Solve the Mystery in Advance

May 4, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , | Leave a comment

First off, I apologize for the hiatus that I have taken with my blog posts, but I have been able to take full advantage of my employment status and just got back from vacation. Orlando was fun.

Mystery Machine

Mystery Machine

I post the above image because to most, online communities are a mystery; People never know what to expect, or what is going to happen once the flood gates are open. If you take the proper steps in advance, you can begin to put the pieces of the puzzle together – the truth of the matter is that you need all of the pieces in order to solve the complete puzzle. Without all of the pieces, your puzzle, and community, will be incomplete.

Research is a key beginning step. Observe what others are doing. If you are the 1st in your area to expand into Social Media, review similar areas/sites – odds are, someone is doing it, and doing it right. At the same time, no one likes a “copy-cat” so what may work for others, may not work for you. Pick and choose what is appropriate for you and your members.

Figure out who your demographic is – who are the key 2-3 groups of people that you are trying to reach. What are they looking for, and what is missing? What is their personality and how do they want to participate (pulling or pushing of information)? Depending on the answer to that question will depend on the types of tools that you should implement within your community.

Develop a strategy based on the answers and discussions above. The research and discussions that will happen during the above steps will help to mold and shape your strategy.

Once your strategy is complete, discussions around an “internal build” or external Software as a Service (SaaS) provider partnership can be discussed. There are many schools of thought around this, but my thoughts are that if you do not have to reinvent the wheel, why try. There are many vendors out there that can assist in all aspects of your online community initiatives, so leverage them as much as possible.

Crawl before you walk, walk before you run. Do not overwhelm your community up front. Remember you never get a 1st chance to make a 2nd impression.

The most important aspects of any Social Media or Online Community initiative is to ask questions and begin the discussion with those key stakeholders that are familiar with these tools. Make sure to capture the dialogue that happens during these meetings, as it will be very insightful….and when in doubt, you have to go with what and how you feel. Decisions based on revenue generation can have  a detrimental effect on your community.

Thoughts? Obviously this is just scratching the surface on things to think about.

Online Personalities

April 23, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 4 comments

personalities-2

Over the 10 years that I have been working with and on online communities, I have come across numerous member personalities. It is funny how these personalities are similiar to real life. At the same time, it is also interesting how someone in real life can project an entirely different personality online.

I wanted to share a couple of those personalities with you and would ask that you also share some of the ones that you have noticed, that I may have missed.

* Note: All of the titles have been made up

The “All-Knowing” – will answer any and every question, and will not reference any materials that may have assisted in their answer. They know it all, just ask them.

The “Researcher/Teacher” – will find sites to reference within the answers that they post, and link directly to those sites. Very knowledgeable individuals.

The “Poet” – all posts are a work of art, they are all well thought out and to the point. This member really knows what to say, when to say it, and whom to say it to.

The “Pile-on-er” – if there is ever a disagreement and it is many against 1, this member will always take the side of the many. They may not post that often, but they know when to pile-on and chime in.

The “Agree-er” – similar to the above, except this member will not just pile-on, they will simply agree, and move on. They may not post a reason for their actions, and may just post, “I agree”, but these members are out there.

The “Bater” – always wanting to start a fight, this members knows what to say, and who to say it to to get things going and to start a debating discussion that could spiral out of control.

The “New-bie” – someone that is truly new to your community and posts to find information or see what the community is about. These members need immediate attention so that you can retain them.

The “Goold-old-days-er” – this member will reminisce about how things were in the past, and how much better it was. At the same time, they were also complaining back then as well, so nothing really has changed with them.

The “Multi-personality” – will create numerous ID’s on your site to either agree with themselves, or fight with themselves. They can also gang up on others within your community and make it seem that some members are outnumbered.

The “Governor” – weather self-appointed or not, this member feels the pressure of leading the community to the promised land and will do anything in their means to protect it. While in most cases this can be a good thing, in some cases it can end bad with the member feeling that they have too much power.

The “Mediator” – generally every community has a couple of these. Whenever situations seem to begin to spiral out of control, this member will try to step in and diffuse it, not taking either side.

I think that this is a good start, but know that it is not a complete list, please feel free to add yours below.

As always, thanks for reading.

