Since its launch in March of this year, MemphisConnect.com has been viewed by people in more than 1,300 cities across the globe. It’s an impressive figure, and even more so when you consider that 50 percent of those 1,300 are municipalities outside the region. So instead of the Forbes Most Miserable list, those thousands of outsiders are getting the real Memphis as told by real Memphians.

That’s one of the ways Elizabeth Lemmonds, director of marketing and communications for The Leadership Academy, sums up the message of MemphisConnect.com. But however you choose to describe it, the site is using community blogging not only to refresh the national (and international) perspective on our city, but also to connect its citizens and create a hub of information on what’s going on, what’s gearing up and what’s good in Memphis.

Elizabeth Lemmonds, MemphisConnect.com

Lemmonds spoke to Expeditionaries at the monthly breakfast this morning about the history and purpose of the site, but also about the challenges of community blogging and the ways the site is working with social media tools to build and expand. Though she faces some challenges that any blogger could empathize with – keeping a conversation going once it’s ignited, for example – she also faces challenges unique to this medium. For example, you probably wouldn’t hear a blogger complaining about having too much content, but it’s an issue for Lemmonds. With so many contributors and authors, the content, she says, is realistically too much to manage on a daily basis.

But – and maybe she’s crazy – she still wants more. “You have to grow, because if you don’t grow, you’ll die,” she said. So instead of turning content down, she’s constantly looking for new opportunities for growth and learning. In that growth, the site has undergone some changes, like the addition of Facebook Connect to make the log-in process easier for new users.

Cracking the code of that natural ebb and flow of user participation and commenting is another hurdle for the site, Lemmonds said. One of the greatest functions of MemphisConnect is conversation, but it isn’t always easy to keep it rolling. She gave a specific example of a Halloween happenings post by Memphis Daddy Blogger Buck Rogers, and how many comments it received. “One commenter even said, ‘I’ve been online all day trying to find this information, thank you for posting this,’” Lemmonds said. It’s that type of participation (and utility for users) that will keep people coming back.

Lemmonds said the site also aims to bring people in through social media channels, specifically through Twitter. For example, each week on Thursday posts go out through the MemphisConnect Twitter handle asking followers what they’re getting up to over the weekend. The responses are re-tweeted and also posted on the site. Lemmonds said she hopes to see a new functionality in the future that would allow users to post photos in comments, meaning they could give feedback during the week on how all those weekend recommendations turned out.

If you missed out, the good news is that you can get a little taste of what Lemmonds has to say about MemphisConnect through last week’s Expedition podcast, still available for listening or download here.

Expeditionaries gathered in Core Conversations

Tags | blogging, Elizabeth Lemmonds, MemphisConnect, Social Expedition, Social Expedition Breakfast