Jeremiah Owyang has a thought-provoking post today about whether or not blogging is evolving into life streams. He notes how bloggers like Robert Scoble and others are much more focused on the real-time web, while seemingly putting their blogs on the back burner or shutting them down altogether.  It’s a great read and I encourage you to go over the Jeremiah’s blog and take it all in.

What I want to focus on for a bit is the concept of building community through these life streams, or through an aggregation of life streams. I’m not sure that it’s possible.

I am a big twitter user. I also use Friendfeed and a great deal of other social media platforms. I like the constant stream of fresh new content coming in. But I also know that I miss a whole lot of it and the stuff that I miss is pretty much gone forever for me.

I may go back a few hours on my twitter stream as time permits, but for the most part, I don’t. I miss 85% of the happenings on Friendfeed, but since so much of it is feeds from twitter, blogs, etc….chances are I may see it somewhere else. So to be fair, I’ll say I miss about 65% of the content streaming on FriendFeed.

Existing solely through life streams seems a bit disjointed to me.

The ultimate aggregation of your activity across 10 or more platforms is not a selling point in my book. Talk about noise.  I do not believe that ones online presence is the sum of it’s parts, and that is what such aggregation suggests.

You can’t combine all of your activity into one place without somehow connecting the dots and expect people to latch on to you, or join your Tribe.

Now, I know that this may work for the superstars and we can see that it does.

But you will lose me if you resort solely to this kind of online presence. I am not saying that blogging is the only way. But your followers, readers and viewers sometimes deserve a complete thought with a beginning, middle and end. If you are providing that in your life stream, kudos to you. Maybe you will continue to build community, which for me is the ultimate goal.

What do you think? Are life streams a bit disjointed or am I way off-base here?

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Consider this a special invitation.

On Wednesday, July 1st I will be the featured guest on the Guerrilla Marketing Association call hosted by Roger C. Parker.

Roger is a best-selling author, designer, coach and consultant. He’s written 38 books which have been purchased by over 1.6 million readers and translated into 37 languages.

So the fact that he enjoyed  my book,  “18 Rules of Community Engagement” enough to invite me to discuss it along with my strategies for growing successful online communities with his association is quite an honor.

The calls are recorded for members of the Guerilla Marketing Association but it is live and there is an opportunity to ask questions.

I’d like you to attend as my guest, so consider this post an invitation to all of my readers to call in on Wednesday July 1, 2009 at 7pm EST.

To access the interview, call 404-920-6610. Once you’re in, please use the PIN: 192304#.

I’m excited about discussing my passion and I hope you can find the time to join us.

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Less than 24 hours after creating a Freshbooks Account to bill for a recent consultation and presentation, I received a follow up call from Jon Spenceley. It was the best 15 minutes of my morning and I can’t say that I’ve had a better customer service experience.

The call was unexpected but completely sincere. Jon seemed genuinely interested in my work and helping me succeed with their software. I ended up asking several questions and he provided honest answers. He didn’t try to up sell me to a paid account and even shared that the paid account wouldn’t do much else for me other than allow me to have more clients in the database.

He could have easily lied about that, but he didn’t.

You see, after talking to Jon I WANTED to upgrade even though I don’t need to at this very moment.

But when I do, who do you think I’ll call? I was so impressed by Jon’s follow up email which came 10 minutes after our conversation, that I asked his permission to share it in This post. Notice how he makes it all about me and even reveals how he was listening to pretty much everything I said during the call. I mean come on, he even mentioned my book!

Here it is in its entirety:

Hi Angela!

Thank you for taking the time to talk to me about your business. It was really great to learn more about your new freelance work, and congratulations again on publishing your book! I think it’s fantastic that you’re starting out to make some money on the things you enjoy doing, and I wish you the best of business, and a whole lot of new clients coming your way!

As I said on the phone, my job here at FreshBooks is something of a work-flow consultant (boring title, awesome fun job). If you have any questions on how FreshBooks works, what features may be interesting to you, or how FreshBooks can fit with your business, please feel free to let me know. I will also be happy to give you a discount on a paid package when you reach the point that you need to upgrade, because I think people who take the time to talk to me about their business are awesome.

If you need anything, you can reach me directly at 1-866-303-6061 (ask for Jon), or by emailing me at jon-at-freshbooks-dot-com.

Thank you very much for taking the time to tell me about your business. I really appreciate you checking out FreshBooks, and I hope you have a fantastic day! Thanks again for the Tweet!

- Jon Spenceley

Isn’t Jon fabulous?

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The minute the  ice cream truck was in my neighborhood today, my children knew it. I probably knew it a full 20 seconds before they did though, because I have 28 and 33 years more experience with the ice cream truck and it’s marketing tactics than they do. My ears were trained long ago.

It starts with a jingle. That jingle tells you it’s coming and forces you to act. You will either run home for money, ask a friend to give you some or, depending on your age, burst into tears because you know you don’t have the means to make a purchase.

If you already have money, you can get a jumpstart on persuading the truck to come down your street. A combination of vertical leaps, wild hand-waving and whistling or screaming usually does the trick. Although, you may have to resort to a quick sprint, but that’s only if the driver is a speed-demon.

The point here is this: The ice cream truck is reliable. It always has the goods. You know for certain that there is something on that truck that will make you happy, and it doesn’t matter who is driving.

The driver of the truck knows that he has what you want, so there is no need to recruit you or cajole you into flagging him down. He announces the trucks presence with that jingle and waits for you to make a move. There is no question about his power and he is always at the top of his game.

Does your community have the goods? Is it reliable? Is there something there that will make your members happy every day? What happens when you change drivers?

I am not happy with my answers to those questions, and I bet you aren’t either.

I think we can learn a lot from the ice cream truck. Our communities should speak for themselves. Our content should be top-notch and we should try to offer surprises every now and then. There should be other drivers who care just as much about the truck and it’s upkeep to keep it running in the event you can’t. Many of us are solo acts and I don’t know if that’s a good thing.

Shhh…

Do you hear that?

I’ve gotta run home to get my money. You flag him down. I’ll.be.right.back!

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This is a cross post from the blog, Newspaprgirl. Author Janet Thaeler asked me to share my top five rules of community engagement and I was happy to oblige. Janet is currently working on a book about online marketing.

Have you ever struck up a conversation with a complete stranger in the checkout line at the grocery store once you both realize the line hasn’t moved in the last ten minutes?

Perhaps you’ve locked eyes briefly with a parent as you both painfully watched another parent manhandle their screaming 3-year-old at the park.

The connections you make with strangers in these types of situations are based on a shared experience. Something that affects you both and has no bearing on whether or not you were previously acquainted.

These are the same connections we can make online, and sharing personal experiences is one of the most effective ways to engage an online community.

As a community manager, I have employed many tactics to engage members and encourage participation. Some work better than others but nothing seems to resonate more than a personal story. When you share something personal, it evokes emotion and prompts others to share similar experiences.

When I blogged about the anniversary of my father’s death, stories about dad’s who’d died too soon poured in and the level of sharing was unbelievable. The same thing happened when I recounted a time in high school when I almost froze to death while waiting for the city bus. It was as if there was suddenly a competition to see who had endured the worst winters and could recall all of the gruesome details.

If you ever want to start a conversation fast, sharing something personal will get the job done. If you share something from your own life, it is almost certain others will follow suit.

It is what I consider one of the top five rules of community engagement.

Here are the other four:

Stroke a few egos
Flattery will get you everywhere. It is imperative that you go above and beyond in this department. When you have constant contributors, and people who are vested in the best interest of the community, you have to express your grattitude. and tell them how much you need and appreciate them.

Ask questions
Never underestimate the power of a question. Ask members what they think about current events, or potential changes in the community or forum.Find out what they think about local and national issues. Ad don’t think your questions have to be intellectual. Sometimes something as simple as “What are you cooking for dinner tonight?” can create a major dialog.

Acknowledge good work
See, “stroke a few egos.” Acknowledging good work publicly is good for everyone. It encourages the contributor and shows your appreciation of their time and efforts

Accept and respond to criticism
This simply shows that you’re human. Building an open honest relationship with your community is key. When people know that you are accessible and available and willing to hear them out and respond, you build a level of respect that cannot be bought. It also illustrates your commitment to the community and how much you value their presence.

Today’s consumers are faced with infinite choices, and if you don’t provide an experience worth their time, they won’t be back.
Remember, we are living in the conversation age, where the number of choices online are infinite and the audience that was once easily bought must now be earned.

You can find out more about engaging online communities in my new book, “18 Rules of Community Engagement: A Guide for Building Relationships and Connecting with Customers Online.”

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Have you seen the TNT media blitz on Facebook today? It seemed as though Jada Pinkett-Smith was following me all over the place. I mentioned it on Twitter and the @replies soon debunked my own belief of it being a Black Female demographic thing. What I learned is it’s clearly a FEMALE demographic thing. This promotional blitz is all about women, period.

TNT has apparently bought the Facebook farm today and they have a serious campaign running for two of their shows: Hawthorne and Saving Grace.

I wonder if those ad dollars were taken from a traditional media campaign, or if networks now have a new line item labeled: Facebook.

Here are a few notable responses from my initial inquiry on twitter:

holyfieldTV: @communitygirl I’m getting them, too! And for ‘Saving Grace’ TNT must be blowing it out

Tue Jun 16 – 4:46:35 pm
communitygirl: So we’ve figured out the Pinkett-Smith ads on FB are a combination. Targeted ads and full promo blitz. Agreed?

Tue Jun 16 – 4:34:20 pm

LisaSullivan: @communitygirl I made note of that earlier too, especially in respect to the launch of her series AND Wedding Day, also tonight on TNT.

Tue Jun 16 – 4:28:41 pm

jeffachen: @communitygirl yes it is. Facebook offers target marketing by demographic.

Tue Jun 16 – 4:26:28 pm

asquibb: @communitygirl LOL – she’s all over my Fbook too; all 3 ads. Big question: does it make you want to watch her new show?

Tue Jun 16 – 4:25:39 pm

techherding: @communitygirl All you black chicks are pretty much the same, right? Us middle-aged white guys sure are…

Tue Jun 16 – 4:24:35 pm

lkelly: @communitygirl hmmm, I’ve got her ads, too. Must just be a female demographic thing!

Tue Jun 16 – 4:24:19 pm

tracyweeks: @communitygirl they are on mine too

I received similar responses on Facebook.

Any thoughts on how much all of those targeted Facebook ads set them back?

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Last Friday brought another interesting hour of #Cmtychat, created by Bryan Person and Sonny Gill. We had a robust discussion about community management, growing communities, the 90-9-1 Principle and the importance, or lack thereof, of community lurkers.

