First introduce yourself

When you go to a meeting group for the first time, or you are sitting down for a business meeting, what's one of the first things that people do? ... They introduce themselves.

Why don't people do that online? Is there an expectation that everyone is known by everyone else, no I don't think so. Why then do people seem to not value introductions?

I run a fair few communities on GooglePlus and each community has a category for introductions. In the communities I run an introduction is obligatory before new members are elevated from "Limited  to full members.

Introduce yourself

It doesn't take much time but it'll really help your integration into the community if early on you step up and introduce yourself. So what makes a good introduction?

Share you!

Share a link to your profile, rather than your blog or site. Make sure you've filled in plenty of info in the About section of your profile; so that people can read more. Add links to your sites and other social profiles too.

Add some detail.

Add some details about you in your introduction post too: where you're from, what your hobbies are etc. 

Why you've joined!

Another really helpful block of information to include in your introduction post is WHY you have joined the community and WHAT you are hoping to get out of it. Maybe you've just joined to lurk and learn, maybe your primary reason is to get feedback from people. 

Explaining why you've joined and what you hope to get from being a member also gives the community moderators an opportunity to explain any particulars of community culture and what may or not be allowed etc, though hopefully that is al spelt out in the community information which you should read before joining and posting. 

Be social.

You'll get more out of communities if you tailor notifications to suit the type of community and your needs. Some are really busy, so you might only want a daily digest. While others might be slower but you really don't want to miss posts. For each community you join choose the settings which best apply. Don't dump and run. When you post be attentive to comments on you posts by community members. Read posts by others and engage where appropriate. Essentially be a good community member! 
  

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