Groups in BIgger Pockets?

Question

Since there are all these separate BP meetings all over the U.S. , maybe there's a way that people can start groups (San Francisco, Boston etc) and others can join the group? Maybe you can add that as a benefit to the Basic Proaccount, so that there's an incentive for people to join on that level.

Then there could be emails for meetings sent out to everyone in that group, even if they aren't on BP every day. Presently someone has to start a thread and people have to read the forum every day to stay on top when there's a meeting somewhere.

I don't know how easy or difficult that would be to add to the present setup on the website

Shaun Reilly · Answer

While not opposed to the idea I don't think that would be all that useful. Especially if the main goal is to hear about local meetings. There is already a "Local Real Estate" sub category on the forums and one of the forums in that is "Local Real Estate Networking & Recommendations" which is where I would expect to see the meetings posted (and is the case for my local ones). If you have your keywords setup with good geographic indicators I'm surprised you would get alerted to any thread about that stuff (Unless the organizer isn't saying where the meeting is!:) ). For example there are 3 very active local BP members that run 4 meetings between them and I always get an alert when they post about the next event (actually usually 2-4 since they will hit multiple keywords I have alerts for:) ). Like I said not opposed to the idea but given Josh said they had them in the past and they were a flop I don't think they would add enough to justify him putting a lot of effort into getting them going.

Karen Margrave · Answer

@Joshua Dorkin maybe the problem could be solved by putting another link to the networking forum under the tab for "network" at the top of the page?

Joshua Dorkin · Answer

@Thomas Williamson - Every week we see users who haven't been active in years who come back on board because of a connection request or something else. To close accounts because they haven't been active would do a disservice to them. In our Local search, you can filter by recently active to help solve that problem.

Thomas Williamson · Answer

As long as suggestions are being tossed around. It would be nice to get rid of old accounts that haven't been active in years. @Joshua Dorkin @brandon turner I love the search feature to find members close to me, but there's a ton more inactive people than ones who are really active. I know you don't want to arbitrarily start deleting accounts, but if they signed up several years ago and never posted, then maybe they should be deleted. That's the only thing I would suggest that would make the search feature even better. That way a user doesn't have to try and sort through who's active and inactive around them. I love the site and love the podcast, keep it up guys.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Don't most groups and organizations meet on a regular schedule, like the first Tuesday of each month? Then all they have to do is contact people (maybe) to cancel. Have a group secretary, post it on their FB page. Can't you tehcies link that to BP :)

Shaun Reilly · Answer

Hahaha... Pretty sure I got the exact same email (Since it was also that 65 people were new to BP near me). I would guess part of the issue is that some people invest in different areas than where they live. For example I know that Michaela lives in CA but invests in Atlanta (as the little strip on the top of her posts say). So depending on how things are setup she might get CA people or Atlanta people. When we get someone that had Virginia, they probably either live locally and invest there or live there and invest here.

Mike Hurney · Answer

@Michaela Graham I think it's harder to nail down local folks than it seems. I received the email from Brandon that said there are 65 people in BP close to my town. When I looked they were in Springfield, MA. I'm in Eastern Massachusetts (only 150 miles away) and Virginia (only about 10 hours away);-)

Michaela G. · Answer

And maybe the person being the organizer of that group has to be a PRO members, so that not just any newbie can start one. And being a more serious user, they'll have an incentive to stick to the rules

Joshua Dorkin · Answer

We had it that way in the past, but the organizers always failed to keep order . . .

Michaela G. · Answer

@Joshua Dorkin What if someone would have to accept organizing duties to be able to set up that particular regional group? And it would only be used for local events, like the meetings? Where only the organizer can start a thread. (like in meetup.com). And where people can get banished for spamming by that organizer? And this would not be used for any other regional topics. So, it wouldn't be YOU, that would set up a regional forum, but a person, who's willing to create events in that particular region?