I stressed the importance of providing content that makes it easy for lurkers to participate: A quick poll, or blog post with a fun question that most people would find irresistible and want to chime in.

While lurkers may not seem important, they are. I can’t tell you how many new members have told me that they’d been lurking for anywhere from 4-8 months before finally deciding to join the community.

One community manager on the chat mentioned that her community had so many new people joining that they don’t really focus on lurkers. I can understand that philosophy but that has not been my experience. I am always trying to impress non-members with our content to encourage them to take the leap from lurker to participant, and then from participant to active participant.
In my opinion, it’s a member drive that never ends.

After all, if you don’t encourage lurkers, how can you grow?

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Amazon book reviews are great and so are complete blog posts devoted solely to your creative prose. I’m looking forward to them both. But with the popularity and power of twitter, Twitviews (that’s what I’m calling reviews posted on twitter only) are worth watching.

I was completely amazed at the number of tweets about my new book, yesterday. And while they don’t qualify as full-fledged book reviews and may not show up in a Google search, I find them very powerful given the reach of our networks.

Here are a few:

DerekShowerman: @communitygirl provides 18 rules of community engagement in an eBook form. http://ow.ly/dh0R
tomhumbarger: Build a Thriving Online Community – New book out today by @communitygirl provides 18 rules of community engagement http://ow.ly/dh0R
LainieH: @communitygirl just saw the press release for your new book about online community engagement. Congrats! http://tinyurl.com/koxzt7..
NewspaperGrl: Get to know @communitygirl who just wrote a fabulous book about managing an online community. #gno #gno
NewspaperGrl: I’m a big fan of @communitygirl & her new book – short on theory long on practical advice for running an online community

ksablan: On community: “You need them, ore than they need you” (from new book by @communitygirl, out today http://cli.gs/mJGrAn )

JustinFenwick: If you don’t have the time or patience to engage and do so genuinely…you cannot realistically expect to grow a community” @communitygirl

JustAskNicole: Hot off the press! “18 Rules of Community Engagement” http://idek.net/E9V (new book by @communitygirl).

timwtyler: @communitygirl just read your new 18 Rules of Community Engagement. Great practical advice w a passion for your members. Recommended reading

alisonmichalk: @communitygirl will be sure to read your new book on Community Engagement but too busy to commit to reviewing it :( good luck for launch!
Full_Throttle: RT @communitygirl “There are many ways to attract an online audience, but keeping one requires creativity [and work]” – http://bit.ly/IO9mK

The bottom line here is authors should find value in all reviews, not just Amazon. Social media has opened up many doors. It’s up to us to walk through them.

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18 Rules of Community Engagement launches today!

18 Rules of Community Engagement: A Guide to Building Relationships and Connecting with Customers Online (Happy About Publishing) is officially out today on all major online retailer sites. You’ve read my blog, seen the endorsements and maybe even downloaded a free chapter from the book website, so what are you waiting for? You’ve got a community to engage, so get your copy today.

I hope you enjoy reading 18 Rules of Community Engagement and I can’t wait to get your feedback.

Here’s the press release:

Build a Thriving Online Community – New Book Helps you Attract Thousands

An online community can bring new business and visibility , yet most businesses build an online community that fails to attract members. A new guide shows how to beat the odds and attract thousands of people. The principles in this new book can be applied to any social network or business community that wants to grow their membership base.

Cupertino, CA (PRWEB) June 9, 2009 — Building an online community with active, participating Book cover| 18 Rules of Community Engagement  members is a challenge. Over half of businesses that attempt it fail to get over a thousand members. That’s why Angela Connor wrote the guide to building relationships and connecting with customers online. The book ‘18 Rules of Community Engagement,’ outlines the principles Connor used to take the online news community for the top-rated TV station in North Carolina from 0 to 11,000 members in just eighteen months.

A study of more than 100 businesses with online communities found that 35% had less than 100 members and less than 25% had more than 1,000 members. Recently, Sam’s Club announced a new community for small businesses owners. They had an existing network of thousands to draw on. Most businesses don’t have that luxury.

Building community can be daunting whether it’s on an existing social network or a branded community for business. The principles taught in this book can be applied to building an online community on social media sites, on a branded community site, or on a blog.

The key is to interact – to be social – in a way that builds value. “In the age of instant communications, where we are constantly connected and faced with infinite choices, consumers want and expect more. We are now living in the conversation age, where one-way communication is no longer acceptable or desired. People want to engage and discuss, react and interact,” notes Connor.

The key aspects of building an online community are:

1. Give people something to talk about.

2. Engage with people.

3. Provide useful information.

The book provides examples of tactics to use to connect with people and help them connect with others. An online community thrives when a community manager facilitates interaction. This guide tells exactly how.

There are answers to common questions such as:

What’s the best way to deal with troublemakers who harm communities?

What’s the best way to encourage participation when stats say most participants are lurkers who don’t contribute?

How much time is required each day to grow an online community?

What’s the best way to help community members feel appreciated and welcomed so they not only stay, but help drive the community?

Learn this and more from someone who has achieved what most businesses have not.. Build a strong online community and bring greater visibility and new customers.

Key stats:

- Title: 18 Rules of Community Engagement

- Subtitle: A Guide for Building Relationships and Connecting With Customers Online

- Authors: Angela Connor

- Date of Publication: May, 2009

- Price: Paperback $19.95, eBook $14.95

- ISBN: Paperback: 978-1-60005-142-5 (1-60005-142-1)

- ISBN: eBook: 978-1-60005-143-2 (1-60005-143-X)

- Library of Congress Control Number: 2009923129

- Forward by HARO’s Peter Shankman

About Happy About®:

Happy About® books educate, entertain and evoke. You will quickly gain wisdom with our smaller, compact, high-impact books. Visit Happy About at http://happyabout.info and http://42rules.com for more info. For quantity discounts, please contact the publisher, Mitchell Levy at mlevy(at) happyabout.info, 408-257-3000. If you want to explore publishing a nonfiction business book, we don’t need a long book proposal.

Please, contact the publisher and ask for the “6 questions” or go to this url: http://happyabout.info/contribute.php.

Press Copies:

A free copy of the book is available to the press upon request. Please send an e-mail to prupdate(at)happyabout.info

Get “18 Rules of Community Engagement” at http://happyabout.info/community-engagement.php

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internetsummitI’m here at the inaugural Internet Summit in Chapel Hill and just left an interesting presentation called Blogging and New Media.

The panelists: Andy Beal of Trackur, Henry Copeland of Blogads.com, Brad Hill of Weblogs, Inc, Tim Schigel of ShareThis and Scott Gardner of Triangle Direct Media.

They all underscored the importance of something I believe in wholeheartedly: Creating a conversation and engaging users online. Andy consults on reputation management, so I was particularly interested in some of his comments because I always open presentations with this: “If you don’t manage your online reputation, Google and others will do it for you.”

Here are a few of the notes I was able to jot down during the panel. I’m also sending out tweets, so if you aren’t already following me on Twitter, I’m @communitygirl.

A few takeaways:

  • The driving force behind blogs should be radical commitment to transparency.
  • Blogging is a lifestyle, attitude and participation in the community. No blog is an island. There is a series of blgospheres. A swarm of people behaving as a group.
  • It’s not about audience. The word is community.
  • Principles of blogging:Post a lot, and succinctly. Be short and targeted. Be prolific and precise.
  • If CEO wants to blog, ask what communities you want to participate in.
  • Companies that treat bloggers like they would The New York Times will find success.

More to come…

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Do you belong to an online community? Have you built one? Tell me about it.

Do you hang out on a site for moms, fashion designers, social media fanatics, cooking gurus, brides-to-be or technology geeks? How about DIY types, music lovers or people obsessed with the Andy Griffith show? I’d like to know where to find it.
Have you built an awesome community for dancers or teachers, book lovers or clowns-in training?
Whether you frequent the site or manage it yourself, post it in the comments area below.
Just leave the URL of the site in the comments area, along with any other interesting info about it. It’ll pay off. Trust me on this.

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Whenever I create or cull content for my online community, I tend to think long tail. Sure, I capitalize on the news and interests of the day to drive conversation, but oftentimes I do it in such a way that it will bring people back to read the comments even when the subject-matter isn’t as fresh.

For instance, instead of starting a simple blog about the state of the economy, I asked the community: “Are you worried about losing your job?” It’s still going strong and is now up to 146 comments.

When you have an idea or even when you’re perusing content to see how you can bring it all together in a more meaningful way, think long tail. Sometimes it’s simply the way you present it, or the way you phrase your headline. You can’t lose with long-tail content.

Start building your arsenal today!

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I often share my thoughts on this blog and in the comments area of other blogs about the importance of large corporations taking the time to interact beyond their own communities and reaching out to smaller niche communities where conversations about their brands are also taking place.
Yesterday I decided to perform a little test to see if I could facilitate that reaction.
I placed a call to Walmart corporate and followed up with this email at 3:20pm:

Hello. My name is Angela Connor. I manage WRAL.com’s online community GOLO.com and recently spoke to Ashley Hardee in media relations who suggested that I use this email address.
It is not uncommon for our community of more than 10,000 members to share their experiences and there have been several instances where
Walmart has come up.
In one particular blog, which was posted today, the blogger is discussing poor customer service at one of your photo studios and will likely have great influence on other members with this account.
You can find the blog here.
It sounds to me as though there may have been a scheduling mix-up that caused the problem and I think if someone from your organization got involved in the conversation or issued a statement that I can post, it might serve you well.
I am sure it is not your practice to engage in all of the conversations taking place on the web, but this may be a good place to start.
Please let me know if I can help in any way. I do hope to hear from you.
Regards,
Angela Connor

I received this response just 30 minutes later, at 3:50pm:

Good afternoon, Angela. Thanks for the e-mail.
Obviously, the experience detailed on your site isn’t one that meets our expectations. That said, the PictureMe Portrait studios are an independent business which leases space from Walmart in many of our stores (much like a McDonald’s or Subway do from the convenience dining aspect of our store experience). Your inquiry would be better directed to PictureMe, which is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based CPI Corp. (cpicorp.com).
I don’t have any contact info for their press office and it wasn’t readily available at their website, but I did find a name and number attached to one of their investor relations news releases:
Jane Nelson, CPI Corp.,
+1-314-231-1575
Hope this helps!
Thanks!
Dan Fogleman, Sr. Manager, Media Relations

I then posted a blog in the community titled: A response from Walmart sharing the e-mail response from Walmart.

