Problem:
My company doesn’t have a good internal tool for social networking so I can’t really build an internal community or a following.
Solution:
Actually, you do.
Back in the olden days people used to get to know each other by sending messages with an ingenious invention called electronic mail. And although it may be clunky and inefficient, some people still use it today.
There’s even an older method that you might have heard stories about, where people actually meet together in person, where they can see each other’s physical bodies.
I would venture to guess that your company still has these ancient options available.
So, whatever way you can get to know another person, you have a way to build a community. Email allows you to send messages to all of them at once, so they all have a subject to talk about, or you can connect with one person at a time, building your relationship with that person. And if you can get everyone in the same room, you can have a shared experience to talk about.
New tools are nice. But if you want to build and lead a community that can make things happen, the only thing holding you back is your desire.
grootship 
Such good timing! I’m just trying to put together a community.
It’s not at the day-job, but this article still spoke to me.
Thanks – I’ll take this as a sign!
Great!
It’s good to know I can still speak.
A good blog about community principles is http://www.feverbee.com . It’s one of my favorites.
Thanks for your comment, Bon. It’s worth more than you might think.
Use those tools with caution, they can be addictive …
You’d better believe it.
Heh, good point. Yes, email still matters and is very effective. To this day, I get emails from people who subscribe to our blog rather than comment on the site. It shows me that they’re connecting, they’re engaging, and although they might not always say so publicly, they’re finding the content useful. If I’ve done that, I know I’ve made a different and that feels good.