Originally Posted by SanDiego1K

As proud as I am of FlyerTalk, I know that we can continue to improve. It’s a competitive world, there are alternative websites, and many of us use social media. I see a lot of discussion and event organization that used to occur here moving to Facebook. How should we evolve to better fill that need? How do we remain vibrant in this rapidly changing Internet world? What new technologies or structures in the board should we be asking Internet Brands to add in order to keep members coming back to us? These are the questions we need to answer.

Here is my challenge to members of the TalkBoard: I would like to see recommendations for how to take FlyerTalk to the next level. How do we turn a newcomer who finds us thru Google search into a contributing member? Is it important to retain a sense of community? If so, how do we best do that with such a large community?

I’ve given away luggage tags to members on six continents this year. People care about being a FlyerTalker. As many of us have experienced over the years, FlyerTalk is an emotional connection. Is there anything we can do systemically to help foster that? Is it important to keep FlyerTalk in the press? Should TB develop a database of those willing to field press queries and their field of expertise? What about bloggers? We only have THE GATE. Should we ask IB to expand their platform to host blogs? If so, what content is sought?

These are a few examples of where I believe the TalkBoard can serve me and this community as we move forward.

Take where we are today and suggest ways to continue to improve.

Look forward. Focus on the key issues of broad interest to the members of this community and the ways in which we can further strengthen the health of the board and the experience of our members to keep them coming back.

It is my hope for the New Year that we can engage constructively and successfully on these challenging topics. If the TalkBoard can look forward as I’ve suggested, I’m confident that we have some great minds that can accomplish great things for the next generation of FlyerTalk.