It was greatly appreciated and now the community sees me as even more of an advocate for them, and appreciates the time I took to send it. I sent Walmart a link to that blog so they could see the feedback from the community but I also indicated that there was no need to respond a second time.

I think we’re on their radar.

I will do this more often, and I think you should too.

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In the midst of Seattle’s biggest snowstorm in a decade, and what she called “an incredibly sleep-deprived week,” Tracy Record, editor and co-publisher of West Seattle Blog was somehow able to carve time to answer a few questions so that you, the readers of this blog could benefit from her knowledge.

I’ve long been a fan of West Seattle Blog and asked Tracy a few weeks back via twitter if she wouldn’t mind a little Q&A about her passion. (She’s both @westseattlenews and @westseattleblog)

Lucky for me, she didn’t mind at all. Here she shares her thoughts on everything from why her blog isn’t really a blog to why it takes a 24/7 commitment to succeed.

Angela: What made you start a neighborhood blog?

Tracy Record: It’s not a neighborhood blog. West Seattle Blog is a commercial, journalist-run neighborhood-news service. “Blog” is just a publishing format; it wouldn’t be in our name except for the fact that three years ago, we started the site as a more classic “blog”-format site, with personal opinion and observations. And “Blog” isn’t even our only format – we also send out content via Twitter, Facebook, Blip, and are always watching for any other way that a fair amount of people are starting to procure news/information.

Angela: Why do you think it’s so popular?

Tracy: We are providing accurate, reliable, timely (often real-time), thorough neighborhood news and information 24/7, as well as facilitating community discussion of what’s happening, and thousands of people in West Seattle clearly are interested in that. We also keep our opinion out of it as much as possible – and our personalities – the site’s not about us; it’s about
West Seattle.

Angela: Is the local media threatened by your existence?

Tracy Record: Again, a matter of words – we ARE part of the media. Credentialed, even.
But if you mean is the “conventional media” threatened, kind of mixed. There is a weekly newspaper that has served this community capably for 85 years but has been very slow to do much on the Web. Its former editor had said he considered our site “competition.” He lost his job recently in what the newspaper-owning family called a cost-savings move … days later
he contacted us, and so far we have run one well-received editorial he wrote (and we are paying him, of course, as we do for all freelance assignments). But the citywide media doesn’t quite seem to know what to think – they deal with us in a variety of ways, from suggesting
partnerships to requesting story leads.

Angela: How difficult is it to build community around a blog, where everyone invested has their physical community in common?

Tracy: Funny thing is that we didn’t TRY to build community, though now that we have it, we spend time making sure that the community has what it needs (on a tech level too, such as adding forum features that members request). It naturally grew around the neighborhood coverage we offered that could not be found anywhere else. Our greatest evidence of that has come in the week-plus snow/ice semi-crisis that has gripped our neighborhood and much
of the rest of the region — the comment sections of our weather posts have turned into incredible neighbor-helping-neighbor discussions with people sharing information on everything from whether the bus is running to where to buy/borrow a snow shovel.

Angela: How long does it take to create a substantial online community?

Tracy: If you start out with a vision, which we didn’t, it can be done within a half-year or so, as Cory Bergman has shown with MyBallard.com in another Seattle neighborhood, launching it in late 2007 and gaining decent traction by summer. He is one of the few others around here that is operating an editorially overseen, journalist-run site, as opposed to multiple contributors who can publish directly to a site.

Angela: Why haven’t news organizations figured out how to own hyperlocal?

Tracy: The question for some is really, SHOULD they? I think that newspapers, which even with their much-lamented cuts still have comparatively HUGE content staffs – I spent most of my old-media career in TV news, where you might have a dozen reporters/editorial managers spread across seven days and three dayparts, while big dailies still have dozens – should focus on context and perspective. Until and unless we add more staff, I can’t do that in a major way, though we do longer-form articles and enterprised stories/features when we can, and look for alternate ways of offering context and empowering people to find it themselves. Aside from that, some companies still think all they have to do is aggregate their content that mentions or targets a given neighborhood and voila! it’s “hyperlocal.” Doesn’t work. There’s no “there” there, and if ever you need a “there,” it’s when covering a “here.” You need a trusted guide, a sense of
neighborhood, even if that person/team (like us) doesn’t give opinions.

Angela: You’ve gotten lots of mainstream press. Was that unexpected?

Tracy: To some degree, yes – but we don’t kid ourselves that it’s because we’re brilliant or innovative – it’s mostly because unlike many neighborhood-news site operators (so far – certainly this will change), we are doing this as a business, and making a living. And we’re pretty hardcore about it, with the 24/7 commitment and a high volume of production, which some find fascinating – I was always the workaholic type anyway, so there was no question of doing anything less.

Angela: Do you have a five year or even 10 year plan or do you pretty much go with the flow.

Tracy: Given that even two years ago I couldn’t have foreseen this becoming a business, a 5-year plan is hard to imagine but when asked this recently, I said it’s pretty simple … we would like to have a few employees, both editorial and sales, to do a better job of covering the community and a better job of working with local businesses.

(…To be continued)

In my next post, find out how West Seattle Blog got its very first advertiser and just how long it took to make it happen. Also, Tracy’s entrepreneurial advice for laid-off journalists and what she’d do differently if starting West Seattle blog today.

If you don’t want to miss it, be sure to Subscribe to this blog, Online Community Strategist, and Get the blog delivered to your inbox.

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An interesting conversation unfolded on Twitter today when I tossed out a question that was spawned from this post on BuzzNetworker.

After reading Collen’s take on self-proclaimed social media experts, rock stars and gurus, I posted a rather lengthy comment sharing my views on the subject.

Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote in the comments section of that post:

“…I believe that having been in an arena for a short period of time just might mean that you still have something of value to offer. Maybe you see things that others do not. Maybe you’re not yet jaded and bring a different perspective. Maybe you’ve made a discovery early on that others missed and might find value in. You could be entrenched in it in a way that others have not been. Do you see where I’m going with this? Yes, let’s all be honest, and maybe if some of that is shared in the introductory phase and less emphasis is placed on a title that no one really understands, then we can all continue to learn from those who have something new to offer. So as I type all of this a new word comes to mind. How about “practitioner?”

So, the question I posted on twitter was this:

What’s of more value? A “strategist” or a “practitioner?”

Here are some of the responses:
@ChristineTatum: Depends on what you need. It’s tough to value “practitioners” who have no vision or smart sense of priorities.
And then it’s tough to value “strategists” who don’t know how to put all of their great ideas into action. I just think people’s specific strengths should be respected. Many times, strategists and practitioners aren’t the same.

@feste1: a practicing strategist? srsly–strategist when talking with execs, practitioner when talking with operational ppl.

@beckiparkhurst: re: strategist or practitioner, I think it depends on the goal to determine the value.

@HappyAbout: Typically a “practitioner” is more valuable than a “strategist), but it does depend on the task.

@brandingdavid: I had a chat with a friend about that, and practitioners are what companies want. They don’t want ideas, they want actions! I think in 2009, the words companies will avoid when hiring include: planner, strategist, organizer, etc…They’ll want action people. Specialists that can take their needs and solve them, not just give them a plan to solve them.

And then. Collen responded to my comment on her blogpost with this:

@angela everything you’ve said is dead on… I agree someone with a new perspective can be totally useful, but I still don’t want to see a new perspective calling themselves an expert.

So what do you think? Strategist or practitioner? And just how long do you have to be in practice to call yourself an expert or strategist?

Be sure to post your twitter name at the end of your comment.

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When I blogged about Peter Shankman’s prediction of the death of the press release I had no idea it would become one of my top posts for 2008. It garnered a lot of discussion. So much so, that I had to ask Peter to respond to some of the comments left on the post and write a second one with his feedback.

The line that drew the most criticism was this: “If your clients can’t send their message in 140 characters or less, it needs to change.”

The post also prompted this post on the blog, Getting Ink, written by Sally Whittle, a freelance journalist based in the UK. She called Peter’s declaration “uber-wank.”
I wasn’t quite sure what that meant at first, and I’m still not sure I understand completely, but I do know that it is far from a compliment.

Her issue really isn’t with Peter though, but a man by the name of Dennis Howlett who wrote in a post titled PR is so over , that after 17 years he would no longer accept pitches that exceed 140 characters.

In fact, he created this automated response for anyone sending him pitches via email. “I’ve stopped accepting email pitches. Please follow me on Twitter and pitch in 140 characters or less.”

Well, Whittle was not happy about that. She refers to Howlett and all others who insist on twitter pitches as arrogant “hacks.”

Many of the comments share the same sentiment. Not that insisting on twitter pitches only makes one a “hack” but that by limiting the delivery method to one that most people are not familiar with or interested in using will have an adverse affect. One that decreases the ability to consider information on its merits.

Do you agree? Is this the move of “hacks” or those simply in tune with the future?

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Unless you’re new to this blog, you know that I recently landed a publishing contract, thanks to Twitter.

You also know that I am all about sharing what I learn. One of the things I will do as I write the book is chronicle the journey and ask for input along the way. I want to put a lot of practitioners in this book, not just the big guys we all tend to worship.

So, in what will forever be part 1 of a regular series chronicling this major event in my life, I am sharing the four things that I did today that will hopefully help me stay focused and keep my eyes on the prize.

  1. Responded to this HARO query from James Smythe: “I’m writing a report about Twitter for the guys behind the Shorty Awards ( www.shortyawards.com), especially its applications for business use.  We’ve been looking for a Twitter ‘Win’ in the business world – a story about how Twitter use has somehow helped a business or individual to gain a contract, a job, something exciting like that.  Please email if you have any good stories!”
  2. Created a FriendFeed room that will hopefully serve as a hub for ideas and communication about the book.
  3. Revisited my Backtype comments to tap into old ideas that I shared on blogs that  since left my brain and could provide great fodder and spark new ideas for various chapters of the book.
  4. Created a landing page for the series of posts related to this book writing journey.  (Thanks  to these tips from Problogger)

Are you writing a book? What are you doing to stay focused?

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Yes, this is a crazy idea.
But after the amazing response on this post about whether or not we’re taking the 140 character limit to the extreme and such varied points of view, I had another idea.

Can we get a good message across with such parameters when it matters most?

I’m talking about the ultimate long-tail piece of prose. Words that will live longer than we ever will. Yep, I’m talking about your tombstone.
This may be morbid on the surface but I bet we can make it fun.

Here’s the task: You have to write a message for your tombstone as if you died this morning, and it must begin with “Here lies (your name…) so you’re really down to even fewer than 140 characters.

