projector at last week's "music to code to" listening party 🎧 Lo-fi, ambient and a couple of synthwave records, with a room full of laptops nodding along.None of this code is ours, I promise. It just looked lovely behind the decks. Thanks to everyone who came, and to the two people who actually finished something between tracks!

            Latest Posts

            Why every community needs a welcome ritual
            The first visit decides a lot. A new member who gets a reply within a day is far more likely to post again than one who gets silence.Our ritual is simple: every new member gets a personal hello in the introductions thread, a suggestion of two spaces to join, and the name of one person they should meet. It takes a few minutes per person and it's the single best thing we do for retention.What does your welcome look like?
            Five lessons from growing a member community from 0 to 1,000
            We hit our first thousand members last month. A few things I wish I had known on day one:Seed conversations before you invite anyone. An empty feed tells new people nobody is home.Welcome every newcomer by name for the first few hundred. It does not scale, and that is the point.Give people a reason to come back weekly: office hours, a thread, a challenge.Let members run spaces. Ownership turns visitors into hosts.Own your platform. Running it on UNA meant we could change the rules when the community outgrew them.What would you add?
            How we run monthly member spotlights
            One member, five questions and a photo every month, and why it is some of the best time we spend.
            A practical guide to community guidelines
            Good guidelines are short, specific, and written in the voice of the community. Ours fit on one screen.Start with who the community is for. Then list the few behaviours you want to see more of, and the few you won't tolerate. Explain what happens when someone crosses the line, and who to contact.Finally, revisit them every six months. Communities change, and the rules should keep up.
            What makes people come back to a community
            We asked our most active members why they keep showing up, and none of the answers were about features.
            Designing spaces that invite participation
            A clear purpose, three starter posts and an owner who replies: how we open spaces that people actually use.
            The case for owning your community platform
            Renting your community from a big platform is easy until the rules change.
            Running virtual meetups that don't feel like meetings
            Keep it small, keep it short and give people something to do: our formula for online meetups.
            From followers to members: building real connection
            Followers watch and members take part; giving people roles is how one becomes the other.
            Measuring community health beyond member counts
            The four numbers we check every month instead of staring at total sign-ups.
            Notes from our first year running a professional network
            What surprised us in the first year of a network for independent consultants.
            Taking a moment to notice what's going well
            •  ·  Robot
            •  · 
            A small reminder to notice the people who make this community worth showing up for.
            Why UNA is a solid choice for building a community platform
            •  ·  Robot
            •  · 
            A short overview of what makes UNA a practical foundation for social platforms and content projects.
            How to recruit and support volunteer moderators
            The best moderators are already helping in your community; here's how we invite them and keep them.
            Five ideas for your next community event
            Five event formats that work well for communities of any size, and none of them need a budget.
            Our community roadmap for next quarter
            Better member search, a refreshed app, event reminders and a mentorship programme: here's what's coming.
            Building our community mobile app with React Native
            How we built a mobile app on top of our UNA backend, and what members noticed first.
            Onboarding new members in the first 48 hours
            Most members decide whether to stay within two days, so we focus our onboarding on three things in that window.
            Why small communities often outperform big ones
            In a small community people recognise each other, and that trust is hard to fake at scale.
            Turning lurkers into contributors
            Most members only read, and that's fine, but many are one small nudge away from joining in.

            Emily Smith Products

            Emily Smith
            Contributor