Mike

Corporate Responsibility – Social Media

April 13, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 5 comments

Here I would like to highlight a few corporate responsibilities that I feel are important when launching an Online Community or “Social Media” area.
Online communities should not be developed because “everyone else is doing it”. These communities generally end up in failure. An endless amount of time, thought and management is essential to the success of any endeavor. You should not jump right in with both feet with out discussing the below – as a main starting point.
crawlb4uwalk
1. Key Questions
Who is your target audience?
What is your communities purpose?
What is the “hook”?
What are people looking for?

The above 4 questions are a starting point for any company. Many discussions and debates will assist in developing an initial corporate strategy. These answers will also assist in the below (#2)

2. Features and Functionality
As a company is willing to expand their outreach and launch an online community, many factors come into play. One of the most important decisions – what they are going to offer their community….features and functionality, and how are the members going to interact with one another? Launching a full blown community with too many offerings
(blogs, wiki’s, profiles, friending, forums, video, photo’s….the list is endless) and choices can be very detrimental to the success of an online community. A staggered approach is the best way to ensure that your members are not initially overwhelmed.

3. Member outreach
It is up to you to find people that you feel will benefit from your community as well as those that will assist in the development and growth. “If you build it, they will come…” but they will not stay and you will not be able to retain any member if they see the “Empty Restaurant” (see prior blog post). Finding those key individuals and influences are key to the success and growth of any online community. Building this initial foundation is key for the longevity of your community.
Building

These are 3 important steps for corporations to take before they jump right into an Online Community or Social Media launch.
As always, thanks for reading and comments are welcomed!

The “Empty Restaurant” Syndrome

March 30, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | 20 comments

When was the last time that you walked by a restaurant with no one in it and decided to walk in?
chairs
Empty seats, how inviting is that?

As I have stated many times, Moderation and Management services have transformed over the last year or so. In the past, Moderation services were strictly thought of in a reactive nature – removal of content and the associated member accounts.

Now, the roles and responsibilities of Community Moderators have expanded to include a more proactive nature. Communities that are just beginning need to be jump-started. Content needs to be posted and interactions need to be portrayed within the community, so when potential members “stumble-upon” the area, they are aware of what is acceptable and allowed; what the community is geared towards. Not only that, members need to be aware of all of the features and functionality that is available to them.

Moderation services can assist with the seeding of content and active facilitation of interactions within a community to get it on track and moving forward. While some communities may need more than others, these services can be tailored to meet any companies needs.

After all, when you visit a restaurant or an online community it is nice to know what you are getting into.
restuarant

The next time that you think of an online community and how to manage and moderate it, please think of what your needs and goals are, and how you expect to accomplish them – while at the same time, taking a look from the Outside.

Moderation and Management (whether internally or externally driven) of any online community is not something that should be an after-thought, because if it is, you are already setting yourself up to sink.

Networking and Moderation

March 26, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 3 comments

Just like in real life, you do not want to be that person that only comes around when they need something.

Over the last week (since i have been laid off) I find an amazing shift (maybe it is an obvious one for most) in the way that I find/read/learn from information on the web.

Prior to last Thursday, my daily activity – outside of working – was checking in with Facebook to see what my friends were up to, reviewing my Google reader to check up on the blogs that I subscribe to, and getting on Twitter for a little while to make sure that I was not too out of touch and keeping up with the key leaders out there. Linkedin was truly an afterthought and took a major back seat. Yea, I may read the weekly status updates emails that they send, but they did not interest me that much.

Before:

  1. Facebook
  2. Google Reader
  3. Twitter
  4. LinkedIn

Now:

  1. Twitter
  2. LinkedIn
  3. Google Reader
  4. Facebook

Future:

  1. Equal distribution

I have began a major shift in my activity within the above services, and I feel bad for the ones that I had ignored in the past, and feel bad for the ones that I am temporarily ignoring at the moment.

The fact of the matter is that you really need to think about the Networks that you have and leverage them all equally – within reason. There are many people in all of the above areas that can help you out. I have had at least 1 person in each of these areas reach out to me over the past week to discuss a potential opportunity. Thankfully!

Thoughts?

Mike

Change is in the Air

March 24, 2009 in Uncategorized | 3 comments

For those of you that have followed me over the last few months, you are probably aware that I was part of the most recent layoff at Mzinga. I had a great time working for them in some way/shape/form over the last 2+ years. With every ending, starts a new beginning, new doors are opened and all of that fun stuff……

I have had the fortune to be friends and have worked with many well established personalities within the “Social Media” field, if you will. I appreciate all that has been done for me over the last few days and am overwhelmed with the kindness and thoughtful communication that has come my way. I would like to thank everyone that has proactively taken time out of their day to communicate with me.

