What do allnurses members want in a Blog?

allnurses.com is THE social media site for nurses. With over 1,000,000 members there is a wide variety of nurses and students. So ... what does it take to grab our members' attention?

These are some of the memorable threads that have been wildly popular over the years and my assessment as to why they were so popular. These are some of the most popular threads in the last five years:

How About a Game of Questions - a thread started by one of our Staff members in 2012. This started as a simple thread where posters simply asked questions back and forth without declarative statements. With more than 5000 posts and 50,000+ views, it still maintains its popularity. Its simple, straightforward, doesn't requires specialized education, just an inquisitive mind.

What are you Doing Right Now? - another very simple questioning thread started in 2011. This thread has resulted in >300 pages of responses. In this era of the "here and now" this type of immediate feedback is needed to keep up interest. So, the takeaway from this thread is that sometimes the simpler the concept, the more popular it will be. This thread has well over 100k views.

General Election Thread 2012 - I included this older thread as an example of political threads that when timely are very popular. The caveat to these political threads is to realize that politics can bring out controversy from even the mildest member. So, when posting about political topics, it is best to remain neutral, control the blog entry by frequent comments and direction when needed. And...as a reminder, content on AN must adhere to the terms of service.

Pearsonvue Trick - Does it work? Part 3 - nothing brings out students like anything relating to taking the NCLEX. This test can strike fear in the heart of even the strongest 4.0 student. There are many threads in the student forum about the NCLEX. This thread is from 2011 and provides details on how to access Pearsonvue and what the results mean. Student members are very active also. Students want info on study tips, time management, teacher relationships, and general info on what it's like to be a nurse. This thread had >873k views and >2000 responses. It is important when your blogging audience is students to also provide a mentoring experience and be a role model to them.

VA Hiring Process - after graduation comes the all-encompassing Job Search and many career and job search threads have been very popular. This thread from 2012 garnered >400k views and almost 900 replies. After students have worked so hard to graduate and pass the NCLEX, looking for a job is the next step. Our career forum is widely read. Nurse Beth is a very popular blogger who lends her career expertise to our students and experienced nurses as well. Her wit, humor and knowledge are greatly appreciated.

So, in summary here are some topics of interest to our members:

1. Students are very interested in doing well and need to be reassured that they are making good choices in school as well as seeking general advice from experienced nurses.
2. AN has a widely read immigration, registration and foreign-trained nurse forum also. Gaining employment in the US is not easy and our members appreciate knowledgeable and reliable information in an easy to understand format.
3. Our general nursing forum offers a wide variety of topics ranging from how to handle difficult patients and families to what to say when you call the provider at 3 am.
4. AN offers a multitude of forums for many specialties including a high-mileage APRN forum.

Know your audience, be prepared and you too will be a successful allnurses.com blogger!