At first I was disappointed. Then I better understood reality. When I first saw Suzanne's forum post on the newly created EduBloggerWorld ning, I wasn't sure exactly how to respond.

Why is it that teachers seem so reluctant to utilise this amazing learning/sharing/social opportunity? I think that edublogger world has huge potential, but I am concerned that my patience will not last till that potential is fulfilled.

Suzanne was, in part, expressing a frustration that there are times when the EduBloggerWorld ning appears to have relatively little participation. And you know what? She's partly right. There are times when the ning may feel a little empty.

Emptiness on the ning, however, does not mean that our community members aren't participating.

As a community of educational bloggers, I think that we need to make sure that our priorities are straight:

1. Twitter
2. Blogs
3. EduBloggerWorld Forums
4. Our students

In that order. That way we can make the most of our time online.

And while I may be kidding about listing our students last (yes, they should be at the top of our lists), I do think that we often forget that most of the members of our community were bloggers long before they were ning participants (and rightly so). As a result, I recommend the following:

• Take a little time to read other members' blogs. You may find them through Google, Technorati, or in our EduBlogger listing of Member Blogs.
• While your on the Member Blogs page, go ahead: add yourself to the list.
  
• Probably the best way to encourage EduBloggerWorld participation is to simply participate yourself. Using the EduBloggerWorld forums to comment on other member's blog postings would probably bring them in, as well.
• Finally, when you choose to write on your blog about something that you think would benefit the entire EduBloggerWorld community, please tag your posts using the appropriate EduBloggerWorld tag. This list of tags is being maintained by our community.
  

So here's to the continued growth of a valuable community. May the force be with us all.

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