A new I-O community and networking site? Welcome to the party.

It appears that the Industrial-Organizational Psychology society of record has launched a LinkedIn-esque community website. TheAppliedPsychologist's feelings about this development may be summed up with this line. It apparently took several months of work to put this together, and the Renegades believe it: they decided to pre-populate the site with member info, which we're sure was a technical and procedural migraine. We are impressed by their launch as well: they have used several clever techniques to draw eyeballs and market the community.

In fact, the biggest problem we have is that it took 'several months' to build this brand-new site. Not because of the amount of time it took -- but because this implies they did not begin to build until 2011. It makes us wonder: what was the organization's social media strategy before then?

Look at all the virtual social and professional communities that have come and gone since the early aughts. Online communities aren't exactly bleeding edge -- you'd think this would have been launched at least five years ago.

That said, the Renegades are happy to see this community for I-Os come into being. We hope it takes off. But it's worth noting that their site isn't playing in exactly the same sandbox of Renegade Psychology. The differences should be evident.

Their site is specifically for members only. Being in the Society (and having a graduate degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology) is a membership requirement. By contrast, you don't need any specific degree or title to become a Renegade. You just have to care about applied issues and either ask questions or provide insight.

And if you ARE a member of the other community, Renegade Psychology provides a space for you to 'let your hair down', so to speak. You can be as public or as private as you want to be with your true identity. You will only be judged upon your contributions, rather than on your off-line persona. The more the merrier, we say.