Hello members!

We are 3 months old today, so I took a look at the data for last week, just to see how we are growing...

• Over 200 new members in a week
• 46 new members in 1 day!
• Up to 20,000 page views a day
• Over 400 new friendships in the week
• A total of around 1500 messages sent
• Around 4,000 Profile, Blog and Album pages

Its fair to say, members are taking to this really well. Commissions are being awarded, homeowners are finding contractors, beginners are getting help, businesses are making new contacts, students are getting advice and we are getting some very positive feedback - many thanks for all your comments!

There are a few more 'industry firsts' on the way too, which should prove to be quite an eye-opener!

Thanks also to several members who have passed on rumours about future membership charges. We will take this opportunity to clearly state that this site is FREE for members, with absolutely NO plans to make it subscripition at any point in time. It seems a few individuals/organisations are a little 'worried' about the arrival of 'Web 2.0' and the internet shifting from static websites to user-content sites like The Garden Network.

A shame really - as change can actually be a good thing! Does anyone actually know of any networking sites that charge membership???

Hope you all have a great weekend in the garden!

Pat Mac.

Hi All,

Thought I would keep you in touch with whats going on - and what better way than a Blog! You may notice a few tweaks to the site layout over the next week or so, as we increase the page size - to fit all the new stuff onto it;

'Live Chat' is not far away and should prove useful. You will be able to coordinate using Messages (so you login at the same time) if you want to chat with another member in real-time (quicker than comments and messages).

'RSS feeds' - we hope to add these soon, making it easier to keep up to speed with latest content.

'Voting System' - also under development, allowing you to vote on your favourite gardens submitted by members.

When anything new appears, we will let you know on the 'News' page. There's lots more, but i'm sworn to secrecy!

Cheers,

Pat Mac, Garden Network Admin Team.