And just to be fair, I only took a few minutes to write mine because I know that’s all you’ll have. Here I am, six feet under. 139 characters.

Here lies Angela. Mother of two amazing daughters, eternal optimist, dependable wife and friend. Loved, worked played hard. Missed by many.

Okay, it wasn’t as tough as I thought. It’s not the best, but it’s not all bad either.

Leave yours in the comments section. I’ll pick the top 5 later in the week and post them in a new entry.

Spread the word. This could get interesting!

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This post is more of a transcript of a conversation that started on Facebook late last night and ended with a phone call earlier today.
I asked friend and former colleague Rod Overton about his job search and whether or not anything was in the hopper. He’s been out of a job since June and I’d been seeing a lot of his comments on the blog LostRemote. My question opened the door for a really good chat.

He answered with this:

“The real problem now is that media companies simply don’t want the truth or common sense. Sizzle, pizzaz and not examining what is not working (and then cutting that) is what they want (sorry for the double negative, but you get the point — they don’t want anyone to look behind the curtain or say the emperor has no clothes.)”

I then asked Rod to tell me more and indicated that I was interested in posting some of what he was writing on my blog. He was happy to oblige:

“The common thread to most of my messages on Lostremote is that during this upheaval (TRB bankruptcy, Belo bankruptcy and McClatchy at 73 cents) publishers and editors (and to an extent TV GMs) are not taking advantage of the environment to make (what is to them) serious changes.

Instead they seem to hope to skate through it as unchanged as possible not realizing that the situation itself is showing them they need to change.
A selfish case-in-point: Someone with my skills goes unhired while people with skills that are quite easy to come by are retained and — in some pathetic cases — shifted to new media roles they will ruin just as the legacy product was ruined.”

Still with me? There’s more.

I called Rod this morning and we spoke a bit more about some of this. He told me some stories about his interviewing experiences and organizations so resistant to change I thought I was sitting in 1987. I knew it was true though because one of the most profound statements he made was this:

Newspapers are stuck on a singular solution!

He says no one wants to overhaul everything and create systemic change.
What he’s referring to is initiatives like writing shorter stories, or adding more color to the front page or including more photos and a digest of what else can be found inside.

Short-sighted solutions that tackle maybe one issue that are seen as the one solution that will change things for the better.

What are your thoughts on this? Are any other organizations or industries focusing on a singular solution? And is the emperor wearing anything at all? What do you think of Rod’s rant?

Thanks Rod, for the interesting conversation. And I hope you find something soon.

*If you’d like to connect with Rod, you can find him on Facebook and LinkedIn


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I just ran across a quick interview with author and marketing expert Seth Godin over on Kipp Bodnar’s blog and the very last sentence stopped me in my tracks, and made me think.

Here it is:

“What I really don’t like online is this superficial networking…all the thousands of people who show up friend-ing everybody else. Why? Right. It doesn’t count for anything it’s just a waste of time.”

Wow.

Now I can see how having thousands of friends on Facebook can be a bit unwieldy and there has been a lot of chatter about all of the “noise” on twitter. And yes, I do have several friends on various platforms who I may never actually contact. AND, some people are on social media sites simply to rack up friend counts and followers.

I get that, and it could very well be a waste of their time.

But there is nothing superficial about the way I use the social web to network, and I’m sure that many of you can make that claim as well.

I’ve already shared that I landed a publishing contract thanks to Twitter and Bryan Person. I did a great podcast with Dick Carlson, just launched the inaugural Social Media Breakfast Raleigh with Kipp Bodnar and had the most amazing conversation with Maren Hogan a few days ago that resulted in a new chapter for my book.

I am calling Connie Bensen this Friday to brainstorm a few ideas and recently gave this Facebook friend a guest post on my blog that will hopefully help him land a job or at least get his great ideas read by some real decision makers in the newspaper industry. (My stats show that folks at newspapers from Ft. Wayne to London England have read his post)

But this was the best comment of all in the 1:18 interview:

“The networking that matters is helping people achieve their goals. Doing it reliably and repeatedly so that over time people have an interest in helping you achieve your goals if they have a stake in it”

Be sure to listen to it in its entirety.

Now tell me about some of your non-superficial networking and give an example or two of how it has helped you, or how you have helped others along the way.

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Parking lot It’s snowing in the Raleigh area today, and that’s a big deal for the natives. Schools are closed due to four-six inches of snow. Unheard of for me considering the fact that I was born and raised in Michigan, where it took more than a foot to close the schools as long as the roads weren’t icy.

I grew up just blocks away from the Detroit River and lived in Cleveland as an adult near Lake Erie, where the lake effect snow was fierce.

I am what they call a transplant, here.

Someone from “up North” who is still relatively new to the area and doesn’t think snow cream sounds the least bit appealing. But despite my disconnect from this particular area, the online community I manage is a very local community linked by geography, shared history and tradition and similar beliefs. And they have stacks of snow cream recipes, to boot.

Given my history, four-six inches of snow is no big deal at all.
BUT, if it matters to the community, it matters to me.

So, despite the fact that the snow isn’t a major life event in my book, I am giving it major treatment in the community, because to them it is. I’ve asked for photo submissions and even took a few of my own and shared them with the community. So far we’re up to 111 photos documenting this amazing snow day and I suspect they’ll come in throughout the remainder of the day.

I’ve asked members to share their snow cream recipes and give details about the best places to go sledding and I’m highlighting their content all over the place.
A good community manager knows a big deal when it emerges.
It’s up to you to find out what matters to your community and make it the big deal that it is.
It will further illustrate your commitment as the community manager and make it clear that you care, and what matters to the community, matters to you.

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This is a question that sparked a great conversation at the inaugural Social Media Breakfast Raleigh that I co-organized with fellow social media enthusiast, Kipp Bodnar.

The conversation centered largely around Twitter, where anyone with an interest can post unlimited 140-character missives at a pace similar to the speed of light.

But can this freedom pose a problem for organizations if their employees are not using common sense or thinking about the fact that they represent a larger entity beyond themselves?

Duke Williams chimed in with this: “If you allow a person to answer the phone, they should be able to have a twitter account.” He doesn’t think guidelines are needed, and allows anyone on his staff to have an account. In fact, he encourages it.

Martin Reed, who was not at the event but answered the question when I posed it on twitter a few days later believes that guidelines are absolutely necessary if an employee is strongly associated with the company. Several people at the social media breakfast shared this sentiment as well.

Robyn Kalda has a different opinion, one that’s very similar to Duke Williams’ and sent me this reply via twitter: “No, they should trust their employees to behave professionally. Do we have guidelines on how to use a telephone?”

So on one hand we have those who view tweeting as they do communicating over the phone, and others who see it as a potential risk to employers who don’t attempt to exert some element of control. Kalda believes that either you trust your people to speak, or you’ve hired the wrong people.

I definitely see how there could be cause for concern and am somewhat on the fence. I think that perhaps it depends on the organization. Should CIA operatives spend time divulging strategies on twitter? Of course not, but is there real harm to random employees occasionally talking shop in the twitterverse? Maybe.

What do you think? Should companies be worried about the messages employees are conveying through twitter or trust them to use their best judgment? And what exactly is at risk if they don’t?

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I was recently questioned on twitter about the way I described former TV anchor and reporter Tom Tucker in this post.

I referred to him as a social media enthusiast and evangelist. I’ll tell you right now that I simply copied that from his bio and quite honestly, I don’t see anything wrong with that.

I had also spoken with him at length before we recorded this podcast, and he talked about his blog and his history of pushing hard for social media with his employers and his excitement about his new endeavor, Talk Social Media.

It is not his full-time job and does not yet pay the bills, (he’s a corporate trainer by day) but he is passionate as most of us are, and it may pay them one day, if he’s lucky. But someone on twitter wanted to know more, and that’s okay too.

Here’s the @reply:

@communitygirl How can you call Tucker a social media enthusiast and evangelist when he’s only tweeted 7 times since Feb. 2008? Where else?

Now, I don’t think that having only seven tweets in a year disqualifies you from being a social media evangelist. Perhaps it is an account that you decided not to use, or maybe you didn’t “get” twitter at first, much like I didn’t. Maybe you’re active on many other SM platforms. The possibilities are many.

I do recognize that this person only wanted to know more and I did oblige, because that’s what we do on twitter. But it got me thinking.

When can one claim this title without bringing criticism their way? Is it after 500 tweets, 1,000 followers, 2,500 Facebook friends, 348 blogposts? What? Maybe it’s once you’ve explained twitter to 134 people and got your mom active on Friendfeed and Flickr and convinced your company to start a corporate blog.

Here are the definitions of evangelist on dictionary.com:

e⋅van⋅ge⋅list

–noun

1. a Protestant minister or layperson who serves as an itinerant or special preacher, esp. a revivalist.
2. a preacher of the gospel.
3. (initial capital letter) any of the writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) of the four Gospels.
4. (in the primitive church) a person who first brought the gospel to a city or region.
5. (initial capital letter) Mormon Church. a patriarch.
6. a person marked by evangelical enthusiasm for or support of any cause.

So, if we go with those definitions, evangelism can be all word-of-mouth. We can argue that you have to practice to be able to speak about anything with authority and I buy that to a certain extent. But you can also dabble, understand the benefits and spread the word.

Think about it. Aren’t we all evangelists of some sort?

I am a Coach Purse evangelist, a Little Gym evangelist, a lasagna evangelist and a Arm & Hammer Carpet Cleaner evangelist. I am also a PTA evangelist, a Lexus evangelist (don’t have one but I love them and I will get one some day) and an outlet mall evangelist. You could also consider me a Desperate Housewives and Mott’s Applesauce evangelist as well and I don’t think anyone is going to ask me how many bowls of applesauce I’ve eaten to clarify my status as an evangelist.

You may be laughing but it’s true. Anyone can evangelize. Yes, there should be some experience to back it up, but who’s to say how much or how little?

What are your thoughts?

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I work in a form of advertising. I often want to tweet or comment on different ads I’m working on. Even when it’s positive, I have to stop myself.

What violation of a clients privacy or breach of confidentiality could I be making by making a simple tweet? Possibly spoiling their new ad campaign? Not likely, but it’s not a chance worth taking, either.

I think employers will have to consider guidelines sooner than later. For anyone who uses a service like Twitter while at work, the natural inclination is to occasionally mention work related topics — possibly even vent about work related issues. That might seem harmless enough, but it could certainly backfire.

I consider it a positive move for companies to at least inform employees of mistakes they could make in relation to their jobs through social media. If not guidelines, maybe just a list of ‘bad ideas’.

