Hooked on My Communities

This week will mark my second week of being a part of two online Succulent and Cacti communities. 

I thought that joining these two communities would feel like something I needed to remember to do (and at first it was), but after a few days, I was almost...hooked. 

Right now, my schedule is very busy: wake up early, work on my courses, go to work, work on my courses, eat dinner, more work on my courses, then my other work like end of the year assessments, planning year end activities for my little learners, and of course report cards, because report card season is upon us. However, remembering to check my communities,  scroll through threads, comment on some pictures and ask some questions has become a lovely part of my day that I look forward to. I am surprised at how quickly I became invested. I wanted to check first thing the next day to see if anyone replied to my post or to enjoy my first few sips of coffee and look at the gorgeous pictures of people's succulents that they proudly share.

This is the my first experience really engaging in an online community. I have had a few interactions and discussions with other members in the comments and it feels great to learn and share with others who have the same passion as me.  

Here are some tips and tricks that I have been using to keep engaged:

Know the Limits and Post within it! 

I would consider myself a novice in the community and new to the world of succulent care. In one of my communities, there are a lot of posting rules. It is not that they discourage new members, but as a new member, you need to do some reading on the rules of posting and the basics (of succulent knowledge and care) before asking questions and posting. My tip, dip your toes in for a while and observe the pattern of posting. Learn the rules of your community and spend some time lurking to see how others are engaging before posting. 

Keep up with Feedly

Add your forums or online communities to Feedly or another feed aggregator to keep up with new posts. Instead of going to each of my forums' websites, I go to Feedly and see what's new. You may not be able to connect every forum with Feedly or another feed aggregator, but most connect! This is what I see when I check my Feedly: 

Start building Relationships:

Use posting and comments to build relationships and establish trust. Let others get to know you by putting yourself out there! A great way to start building relationships is supporting other members. Most communities have ways to support other members, like upvoting or liking comments and posts. 

I also noticed that as I started lurking and engaging in my communities, I felt the need to create my own personal notes on what I have been learning, or succulents that I would love to grow one day. Since joining, I have also been more engaged in my hobby (succulents) and have even purchased a new succulent, which I eagerly took a picture of to share with my new community. My engagement in my online community is influencing my daily life and boosting engagement in my succulent hobby. 

 What do you think, am I hooked? 

Have you been part of any communities before? I am curious to hear other's experiences and thoughts.