The AOL Community Info Blog

The First Article in a Series About Community Tools
 
Does this sound like you?

You’ve set up a blog and have a steady flow of readers. You post often on a few chosen message boards and are known as a regular on them. Likewise, you’re known for frequenting a few specific chat rooms every now and then.

Like me, you love the community tools you use to live in an online world.  However, unlike myself, you are having a tough time linking all of these tools together and using them to their fullest potential to enhance your online community. This is where a few overlooked tools I use step in -- Calendar, IM Bots and Expressions.

Calendar
The AOL Calendar is a great tool for putting your community on a schedule. A schedule, you say? Yes, a schedule. Similar to how you follow a schedule throughout your offline life (i.e., taking the kids to music lessons and soccer games, buying groceries for the family, sitting down and paying bills, etc.), Calendar is a great way to visually organize your online activities. You can even share it with others so that they may take part in your online life as well. Your community will become better organized and should grow as a result.

But the good news doesn’t end there …

Bots
It seems life is so fast-paced these days; with the laundry list of offline things you are obligated to do, you often are cheated of time you’d rather be spending online -- and posting on your blog. :-)

Have no fear, AOL has created a great tool to get around the problem of time squeezes: Bots. 

No, “bot” is not short for the word “bottle,” nor is it slang for some kind of Generation X hallucinogenic drug. An AOL Bot is a nifty community enhancement which allows you to make entries from the grocery store, your son’s baseball game, or even while you at work (gasp!) -- all without the necessity of a computer.

I use two different bots right now that allow me to make quick posts to my private blogs. I use them so much, I don’t know what I’d do without them, or the time I am able to save!

Expressions
Expressing yourself online is a snap if you use the right tools. Since you can’t see or hear the people you are communicating with online, giving as many hints to your emotional state and expressions is just as important as the words you type.

For instance, feeling in a gloomy mood? Change your Buddy Icon to something more representative of your sullen slump. You can also change your Buddy Wallpaper and sounds to add extra effect. The possibilities are almost endless with all of the cool features AOL has put together for your use.

In the upcoming weeks, I plan to post a more in-depth entry about each of these tools. I plan to list some cool things you can do with each one and provide useful examples.

In the meanwhile, check out these links and get a head start by playing with the tools yourself.

• Calendar
• Bots
• Expressions
• Message Board: Product Help

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