Jeremy Lindh is a website and community developer. He blogs here and goes by @jeremylindh, on twitter.

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One of the things that warms my heart, is when I see members of the online community I manage, helping each other out in some meaningful way. We recently had a blogger mention that she and her son were going to be evicted from their apartment because she didn’t have the $350 needed to stay put. The community rallied behind her raising more than $600 dollars in two hours.

Another member, who has been very verbal about her job loss and subsequent job search created a group called “The Unemployment Line” to offer support for members who have lost their jobs as well. They are supporting one another, offering interview tips and offering input on resumes.

It’s really great to see all of this happening. But then I started thinking, what can I do? While it is certainly not a good idea for me, as the community manager to donate money I can do other things and on a larger scale.
So I met with two local financial planners and asked them to participate in a live chat. I promoted it on the site for a week, indicating that there would be one hour of free financial advice available for anyone who wanted it, and called it: Managing Your Money During Hard Times.

It was a success with about 40 unique visitors, but what’s been even more successful is the replay of the transcript. Those who missed it live are now coming back to read it and get the advice that was doled out to others.

I am going to do more of this. Times are tough, and communities are coming together. If you manage a community, and you’re witnessing some of the poignant conversations taking place about job loss, and the state of the economy, find ways to help your members.
And do come back and tell me about it. I think we shoud all learn from one another.

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A guide for building relationships and connecting with customers online

18 Rules of Community Engagement, by Angela Connor

I’m writing a book.

I am now in the all-important phase of gathering endorsements for the back cover. I’ve known this would come and I’ve been adding potential endorsers to my coveted spreadsheet for about a month now with the goal of asking pretty much all of them to take a sneak peek at my book and offer an endorsement.

I’ve received two so far, and both made me feel all tingly and warm inside after reading them. These two paragraphs written by people whose work I admire and respect validate the hard work and late nights I’m putting into this project. It is just what I needed to keep forging ahead full steam.

(Thanks Sonny Gill and Martin Reed!)

But let me tell you how I felt before opening the emails.

  • My heart was pounding.
  • My palms were a wee-bit sweaty.
  • My feet even turned cold.

I decided to leave my inbox before opening the first response, just to give myself a silent pep-talk in the event the person refused to endorse or told me they didn’t like it and could therefore not support me. After all, I am indicating in the introduction to the sneak peek that there is no pressure and I mean that. I am not interested in any false or sympathy endorsements so I have to be prepared for those who will be brutally honest.

As someone who has often taken pride in not giving what people say about me too much weight, this is pretty new. I have to care about what people say, and I really want them to say something nice. In fact, I’m asking them to do just that by using the word “endorse.”

Book marketing, for the non-marketing type is no walk in the park. The good thing is, I’m getting the hang of it and I’m learning how to be pretty bold about it. That’s what it’s going to take to succeed, so I’m going to market this book until I’m blue in the face. And with all it entails, it just may come to that.

My grandfather always said that anything that doesn’t kill you will make you stronger. Well, I’m not dead, so I must be getting stronger every day.

Oh, and BTW–if you’re interested in a sneak peek of my book 18 Rules of Community Engagement: Building relationships and connecting with customers online, let me know. See, I told you I was getting bold. And what’s a few more sweaty palms between friends?

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Social media has made some folks lose their minds. Particularly those who are addicted to Facebook. They are poking incessantly, tagging like their lives depend on it, and friending the very people they hated 20 years ago. When you don’t poke them back, they resort to super-poking, send you a plant of some sort and ask for your hand in a game of virtual scrabulous. Lovely.

Something is missing here, and I think it’s common sense. So allow me to reintroduce the common sense factor to all of you avid Facebooker’s. If this doesn’t apply to you, reject it and move on. But if it does, hear me out.

If we hardly spoke in 12th grade calculus class and often rolled our eyes at one another in the halls, why would we connect 20 years later to share all of the nuances of our lives?

If you stole my boyfriend or played a cruel prank on me back in the day that caused me months of embarrassment, why would I care about your whereabouts today and what could you possibly have to say to me?

For all you know, the person you’re reaching out to could have spent an inordinate amount of money on a therapist in an attempt to forget you, and here you are, super-poker in hand ready to rekindle that loving feeling.

If I fired you, or you fired me and we engaged in a shouting match is a connection really something we should consider? No. And that’s okay, so move on to someone else.

Don’t let Facebook allow you to forget history and open old wounds that should probably remain closed. If you’re that eager to find out what’s been going on with someone, lurk around and satisfy your need. Heck, Google them and get yourself a nice helping of their recent history.

But if you know in your heart and your gut that a certain connection isn’t a good idea, don’t request it. Just because we have the tools doesn’t mean we have to use them. It’s great that we have the tools but we should also exercise good judgment and be selective with our actions.

What are your thoughts on the use of Facebook? Know any die hard pokers? Tired of being tagged for the 25 random things about me post? Tell us about it.

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I had the pleasure of interviewing author John Cass today for a chapter of my upcoming book, 18 Rules of Community Engagement. Cass is the author of the book, Strategies and Tools for Corporate Blogging and a great interview.

The 20-minute phone conversation resulted in two pages of great notes, but I found one thing he said to be so prolific and dead on, that I am going to give it its own blogpost. Here it is:

“Social Media tools don’t matter. What does matter is whether or not a company has an engagement strategy.”

He had me at hello.
A social media strategy is important, but if it doesn’t include how you will get people to care, it isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. That’s my personal and professional opinion.

Anyone agree?

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I consider myself a social media evangelist.
Do I use Twitter every day? Yes.

Do I have a Facebook account and do I use other social networks? Yes.

Is this relevant? Not really.

Social media is so much more than just social networks. It’s about blogs, video sharing, photo sharing, micro-blogging, forums and much, much more. It’s about connecting, socializing and making our worlds come together by interacting with each other by using online technologies.

I explain Twitter to people lots of times, I write blogs and produce videos over here in Holland to make people aware of the power of social media. Almost no one ever heard of Twitter or Facebook.

I believe social media is a very powerful thing. And we are merely at the beginning of it’s true evolution. I am passionate about social media and what it can bring to individuals, businesses and organisations.

If you feel passion for something and you share your passion with others, you are an evangelist. Whether for social media, Ben & Jerry icecream or Harry Potter books.

These words belong to Holland’s Renato van Bloemenhuis of Relentless Ideas. You can connect with Renato on twitter.


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I am always going to be an advocate for online communities. If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that I am passionate about online communities and enjoy sharing my experiences and hearing about yours.

You also know that I am honest about how difficult it can be to do this job well given the fact that so many people hide behind the cloak of anonymity and live to wreak havoc. They are driven by the amount of grief they can cause and measure their personal success by the amount of misery they can produce. My week has consisted of a lot of that, and it has been trying to say the least.

It got so bad that I had to lay down the law in a very public manner, and I can’t even begin to tell you how many people I banned. There is such a fine line between growing community and destroying it and community managers have to tread very lightly so as not to employ tactics that will result in a mass exodus. It’s an extremely slippery slope.

After all, we need all the members we can get, right?

WRONG. I now know that not all members are created equal, and some we can and simply should do without.

I believed that I needed every member I could get when we first launched GOLO and I worked hard to keep everyone happy, sometimes to a fault. If someone announced that they were leaving, I took it personally and did whatever I could to get them to stay. I had milestones to reach and goals to accomplish and I had my eyes on the prize.

That was then, this is now. When someone announces they are leaving I will be the first to wish them well, especially if they are a known problem.

We cannot allow our communities to be overrun by troublemakers and trolls and we have to take a stand. No community is the same and I am learning that the tactics that one community manager uses may not work for me. The solutions are not one-size -fits all.

The best thing for us to do is keep the conversations going and realize that we all have different communities, procedures for handling abuse, and various registration systems that may not allow us to do things in a similar fashion.

But I digress. My point here is simply this: Our jobs are tough and sometimes we have to be just as tough. Yes, we need members, but we don’t need everyone and sometimes we are better off without certain people, and that’s okay.

So build your community, but don’t be naive, and don’t let them trample you. There are other fish in the sea. Find them, and let some of the others go back into the depths of the deep sea, where they belong.

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It’s no secret that I’ve been seeking endorsements for my soon-to-be-released book, 18 Rules of Community Engagement.

I think it’s going to be a great read, but I’m biased and I could be saying that to justify all of my late hours and lack of sleep. I hope I’m wrong about that, and the following endorsements lead me to believe that I am. I hope their words spark your interest in the book.

“Angela begins the pioneering task of setting the rules for online communities in this must-read book. Her sass, wit and sheer knowledge of this unknown frontier are great guides for anyone wanting to enter the online community space.”

-Maren Hogan, Principal, Red Branch Media

“Being able to attract and manage over 11,000 members proves that you’re an expert when it comes to community engagement. In this book, Angela Connor not only shares her own experience, but includes the opinions and ideas of other community practitioners. The result is a book that should be considered required reading for anyone involved or interested in the art of community building.”

- Martin Reed, Community Developer/Manager, CommunitySpark.com

“A very conversational, wonderfully written, action-oriented, read with excellent examples. “

–Janet Clarey, Analyst & Sr. Researcher, Brandon-Hall Research

“In an era of rapid-fire change, Angela understands that Community is a slow-burn enterprise. She has created a personable, practical primer for those individuals and companies interested in enabling connectivity and exchange.”

– Venessa Paech, Community Manager, Lonely Planet

“Angela Connor tells you the score on running an online community with verve and humor. She knows what she’s talking about, and if you run an online community or want to, you should listen.”

– Lisa Williams, Founder and CEO, Placeblogger.com

“In 2009, savvy public relations and marketing professionals are honing in on the importance of connecting with targeted, niche online communities. Angela pulls on expert insight from thought leaders across the social Web to provide an easy-to-digest slate of guidelines to remind us all of what it takes to connect effectively with target audiences. A crucial read for any social media newbie looking to learn the online community rules of the road.”

–Scott Meis, Sr. Project & Social Media Director, Carolyn Grisko & Associates Inc.

“Angela lays out some great points on community engagement with real life examples that give readers the how-to when implementing these strategies within their own business. Not to mention, it’s all written in a simple to read manner.”

-Sonny Gill, Social Media Strategist, SonnyGill.com

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It is with much pomp and circumstance that I announce the launch of my new website, GrowingSuccessfulOnlineCommunities.com.

It will serve as home base for my book, 18 Rules of Community Engagement: A guide to building relationships and connecting with customers online set to publish in late May or early June.

I have to give major kudos to Phyllis Zimbler Miller and Yael Miller, the dynamic duo behind Miller Mosaic. They conceptualized and designed the website and treated my like an A-list client.