Regardless of when and where I land, I promise to leverage this blog to share my experiences within Community Development over the last 10 years. I may at times focus on Moderation, or steer off course and discuss general best practices, but I hope that you all find this blog informative.

The one thing that has become apparent during this whole situation, thanks for this thought from one of my good friends, is that there is a fundamental shift happening between corporations and their employees. Corporations no longer have a strangle hold on their employees and what information is out there. Walls are falling down left and right and communication outlets are endless. The more transparent that both can be, the more successful each will be.

The changes that I have made over the past few days reminds me of the new Movie UP. I am in the process of building my Hot Air balloon and ready to take off for new adventures. Hopefully we can all learn from each other during this trip.

Thanks for reading.

Mike

Making Communities Work – Dedication

March 9, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Communities are not something that can be built and then ignored. They need to be nurtured and managed. This point could not be stressed enough.

I was just reading a great article – Six ways to make Web 2.0 work located in McKinsey Quarterly and wanted to point out this quote:

“….Web 2.0 technologies are interactive and require users to generate new information and content or to edit the work of other participants.”

This is a new area of participation for most people. Some have adopted, while others are just coming in for the 1st time. Guidance is needed.

Now whether you have an internal community focused on employees, or an open community focused on the general public (consumers), you should have a concern over the types of behavior and content that is going to be posted. Internal communities are likely more concerned with employee behavior and information that may be posted which may be sensitive and not appropriate to share in an open forum (the leaking of information).
Open communities are more concerned with what is being posted within the community and how it reflects on their brand. What are members saying about their product(s),their competition, and compiling that feedback, what is their mood?

The fact of the matter is that many companies are concerned with their “Web 2.0” efforts and if/when they will succeed. I have said this in the past, and will say it again, if you build it, they will come but if you do not have the proper strategy, tools and managament/moderation in place, they will not stay. There are not many partners out there that can offer this end-to-end solution. Luckily we here at Mzinga can 😉

What concerns have you come across in your fields and discussed in the past with others thinking about “Web 2.0” solutions? I know that there are plenty out there…..

As always, thanks for reading

Mike

Note: Cross-posted at mzinga.com

Moderation – Sharing of Information

February 18, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

I got to reading a couple of blog posts concerning how much information that you should share online, and got to thinking how Moderation is
important in that aspect. It really struck me when I read a blog post by Jim Storer, located here.

Now, I understand that transparency is the ultimate goal of many online communities, but want to describe this sharing of information in real-life situations.

Online communities have been described as a party, with the company/business/individual, being the host. When you register on that community,  you give certain information to the “host” of the party, but there are rules and restrictions (legally) with what they can do with that
information. Then you are allowed to attend the party and share whatever information that you would like with other individuals.

You may stand/sit around with a group of 4-5 people (# does not really matter) that you feel comfortable with and interact truly open and honest, and you may mingle around the room and stumble upon others that you do not feel the same comfort level with, so you just sit back  and observe the situation and interactions, not truly participating. You are allowed to ignore those that you do not choose to interact with or do not like. You may pass your business card to some, and choose not to give it to others. You may follow up with some people with a phone call or email, and others you may not even see again.

Now to put this in Online terms, you can try and interact with some groups of people, and you can try to keep some information “close to your hip”, but the fact of the matter is that information is open and available and searchable to everyone, at anytime. You had made the conscious decision to be open in one aspect, but not as open in others, but within an online community, it does not matter. All of the information that you had shared the entire time that you were there is readily accessible.
Now I realize that there are private communities, and some tools/communities have restrictions on who can see what, but even still
any and all information that you post is openly available to anyone within that community – even those that you may not want to have that information.

I understand transparency, and I understand that many want to be open and honest – but Moderation of the content that you share online is very important. I am not saying that you should not be open and honest, I am just saying to be careful, because as my grandmother used to say, “There are a lot of crazies out there”. Thoughts?

Note: Cross-posted at mzinga.com

Moderation – How much is needed?

February 6, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

This question is one that is asked time and time again by potential clients, and the answer is not as cut-and-dry as you would think.

