I have written this in many different forms and noticed a number of the local politicians have used some of these ideas over the past couple of years. But I felt that I might want to continue add on to these ideas.. Some of these might require some help from a qualified web designer or professional due to legality reasons. So please DO seek that if you think you might have some legal issues or bases that need to be covered.
1) First, Look into some social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other similar online social media offerings. This space is a growing field and could change in a nanosecond. And at any time, the offerings I suggested could change.
2) Retain Excellent Legal advice. Never assume that you can be 100 percent safe against lawsuits, copyright and trademark infringement cases OR that because of what someone did on your system OR some thing went wrong, good legal advice will save you time, money, headaches and misery in this day and age of lawsuit happy - litigous society over just a slight-of-thought.
And depending on your content, it is just a good idea to protect yourself. And if you run some form of forums or interactive exchange system, it might be a good idea that you get someone to help you setup a basic Terms-of-Service, Privacy Policy and-or Acceptable Use Policy and stick to them! There are many good examples out there, so look around and see out the best you can find.
3) Depending on your needs, video Youtube, Vimeo? blogging sites (Blogger, WordPress, ) for video chat, (MSN -Ustream, justin.tv? that could be embedded in a basic website?) or if it is a lot more simple than that, go look for a good WebHost with a good reputation, fair and decent prices AND can offer you suggestions.
Do not expect that a webhosting company is going to be able to handle your web design, user or Internet problems, unless they state in writing in their contracts.
4) Before setting up a site or system, go get a piece of paper or other brainstorm session opportunities every once in awhile? Maybe you will come up with a great new online idea? Do the proper thing and setup some structure, form of how you want things to go and remember that things on the Information superhighway can change in fraction of one bit of an ethernet - fiber network.
5) Take your, your colleague, your firm, your subscriber, your users data security to the highest form possible. Nothing is worse than your data getting loose?
Always remember, what you post, what you say directly or indirectly THROUGH any form of media can bHow can one person create their own local media presence without a lot of dough in Clark County Washington. e stored and HELD held against you for a lifetime. It can also be held against your family, your friends AND associated if they are involved. Think of it as a virtual blackmail racket that might come into being some time in the near future if it has not happened yet.
And now with our society moving to video and audio recording of things, that data audio or data can be transported all over the world without your consent, permission. NO LAW can protect you from it. If you think that a law from the state of Washington, Oregon, the Pacific Northwest or US is enforceable outside this great country, you are going to have to come to a new reality check!
Think of Google Caching, Facebook data that might still be stored from years ago? Twitter data stored by the library of Congress? Those are just a few things. And it is not hackers doing it. Data leakage is all around every minute, every day and for the past thirty to forty years for some, is available in some form.
Just remember folks, all it takes is a little imagination!
Here are some wonderful examples to start with:
http://www.clarkcountylive.com, http://upsalmoncreek.blogspot.com/, http://www.salmoncreeklive.com,
There are plenty more and one of these is out of date but I wanted to show some form to give you an idea.