If you have a book to market, you need them in your life. Period.

So please visit the site and sign up for a free chapter of the book. I plan to incorporate new features including weekly two-minute podcasts called “Angela’s Answers” where I will offer quick tips on managing online communities as well as answer any questions submitted by readers. (That idea came from Phyllis, as did many others.)

And if you haven’t ordered your copy today, please consider it.

Thanks to every reader of this blog for your support and I look forward to our continued relationship.

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I’m pretty sure this post is the beginning of a new series called Troll Patrol. It is as much for my personal sanity as I work through some of these issues, as it is for your reading pleasure and hopefully your benefit.

I do understand that the word “troll” is quite subjective, particularly among community members. Some people consider anyone who disagrees with them a troll, (I disagree) and others think that anyone who happens to show up in the same blogs as them on a regular basis, are stalkers…aka “trolls.” And there are others who do seemingly have personal trolls, who live to make them, and others MISERABLE.

It is truly amazing how a few troublemakers in a community can make it unbearable for others and it is equally if not more amazing how adults can display such behavior that is beyond juvenile.

I have had two grown adult males in my community going after each other like three year-olds for weeks. And believe it or not, it all stems from one calling the other overweight. Believe me, I am not making this up.

I received an email from a member today illustrating how they completely ruined a heartfelt blog with their back and forth bickering when others were trying to have a decent conversation.

That exchange, coupled with this plea from a faithful member sent me over the edge and I sent them both threatening emails. The message was this: “Either it stops, or I end it. You choose.” I indicated that if I had to end it, it would not be pretty and neither of them would be able to come back. Period.

What a shame that community managers have to result to such antics. I have children at home, but apparently have several hundred at work as well. Good grief.

Now, I am not saying that either of these gentlemen are trolls, though the label certainly fits the guy who started all of this mess.

But nevertheless, this is a problem. It will not go away, but I’m ready to discuss it.

What are your issues with troublemakers and trolls, and how do you handle them? If you have any unique situations, please share them, and if you would like me to discuss a particular topic surrounding this terrible topic, please let me know.

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As I delve more into the life and times of internet trolls, I seem to find out more and more about this particular species and how they are viewed by the masses.

The perception of what constitutes a troll is extremely varied and the stories about their actions are colorful to say the least.

Can one who bashes a hotel restaurant on as many platforms as possible all due to one bad experience be considered a troll? Holly Warton, owner of Enchanting Group, says yes.

Here is her story, as given to me on LinkedIn:

There’s this one troll that visited one of my hotels back in 2001 or so. He didn’t even stay with us, he just ate at one of our restaurants, and apparently the waiter hit on his girlfriend. Since then, he has berated our hotels on both the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forums and the Trip Advisor Forums. He’ll take a break for a few months and then come back every once in a while.
I just mentioned this guy the other day to a fellow destination expert on Trip Advisor, and she remembered the guy by (user) name. He’s famous for attacking our hotels, and everyone knows it’s because of the problem with this girlfriend. Kind of funny, kind of irritating.

So there you have it. A clear illustration of one man’s attempt to tarnish a hotel’s reputation because a waiter hit on his girlfriend. Holly’s not happy with it, as she characterizes it as “kind of irritating.” But she also finds humor in it, and I suspect that may be because she can’t do anything about it.

In the next Troll Patrol, you’ll get an account of one man’s experience with a news website and his thoughts on the upside of requiring visitors to use real user names.

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Now that we’ve discussed the reputation ruiner, let’s move on to another type of online troll.
If you frequent news sites, particularly those with unmoderated comments, chances are you’ve come across this one. I refer to them as “the heartless jerk.”

These are the people who leave crude comments on stories about death, place blame on the victims of random house fires, and otherwise exhibit a complete lack of empathy when everyone else is doling it out in droves. They may say that a cancer patient deserved to die or even wish death on others.

This is not about seeing a situation differently, offering a different perspective or playing devil’s advocate. These types of trolls are just mean.

Timothy Marshall of Duzo Design recounts one such incident:

A high school classmate of mine died tragically, and when I read the news about it on a local news website there were a number of commenter’s leaving the most absurd and tasteless messages.

Trolls tend to exist on websites where users can remain anonymous. In this case people say things they wouldn’t normally say, just to get a response. It is so easy for them to just change identities, personalities and names online.

On pages where usernames stick and identities are clear trolls are less frequent. And when they are they can not hide from their actions. It really comes down to whether or not users will be held accountable for their actions. If you don’t hold them accountable they will do just about anything. Hold them accountable and they will be more rational.

What do you think? Do you agree with Timothy?

Would these heartless jerks, be so heartless if they were held accountable?

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One of the most successful franchises I’ve launched in my online community consists of regular profiles of community members.

The GOLO Profiles are a big hit, and people are always looking out to see who will be profiled next. It has become quite the badge of honor, and the information that people share with me is pretty amazing.

I’ve learned of alcohol addictions, bad breakups, DUI arrests, spouses living in the country illegally, eating disorders and other tales, some sinister, others uplifting. And no, my name isn’t Jerry Springer.

It started out as a germ of an idea that grew in a way I never expected. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about growing successful online communities is you simply have to try a bunch of things and see what resonates with the community. It’s a bit of trial and error, but when you hit big, you’ll know it.

Being interviewed for a GOLO profile is so prestigious to some, that they’ve expressed a bit of nervousness at the beginning of our phone conversation. When that happens I gently remind them that I’m no Barbara Walters and assure them that my editing skills will serve them well in the end and they will certainly come across as interesting. I then promise that we’ll have fun, and we always do.

It’s a simple formula, and one that you can certainly emulate in your own community. Here’s how it started for me:

  1. I selected a member and asked her to be the first interviewee.
  2. We set up a time that fit both of our schedules.
  3. I called her and we spoke for about 25 minutes.
  4. We had a blast.
  5. I transcribed the interview.
  6. I edited it down to a Q&A format.
  7. I posted it the following week.
  8. People immediately wanted more.
  9. I repeated number 1.

If you aren’t doing something similar, I strongly encourage you to give it a try. If it doesn’t resonate with members, move on to something else. But I’m betting it will. And I hope you’ll come back and tell me all about your success.

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Wait!

Before you hit the send, reply, submit or post buttons, ask yourself this question? Do I want the whole world to see this?

While the “whole world” concept may seem a bit dramatic, if something you’ve written gets in front of the wrong set of eyeballs it will certainly feel as though the whole world has seen it.

While it is never our intention to flat out embarrass ourselves, plenty of people do it everyday and I think it can be avoided rather easily.

How you might ask? By operating like a public official. As a journalist, I know that I can submit a Public Records Request and get copies of emails received and sent by anyone whose salary is paid by taxpayers. So, even though my salary is paid by a private company, I operate as if I’m accountable to the masses.

As the Managing Editor of an online community my written words are often shared publicly and I am extremely aware of that. What that does is make me communicate very carefully and with an amazing amount of tact, even when the situation may warrant a different type of response.

If a member attacks me in an e-mail, I respond professionally even when it kills me. What I’ve found is sometimes my response prompts them to change their tune and a real conversation often follows. That isn’t *always* the case but it happens often enough.

I received an email from a member a few days ago about a woman she thought was attempting to scam the community with fund raising efforts for her terminally ill son. She had conducted quite a bit of research and shared the results in the email.

I didn’t bash the woman but I did indicate in my reply that I was going to remove the blog from the homepage immediately, investigate further and remove her from the community completely if she was running a scam.

Well, the member who emailed me posted my entire response in a blog warning the community to be leery about the woman in question. I didn’t know she would do that because it was an e-mail between the two of us and quite honestly I was not thinking about it when I responded. But boy am I glad that I’ve programmed myself to be careful with my responses. That could have been ugly.

The point of this post is simply to raise your awareness. You never know where your words will end up, so be careful.

Reputation management should start with you.

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I think the work that goes into fostering community and building relationships online is grossly underestimated.

It takes  an enormous amount of work. You have to have personality, tact, an amazingly thick skin and a work ethic that will not quit. You also have to genuinely like communicating with people.

Let me repeat that: You have to genuinely like communicating with people. All types of people.  Even people you would likely detest if you were to meet them in person.

You must learn to trust your gut and make tough decisions even when you know they will cause an uprising. And when that uprising happens, you have to know how to deal with it, manage tempers and steer the ship back on track.

What’s most important in all of this, is you have to do it every day. Yesterday’s work means nothing tomorrow. If you can’t communicate on a micro-level, then you can’t grow a successful online community.

I learned all of this by being in the trenches and growing a community from zero members. It was trial and error. And 21 months later, it still is. Some days are very frustrating.  I certainly know a lot more than I did at the beginning and I’m pretty good at engaging the masses, but I am not as good as I will be in another year, or even another month.

I wanted to make this known. Everyone is talking about the importance of building community. If you want to do it right, it has to be more than lip service.  I wanted that to be known.

That’s why I wrote a book about growing online communities.

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Here’s a post I never thought I’d have to write.

A longtime, faithful, beloved member of my online community died today. It is a painful day for so many as he had TONS of friends. He was only 30.

I can’t even tell you the emotion I felt upon learning this, and the outpouring of emotion shown by community members is a true testament to the power of online communities.

HE was known in the community as “Studweiser.” I interviewed him once, and met him three times. Once at our one-year anniversary party. He invited me to his 30th birthday party. I didn’t attend.

I wish I had.

I have posted a tribute to Studweiser on the homepage and will leave it there all week.

I plan to attend his funeral.

That is nowhere in my job description, I know…but it feels like the right thing to do.

Studley loved the GOLO community. He supported my decisions and encouraged troublemakers to do better. When his partner started going through his cell phone to notify his friends, many of the numbers listed belonged to members of the community.

There is an empty place in the community now. And I never knew this could hurt so bad.

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If you want to manage or grow a successful online community, I suggest stocking up on a few action verbs. Here are five I use daily:

  1. Share
  2. Ask
  3. Relate
  4. Commiserate
  5. Congratulate

What are your valuable verbs for growing community?

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I’ve come across quite a few posts lately about the qualities one has to possess to be an effective community manager.

With all of the attention these types of positions are getting and the warp speed at which they are seemingly being created, it is certainly understandable why this is a popular discussion.

I’m seeing a lot of phrases like “love what you do,” “have a passion for people,” and “be fun and engaging.” While I absolutely agree with all three of those, in addition to the five “essential skills” outlined in this article on Mashable I feel strongly that a lot is being withheld.

I am a community manager. I love what I do, have a passion for people and I can be pretty doggone fun and engaging.