Let me 1st state that, in general, I do not like it when someone answers a question with another question, but the fact of matter is that there are certain times and places when it is appropriate, and this is one of them.

When you think about Moderation services, there are different ways/services that you can support your online community initiative, as I have outlined in previous posts. There are also “times” associated with those “ways/services”. Outlining a strategy in advance will assist in figuring out how much time is needed – as a baseline. It is very important to have an understanding of this “baseline” coverage so that everyone involved understands the importance of investing time. If you do not invest any or minimal time within your community, it is destined to fail. You get out of your community what you put into it.

Here are some questions to think about before you discuss “How much time is needed”:

What types of UGC are you allowing?
Photo’s may be easier to review compared to textual content. Video’s may be 30 seconds, or they may be 2 minutes.

What types of Moderation will be implemented?
Are you going to review every piece of content (pre-moderate) or are you going to allow the content to be posted immediately? Are you going to allow your members to report content that they feel violates your policies (very scalable solution)? Are you planning to proactively scan content? Actively scanning content may not take as long as reviewing member reported posts – ensuring that you pay attention to the detail within the reported content, processing it appropriately.

What/Who is your target demographic?
How familiar are they with online communities? Will they need much hand-holding? Do they understand how they should behave, and what is acceptable? Is the subject or audience sensitive?

Will members accounts be managed – suspend them?
At times, members deserve/need to have a time-out. If it is indefinite, or for a month, are you going to allow them to “appeal the decision”?
Do you have a proper escalation path in place for that to happen, to be efficient? Are you requiring registration at all (easier to manage the accounts)?

Will members questions and concerns be addressed (Customer Support) within your community?
Proactive involvement is important for most every community. While the goal is to eventually have the community to be as self-supportive as possible, there is an initial investment that is needed to assist in the education and support of answering questions.

How many people are going to be involved in participating?
Is support involved? Are other departments planning to participate? Is a 3rd party supplementing your internal coverage? The more people that you can leverage to assist in this “time-management”, the better off that everyone will be. Spread the wealth, harness the power of the masses.

This is by no means an all-inclusive list of questions, but just a beginning – to get the ball rolling and the juices flowing.

Thoughts?

Note: Cross-posted at mzinga.com

Pre-Moderation (if and when)

January 27, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Online communities are about relinquishing as much control as possible, while at the same time providing straight forward Rules and Regulations / Terms of Services Policies so that members know what is expected.

Time and time again, clients come our way with the thought that they would like to pre-moderate every piece of User Generated Content (UGC). Pre-Moderation is very time consuming and does not facilitate interactions between members within online communities – not to mention it can be very costly. If you are looking for interactions and communications between the members of your community, then you should provide the best user experience as possible. This approach can actually have a negative effect on your community.

At the same time, there are always certain times and places where pre-moderation is an effective tool. In this post, I wanted to discuss some of the situations that we think that pre-moderation can be an appropriate approach.

1. Visual content – Photo’s and video’s that can be uploaded and streamed within an online community should probably be pre-moderated. I say this because visual content can be very damaging in nature, and easily “seen”. When you think about textual content that needs to be read, you actually have to take time to read each and every post to see if a post is actual damaging or has content that violates your policies (not to mention that there are pretty good tools that can be leveraged to find this content ahead of time. Photo’s and video’s are easily looked at and can be easily viewed – especially those that are obviously unacceptable. I also realize that there are photo and video tools out there, but nothing is 100%

2. Sites that appeal to a sensitive demographic – Young children, Financial advice, Health care, Automotive Industry…there are others, but I just wanted to point out a couple. There are many rules/regulations and laws within these specific demographics that need to be followed and addressed. You do not want to be liable for information that is posted within your community based on the fact that you were not following these regulations and laws. You also want to ensure that if you do have a piece of content that falls within these laws that you take the appropriate action and report the content to the proper authorities.

3. Blog comments – If I own my own blog, and want to ensure that the content that is being posted is clean and accurate, then you may think about allowing a member to decide to pre-moderate their own individual blog. Some members want to truly “own” their blog and decide what content should be allowed, especially if it is located within their profile page. Now, they may not approve posts that attack or question their views, but in those cases, they will discredit themselves.

Can you think of other instances where Pre-moderation would be beneficial, or you have witnessed it working?

Mike

Note: Cross-posted at mzinga.com