BuddyPress - Is it useless?

Social Media Examiner is using Buddy Press, according to site owner Mike Selzner. I joined in December, their first month, and it now has over 4,000 members of social media and internet marketing professionals. I asked Mike and others about it in the beginning and they said it was OK, but needed tweaking. But it's a beautiful members forum and looks and works great!

Does it make money? Well, the Networking Clubs, as they call them, are all free. But with every forum and reply post created being posted and ranked in the SERPS, its creating incredible authority for his site all way round. Of course, it appears his main income source is from selling the big name seminars through his "Seminar Summit," so if something like that may work for you, be sure to take a look at it in action.

It's also a great source of professional information, too, but I caution you not to try direct marketing on his site. Since everyone's in the online business there, and they're all there for helping, learning, and sharing, no one wants to be spammed or sold to. Mike, as well as moderators and members will red flag you and ban you from the site in a flash if you do.

So if you want to see a good example of what it looks like... yes, check out Social Media Examiner's "Networking Clubs." Is their monetization model one that will work for you? Only you can decide that. But it's obviously making big bucks for Mike, who sponsors only big name seminars, etc. through his site.

Hope this helps.