But that is not enough. None of that gets me through the day when I’m fighting off trolls, enforcing unpopular rules, settling disputes among members or working hard to diffuse tensions or postpone a major revolt.

My love for people is pretty much non-existent when I get an email filled with hate spewed by cyber-bigots hiding behind the cloak of anonymity. The personal attacks, name-calling, unfair accusations and overall pettiness cannot be successfully met with my engaging personality and sunny disposition.

Those types of situations require an entirely different skill set. I’m talking about razor-sharp interpersonal communication skills, the ability to exhibit an enormous amount of tact, an extremely thick skin and a boatload of compassion for people you would rather not give an ounce. Did I mention grace under presssure, courage under fire, openness to criticism and tolerance beyond belief?

It’s time to be open and honest about what it takes to manage and grow an online community. It’s not all roses, and it isn’t always fun. The general traits will only get you so far and if that’s all you’ve got you won’t know what to do when the storms arrive and believe me, they will.

So before you accept a job as a community manager, talk to people who are already doing the job, across a wide array of industries. No two jobs are the same because no two communities are the same, but the challenges do exist and it would be foolish not to learn more about them and seek out others who can help.

I’m always good for a story, or two. Maybe even three if you have the time. Don’t get me wrong…it’s a fun rewarding job. But there is no handbook and most of us are making up a lot of it along the way. So, move away from the theorists and seek out the practitioners.

That way, you’ll move beyond the general and into the specific.

Believe me, we’ll tell you everything you want to know, and then some.

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With everyone talking about the disgusting domino’s fiasco, I just had to share a blurb I posted on twitter the day before the news actually broke and Domino’s found itself in the ultimate PR nightmare.

As a community manager, I am very pleased when people open up and share. In fact, I spend a great deal of my time encouraging them to do just that. I’m pretty good at it and my community is growing. But there is a such thing as sharing too much. And simply being stupid.

Enter: THE COMMON SENSE FACTOR

Did you hear about the couple evicted from the house they were renting after posting pictures of wild parties and the house being trashed on Facebook? The common sense factor was not applied in that case. What about the guy who was fired from Goldman Sachs for spending too much time on Facebook? Nope, not a shred of common sense applied there either.

I won’t even go into the Fed Ex incident.

At the core, this isn’t about Fed Ex, Motrin, Domino’s or Facebook. It’s about people. These are technologies and tools and we decide how to use them. We are the thinking beings. The superior species. We control these outside forces, and when we let them control us, the outcome will never be a good one.

So put down the video camera if you think you’re going to lose your mind and record yourself doing something stupid enough to land you in jail. Turn off the computer and decompress. Do yourself a favor, and communicate like the whole world is watching, because some day, that may very well be the case.

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As community managers we should never be so desperate for members that we allow ourselves or others to be repeatedly abused by any one member. Nor should we be afraid to communicate publicly if and when a message needs to be sent.

I know that some of my peers would disagree with me here, and I’m okay with that. Many believe that any strong words or difficult exchanges should happen behind the scenes, via e-mail, if at all.

I agree with that to a certain extent, but we also have to recognize that no two communities are  the same therefore the same styles of community management don’t always transfer. We need to agree on that because it is simply the truth.

I have suggested to a few members, after observing their behavior and interaction within the community, that perhaps my community isn’t for them. One gentleman in particular was always pushing the envelope with risque photos. I told him as gently as I could that he should look into some of the types of communities that appreciate that kind of art as they are quite pervasive across the web. I posted this publicly on his profile where anyone could view it.  After all, he was posting the photos publicly on the site for all to see so to me that was appropriate.

It also illustrates concern for other members and I really think there is value in letting the community see some of that for themselves.  They need to know that you are working to keep your community in tact.

We cannot be afraid to speak openly and be direct. If you don’t think so, it’s only because you haven’t yet experienced a real reason to do it. Or it may be that your community is new and you deem it too risky. I’ve been there and I understand.

But when you’ve got a group of renegades wreaking havoc on the community, or trolls coming out in droves,  nice personal e-mails may not be tough enough. I’ve addressed some of these types of behaviors through blog posts like this one, and this one.

You have to learn how to put your foot down and stand strong when it’s appropriate. And only you will know when that is.

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Unless you’re new here, you know that I’m writing a book called “18 Rules of Community Engagement.” You may have even visited my book website.

Several people, (10 to be exact) have read a great amount of the book and offered their endorsements, so that’s 10 people who think it’s a good read and none of them are in my immediate family.

But now that the book is close to launch, I want to share the final rules that made the cut. Here are the 18 rules you will find in the book filled with examples, anecdotes and my experiences with each:

Chapter 4: Stroke a few egos
Chapter 5: Don’t be pushy
Chapter 6: Provide useful information
Chapter 7: Ask Questions
Chapter 8: Use your influence
Chapter 9: Pour on the compliments
Chapter 10: Know and respect the culture
Chapter 11: Complain, Complain, Complain!
Chapter 12: Make it Personal
Chapter 14: Seek expert advice and opinions
Chapter 13: Ask for help
Chapter 15: Accept and respond to criticism
Chapter 16: Make small talk
Chapter 17: Tune-out troublemakers
Chapter 18: Showcase and acknowledge good work
Chapter 19: Don’t try to please everyone
Chapter 20: Manage expectations
Chapter 21: Realize your work is never done

If you’re interested in Chapter 4, go to my book website and join the mailing list. Once you do that, you’ll receive Chapter 4, Stroke a few egos, in its entirety.

Enjoy!

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Indian Premier LeagueI came across a tweet today about a new online community for IPL lovers. It read: “Finally a community for IPL lovers” and linked to this blogpost.

Upon reading the post, I learned that this community consists of more than 68,000 members. So, given my passion about online communities, I had to know more.

You see, I know from living in South Florida for six years that Cricket is huge in the Caribbean. Well I now know that it’s even bigger in India. I saw a match once and it was interesting enough but I can’t say that I’d rush to see another.

However, I have reached out to the DLF Indian Premier League–the creators of the community for an interview and will hopefully get one to post here on Online Community Strategist.

In the meantime, I joined the community. The default choice for favorite team is the Bangalore Royal Challengers and the default favorite player, Aakash Chopra. So those are my new favorites. I even watched a video called “Funny Cricket Moments.” I’m sure I would have laughed if I knew what was going on, but I didn’t. It was posted today and has more than 4,000 views so it must be pretty funny.

The point here is we have to be willing to learn from everyone. For someone to post that there is “finally” an online community on any topic is a testament to the desire to belong to such communities and the power that comes with them.

So join new communities, even some that are outside of your interests and learn a few things. You’ll be better for it.

Go Bangalore Royal Challengers!

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Have I mentioned my most recent appointment as lead on a social media task force at my company? I know I’ve tweeted about it and posted status updates on both Facebook and LinkedIn, but perhaps I’ve failed to mention it here.

My passion for social media, voluntary brand monitoring and general evangelism put me in a great position as the obvious lead and the endorsements came straight from the top. I’m proud of that, and I won’t hide that fact.

But what I’m most excited about is how quickly we’ve been able to move and the level of excitement and commitment to this endeavor exhibited by the powers that be. With my role I’ve tried to do more listening than talking in an attempt to really understand how social media is viewed by others, so I could get my arms around any skepticism and capture the essence of what our brand means to those charged with owning it.

All of that resulted in a great mission statement. One with character, integrity and a bit of calculated risk that will allow us to try new things and even have fun along the way.

Once everyone approved the mission statement we moved on to the first set of guidelines which were compiled by a much smaller group. I figured we should have active twitter users creating guidelines for that platform so I invited a core group to the table to do that and it worked very well.

We met on Tuesday and had a finalized document that represents the mission statement to the fullest, two days later.

The mission statement is what it’s all about. It’s the ultimate guide. I encourage anyone currently active in the social media space or planning to become active to take a step back and really think about you want to accomplish and work on a mission statement that reflects that, Once you have that, the rest will come.

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I have a new goal.

I don’t have a time-frame, nor a target college or university but I know that I’d like to teach a college course on building communities. I have the curriculum laid out in my head.

I would require each student to nurture and grow their online community AND use various social media platforms to promote it and garner interest in the site. They’d have to pitch five ideas for a niche community and I would approve two, giving them the final say.  They’d be graded on how well they engage, how often they contribute, how well they grow the community and how they communicate within it.

This course could be in the Communications or Journalism department. Heck, it could even be in the Business Department. It doesn’t really matter where it lives because it is an essential skill.

We should not assume the Gen Y’ers know how to do this because they spend a great deal of time in the social media space. They are focused on other things and I’m talking about something entirely different.

I believe wholeheartedly that a decent track record of building communities will open a lot of doors. There are going to be MANY companies late to the game and they’ll need people who know how to build successful online communities. I read a post today about confidence, that sealed the deal for me and I now believe that I can pull this off.

I haven’t pitched this to anyone yet, but I will. I’m in the Raleigh area, where there are tons of great schools, but with the internet I can do it for anyone.

Who knew how handy that Distance Education course I took through Penn State’s World Campus a few semesters back would affect me?

So here it is. A distance education course on The Fundamentals of Building Communities. That’s it. That is what I want to do.  Now, I will formalize it and start looking for opportunities.

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Making social media work for you is the title of my session tomorrow at the High Point Market in High Point, North Carolina.  In case you don’t follow the furniture industry, let me tell you, this event is HUGE. Actually, it’s more than that.

The High Point Market is the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world, bringing more than 85,000 people to High Point every six months. According to the website, “serious retail home furnishings buyers can be found in High Point twice a year because if you can’t find it in High Point it probably doesn’t exist.” Okay, so you now get that I’ll be talking to a lot of people in the furniture industry.

I held a session last year on a very similar topic but tweaked it this year based on the feedback I’ve received from attendees at all of my other speaking engagements since then.

So, I really think this audience will hear a good message from me tomorrow, that has been honed by the questions and concerns of others, some who found social media overwhelming. Last year I spoke specifically about online communities. Tomorrow I am talking about choices.

My message is this: Identify your goals and plan your social media strategies based on those goals. Anything else is a waste of time. You need a mission and a plan so you can do what works for you.

Because at the end of the day, what works for others may not be a raging success for you. Social media is NOT one-size fits all, and it’s time to tell it like it is.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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I’ve been blogging here for a year now. It has become a real passion and I am extremely grateful for the people who visit often, provide feedback and share their thoughts in the comments section.
My first post was April 8, 2008. I got the courage to start this blog after reading blogs like Community Spark and Community Guy. I admired Martin and Jake from afar and they unknowingly influenced me to start this blog.

