Tips for Managing On-Line Groups: When it's Time to Make a Move

• Know when to Pull the Plug

Don't do it too abruptly. Give group members a heads up but, eventually, clean break will be needed.

• Put Community Transitions in Perspective
  

Every transition or move a virtual community feels traumatic, almost like the end of the world to the members. It isn't. Moves in the virtual world are just as normal as moves in the physical world.That doesn't mean that they aren't disruptive and upsetting.

No one knows the future of LinkedIn Groups. There has been a lot of speculation. A brief review of the history is important to put what is happening at LinkedIn into perspective.

On-Line Communities: A Brief History

Some of the earliest online communities pre-dated the Internet existed on bulletin boards like Usenet and later listservs. For example, Robert Bacal, Dr. Robert Bacal, and I once belonged to Training and Development Listserv TRDEV-L. It was established in October, 1989 by David Passmore a professor in the Education Department of Pennsylvania State University. It had some heavy hitters like Thiagi (Sivasailam Thiagarajan). Looking back on it, it was cumbersome. It operated in the form of threaded email digests....but it worked. There was engagement, activity, a stimulating exchange of ideas.

One of the most active communities was TRDEV-L, a training and development listserv created by Pennsylvania State University professor David Passmore in October 1989. Subscribers, who numbered just under 6,000 by last October, posted about 50 messages a day, on topics ranging from stage fright to training-room feng shui to the value of distance learning.
A New Kind of Community, Electronic forums connect professionals across the globe, Training, Thursday, 02/01/2001

By 2001 there were 6000 subscribers. 

Successful Transitions May Not Always be Smooth but They are Possible.

In October, 2000 David Passmore changed TRDEV-L down to "announcement-only" status after an issue arose that no longer matters.

The community found a new home at egroups.com and 1,200 members migrated to the new platform. Some members moved to moved to Yahoo Groups

TRDEV, the Training and Development Discussion Group, began in October 2000 as a replacement to the TRDEV-L listserv created by Dr. David Passmore of Penn State. When he decided to discontinue TRDEV-L, several members created "trdev" at Yahoo Groups.
 
A New Kind of Community, Training

Yahoo Groups came about after Yahoo purchased and shelved Geocities, one of the earliest and largest on-line communities. Founded by David Bohnett and John Rezner in November 1994, it was acquired by Yahoo in January 1999 and closed on on October 26, 2009. Reocities downloaded and preserved as much of the archive as possible before the closure.

Thank you for Robert Bacal who shared this information with me confirming that TRDEV was set up as a group on LinkedIn on January 23, 2009.

A Virtual Community Success Story - #eventprofs

Here is the story of #eventprofs which originated on Twitter and has found a home across platforms including LinkedIn and Facebook to the new Eventprofs beBee Hive that I have reserved for the community.

• #eventprofs The story Behind the Hashtag

These groups exist side by side in the virtual world and event professionals (eventprofs) engage with each other freely between them and offline at conferences, trade shows and networking events.

I share these stories to illustrate that communities transcend platforms in the hopes that it will provide encouragement to any Group leaders or members who are frustrated or discouraged.