So you’re thinking of creating a fansite but you’re unsure of which platform will best suit your needs?
Let’s face it, there are multitudes of fansite platforms out there – choosing the right one for you can be confusing! The platform you go for may depend on the type of fansite you have in mind, how user-friendly the software is, or it may just come down to personal preference.
Let’s have a look at 9 of the most popular fansite platforms in use by today’s fandom leaders:
1. Forums & Message Boards – among the most popular fansite platforms, partly because they can be very good at serving a community with various interests (or various interests within a specific niche). Today’s forum software has come along way from the ‘traditional’ Message Board platform – particularly in terms of the integration of social media, multi-media and (improved) moderation tools.
One of the key benefits of a forum, over say, a blog, is that the owner (or Administrator) isn’t solely responsible for generating content and discussion (although they are key in promoting and crafting the culture of the community). That doesn’t mean that forums are the ‘easier’ fansite option – on the contrary, popular forums take a lot of hard work to make them successful.
2. Blogs – Back in the early “naughties”, many people believed that blogging was a “fad” – how wrong they were! In terms of fansite creation, blogs are a very popular platform. They have become more sophisticated over the years and have many functions and features available that make them my personal choice for creating a fansite. However, just like forums the best fan-blogs take a lot of work.
3. Content Management Systems (CMS) – Whilst content management systems might not be as user-friendly as some of the other platforms, they do allow fansite operators to build powerful and flexible websites.
4. Galleries – Still a popular choice for those who simply want to run and host a photo gallery for their fandom. Some of the better photo galleries contain various multi-media tools, comment and ratings systems to give them a bit more interactivity.
5. Podcasts – With the evolution of the blog, comes the progression of the podcast. That’s not to say every podcast uses a blog – it’s still common for podcasters to simply rely on iTunes and various other applications, but there are a lot of podcasts out there who either use a blog to present, or ‘host’ (not to be confused with ‘web hosting’), their podcast. That’s one of the beauties of podcast fansites – you can use almost any platform to deliver your podcast to potential listeners. With audio becoming more popular and easy-to-use – thanks to applications like Skype, podcasting has really exploded in the fansite arena over the past couple of years.
6. Videos – Videos are another growing fansite platform – they are particularly good at adding a viral element to fansites. Videos are now easily integrated into other platforms, such as blogs or forums (through plugins or code modifications). Some fansites are comprised entirely of video content, either through another platform (blogs, forums etc) or via specific websites like Youtube or Daily Motion. Whilst these sites are not owned by a fansite operator, many use them to promote their videos via the “channel” feature.
7. Wiki – With the success of the Internets largest encyclopedia – Wikipedia, several fansite operators have applied the same idea to their fandom niche. In some cases this has proved a to be a highly successful way to organize information on a particular fandom, whilst allowing fans themselves to build, add and edit content.
8. Mailing Lists / Newsletters – These ‘platforms’ are more traditional than some of the others but they are still prevalent in today’s fandom – particularly Newsletters, which are used by many fansites as an extra way of engaging readers and keeping subscribers updated with regular information.
9. Social Media – All of the above can be described as “social media” tools in their own right. However new(er) tools which have an even wider social media slant continue to arrive. Platforms such as Myspace, Facebook and Twitter provide extra value in fandom communities as they allow fans to comment, rate and share information at the drop of a hat. These tools can stand-alone or they can be integrated, with varying degrees of success, into existing social platforms such as blogs. One of the main advantages of these social tools is their ease of use and extreme viral effect. They also cost nothing to run, as hosting and domain charges do not apply.
This is just a quick run down of some of the most common platforms that fansite operators use to create and manage their online content. Throughout the week I’ll be looking at each of these platforms in greater detail, including the ‘pros and cons’ of each one.
[Photo credit: foxtongue]
