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12 Step space was a social networking site that ran from 2006 to 2009. It had blogs, galleries, video chat, audio sharing, profiles and much more. The site was my concept and I did much of the development work myself. The design, architecture and framework where redesigned by me with help from a developer I recruited into the business. This site was part of a group sites that fell under the STO LLC and subsequent purchased was by Hythiam and renamed to the Recovery Media Network.

Concept:
12 Step Space was a social networking website for the recovery community. Having extensive knowledge of this community lead me to believe it was ripe for this kind of site. Since word of mouth is one of the best forms of marketing a community that congregated several times a week was perfect for social networking. Also at the time the site was released there were no competing sites to speak of.
All of this led me to believe it would be successful.
Startup:
The biggest issue with a social networking platform is finding start up members. A social networking site depends on members to interact with it and create a community. You can create a wonderful site but if you have no users the site is going to fail. Realizing this I started a Myspace marketing program using my members and attracting others. At the time the site was ready for release I had an opt in email list of over 500 members who where ready to start joining, posting and blogging. Now all we needed was the site.

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The framework:
I researched what was available at the time and spent several days comparing them before I landed on a commercial content management system. It was designed for social networking and had everything the site needed to be successful. Unfortunately I could not thoroughly test the platform since it was commercially developed and encrypted. These two issues actually lead to the downfall of the site that would have been unforeseen at the time of its release.
Architecture:
Its one thing to have functionality but as many designers know you have to make the user interface and information architecture are intuitive or the end users will become confused, frustrated and leave. Using software we mapped the default structure of the sites page layout and menu system then redesigned it to be more congruent with what a user would expect.
Style:
Having mapped the information architecture and framework it was time to skin the entire site. Design is not just making things pretty but it is the use of design principles and spacial reasoning to effectively manipulate the end-users visual experience of the site. Done properly this helps the user interact with the site and feel more comfortable navigating within it.
12 Step Space Sold:
In 2007 12 step space and several other sites where sold to Hythiam to help market their treatment protocols to our members. I was kept on as Creative Director and Webmaster as a subcontractor for Hythiam for the next two years.
12 Step Space Shut Down:
In 2009 Hythiam brought in a new marketing director who restructured their budget towards Health Insurance companies. Because of this all efforts targeting the general public where shut down. Against my advice they shut down 12 Step Space and all of the sites they where using for promotion on the web. Possibly the worst marketing move I have ever scene since 12 Step space had 16,000 members and the sites I was running for them where generating over 4 million page views a month.