A good way to gauge an online community’s progress is to look at the numbers, and there’s one statistic that’s readily available to everyone who visits Self-Storage Talk: Most Users Ever Online.
The number, printed in the “What’s Going On” box near the bottom of the Self-Storage Talk reveals the most active day in the history of the website—that is, what day and time brought the most users and visitors to the site at once.
You’ll notice the current record is fairly recent: 362 users set Jan. 8 of this year—just a couple of weeks ago. Before Jan. 8, the previous record—249—was set only a month earlier in December. If you follow the forum closely, you’ll see a trend. New records are being set every month.
That’s very encouraging for those of us who spend quite a bit of time on the forum. The growth of the “Most Users” number indicates more people within the industry are coming, at least, to check out the forum. The next goal is to get them to register, stay longer, visit more often and share more.
Even if you’re relatively satisfied with the forum now, imagine if it worked faster. Your posted questions received feedback within five minutes instead of five hours. Or you find three new potential business partners in one day instead of one partner within a week. Making this happen requires more people to log in at one time.
Here’s my challenge to you: Let’s continue to set a new record every month. The task will only get tougher as the number rises, but I have faith we can keep the streak alive. The first stage of the challenge will be attained Friday, Feb. 12. If you’d like to participate, log on to Self-Storage Talk around noon ET on that Friday. You’ll have a reminder coming your way that day in the Self-Storage Talk e-newsletter. (If you’re not receiving the SST or ISS e-newsletter, subscribe.)
Use your visit to introduce yourself if you’re new, reintroduce yourself if you’ve been away a while, or post a thought-provoking question or poll.
The new number won’t get published in a Guinness World Records book, but it’s a little easier to attain than the world’s largest serving of hummus and a little cleaner than the world’s largest pie fight. On second thought, the pie fight could be fun. Maybe we’ll consider it for an upcoming tradeshow. See you online Feb. 12, and much sooner than that, I hope.