I’ve compiled a list of some of my early posts, (when I was likely the only reader) for your reading pleasure. If you’re a regular, I hope you like the direction of the blog and I’d love to hear from you if you have suggestions, would like to guest blog or if you’d like me to write about a specific topic.
Thanks for being here. I appreciate your time more than you could possibly know!

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I posted a blog a few weeks ago when a well-regarded, highly popular member of my online community died. I gave it the royal treatment and kept a tribute to him on the homepage of the site for several days. I even created a gallery to showcase all of the posts from other members honoring his memory.

Well, guess what? Another member died this week. He joined the community the day after we launched and was one of the first 100 members. We are now beyond 12,000.

He went by the name “GoPanthers” and had not been as active as he once was, but I do recall his presence during several of the live debate blogs I hosted during the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates. I also looked back on some of my early editor’s blogs and shared posts that illustrated his high level of activity in our early days for members who may not have known his history.

His most recent blog spoke of an upcoming surgery that had him a bit concerned.

I have to say that I struggled with how to handle the profile and content of the first member that died. I ended up posting that he had passed away along with links to the tributes that had been posted in his honor. I initially thought that the best thing to do was remove it, but then I started reading all of the comments. The community was posting their condolences directly on his page and even talking to him directly. There was no way I could do away with such heartfelt sentiments! The same is happening with this member.

So while I feel as though I need a policy (actually I know I do) I think I’m leaning towards keeping the profiles and simply posting a note about the death as I did in the first case. Perhaps this shouldn’t be an emotional decision and I think that’s why I haven’t made it. I want to give the community what it wants. Maybe I’ll pose the question in a week or so and see if there is some consensus on the matter.

What do you think? How do you handle deaths in your community? I’d love to know as I embark on this important decision.

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Disney made a major announcement today. One that I think has huge implications for the future of TV, particularly local TV which depends heavily on network programming. (Disclosure: I work in the New Media division of a local TV station.)

Disney is joining NBC Universal and News Corp (NBC & Fox) on Hulu. Here is the text of the e-mail alert I received about this move:

The Walt Disney Co. is joining fellow multimedia giants NBC Universal and News Corp. as stakeholders and providers of content to the growing TV Web site. Disney is promising to distribute a host of programming via the service, including such ABC staples as Lost, Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty.

I don’t know about you, but I see this as a big deal. Now, I know that not everyone watches TV online, but a heck of a lot of people do, and with more and more popular shows becoming available on Hulu, habits are surely to change. I’ll admit, Hulu is like a TV programming buffet and once you spend time there, you are more than likely to return. This is where it’s all headed.

More from the release:

“Hulu, quite simply, now has the best premium content on the web,” said Peter Chernin, president and COO, News Corp. “With three major networks and over 150 leading content providers providing content, combined with the best video user interface anywhere on the web, Hulu offers consumers the finest premium online video experience available today.”

Think about it, the DVR has saved our busy lives. Some people don’t even know when their favorite shows actually air and depend solely on the DVR to record them for later viewing. So again, we know where this is going.

The opportunity I see here is in the building online communities. If you weren’t already convinced that online use would continue to explode, perhaps this does the job. And with all of these new folks spending more and more time online, the pool for community members and those interested in joining communities grows exponentially.

So put a good number of your eggs in the online community basket. And figure out how you can start building communities or using your expertise to help others because the demand will be there.

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Now that I’ve written a book, I want to scream from the mountain tops how much I truly believe that anyone who has the drive and desire to write a book can find the time to get it done with a little bit of discipline.

It is so easy to buy into the “I just don’t have time” school of thought because honestly, you probably don’t on first look. But when you take a second look at how you spend your “free time” and couple that with a dose of honesty about how much you really want to become an author, I think you’ll see things differently.

So, based on my own experiences…I offer these five tips for anyone who says they don’t have the time to write a book. Keep in mind that I have a full time job, two young children ages 8 and 3, a house that needs lots of cleaning and a husband who needs to see me from time-to-time.

1. Sacrifice something you value and write instead. If you’re serious about this, you may need to give up something you care about. Children and spouses are not an option. But if you watch several shows on television that you feel you can’t live without, try living without them and work on your book during those times instead.

2. Whenever you’re waiting, write. From the doctor’s office to the lobby of your kids’ ballet class we all are faced with waiting periods. The time when there is literally nothing for you to do but wait. Learn to take advantage of this idle time and pull out a notepad or bring your laptop.

3. Don’t tell everyone you’re writing a book. Talk is cheap. Just do it, and tell folks after-the-fact. You are doing this for you, so that makes you the only person who matters. If you’re doing it for accolades and pats on the back, you’ll never get it done.

4. Communicate with as many authors as you can through social media. Follow authors and book marketers on Twitter. Seek out publishers and agents and learn the craft. Find out what’s happening in the industry and learn as much as you can. Follow trends. Join a social networking group for authors or even publishers.

5. Write about your topic on your blog. Blog posts can feed your book. With blogposts you are thinking short and pithy. When you go back to previous posts you will find new ideas for your book. Keep the blog posts coming.

AND HERE’S A BONUS:

6. Stay up late. You can sleep in four-six months. If you absolutely have no time then you have to make it. Give up a few hours of sleep and write. You’ll be surprised at how the creative juices flow after midnight. I wrote from about 10pm-1am for two months straight.

Yes, writing a book takes dedication and for many, sacrifice. I am working hard on my marketing plan and looking for ways to generate buzz . I know it’s going to work because I’m committed. And I think you can make it work as well. So if you’re serious and you really want to write a book, put your money where your mouth is.

You’ll be glad you did.

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I just realized that while I shared some details from my session at the High Point Market in High Point, North Carolina last week, I never made the presentation available. I use it as a launching point and most of the tips listed prompt specific stories that I like to share with the audience. Perhaps I’ll go without a presentation at some point, after all…PR pro Peter Shankman says PowerPoint is for the weak.

Enjoy, and please share if you feel so inclined

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Do you remember this post post from last December where I speculated on whether or not debt collectors were behind closed doors strategizing on ways to capitalize on social media? Here’s a question I posed in that post:

What if during the first quarter of next year you start seeing bill collectors posting on Facebook walls and sending tweets reminding you that your credit card is over-the-limit, or that you haven’t paid your bill in three months?

Well, if it seemed a bit far-fetched back then, take a look at this story on Consumerist: Debt Collector’s Using Cute Chicks on Facebook as Bait

According to the story, a “cute chick” aka Jenny Anderson racked up about 600 friends and later announced to them all that she really worked for a company called CBV Collections.

Are you familiar with the term “skiptracer?” Well, that’s what this Jenny Anderson is apparently and there are many many more out there.

I found this story after noticing a trend in the search engine terms used to lead people to my blog. Here are a few I’ve seen in the last two weeks:

  1. “facebook debt collectors” (there are many instances of this one!)
  2. “debt collectors are going to start infiltrating social media”
  3. “Do bill collector’s use LinkedIn?”

This clearly is a topic on the minds of many. I have no idea who is conducting these searches (bill collector’s or those trying to avoid them) but I know we will see this more often.

What do you think? Is this just wrong? Or do they have the right to hunt people down by any means necessary?

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While many organizations are jumping on the social media bandwagon and joining Facebook and Twitter in droves in an effort to reach the highly coveted Millenials, there is a another important group out there that marketers want to reach: Tweens.

My regular readers know how big I am on the importance and what I call the art of engaging users online, so I was pleased to see emoderation’s new whitepaper: An introduction to using community and interactive advertising to engage tweens/teens.

CEO and founder, Tamara Littleton characterizes the habits, wants and needs of this demographic and provides a wealth of helpful information and tips to marketers in this nine page document that is definitely worth a read.

Here’s an excerpt:

The biggest challenge though, is how to engage with a younger audience who has less patience, lower tolerance levels and obscure loyalties, on their own turf, without being intrusive. Brands that do it reap high rewards: word-of-mouth recommendations between peers are rife, and immediate response and high interaction levels allow smart brands to create a dialogue that can influence sales. But social media sites and online communities are where younger people hang out with each other, not with brands, or 30+ marketers. They expect to talk to their peers, and interact with their friends (although even the term ‘friend’ has been redefined by social media – many teens will have upwards of 500 or 1000 ‘friends’ on Facebook, for example. The visible number of friends has become a badge of popularity).

Read the complete document for more. Littleton offers excellent advice and various case studies that are sure to enlighten.

As a community manager, social media enthusiast and most importantly in this case… mother of a tween, I think this report is dead on.

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It is with great excitement that I share this Q&A with Venessa Paech of Lonely Planet. Venessa is a community professional with great experience, amazing insight and a true understanding of what it takes to succeed in this growing space. I was lucky enough to include some of Venessa’s words of wisdom in my new book and she reveals even more here. So sit back and take in every word of this must-read interview.

What would you say is the toughest part of community management?

Ooh, it’s all pretty challenging. Responsible governance that retains a genuine human face (and keeping it together when everybody wants a piece of you) is tricky business.

Personally, I think the hardest part is articulating the work, evangelising and defending its significance. Organisations are embracing community as currency, but a lot of people don’t understand what this truly means in application. Businesses want to ‘add community’, but forget that ‘community’ consist of real, complex people with quirks, desires and behaviours both inspiring and damaging. Would you [could you] create a town or city overnight without robust infrastructure and resources? That’s a difficult thing to convey to people who haven’t had exposure to online community themselves.

What’s the nicest compliment you’ve ever received from a member of the community?

I’ve received some lovely messages (both public and private) from members who acknowledge and appreciate the work that my team and I do in sweet, funny and creative ways.

If I’m doing my job well, people shouldn’t see how difficult it is. So, in a way, that’s the nicest compliment… when the community motors along, in it’s element, problem free.

Tell me about the first time you received a shocking email, or what I call a nasty-gram? What was it about and how did you respond?

Days after I took this particular job, I received a series of emails and even a fax or two from forum members who believed another member had been asked to leave the community unfairly. Mercifully, there was very little venom in their campaign to bring him back, but there was a wee, impassioned deluge and it certainly took this new kid on the block aback. I gathered my bearings, did the homework to get the full background and context, and in this instance, did end up reinstating that users membership. I’ve had some doozy nasty-grams too. You just need to step back, take a breath, remember it’s not personal and assess the situation with an almost forensic level of arms-lengthedness.

Have you ever been threatened? What are some of the more colorful names you’ve been called?

Yes, my team and I have been threatened by a couple of especially toxic former users who don’t appreciate the fact they were asked to leave the community.

I’m interested in promoting civil digital discourse, rather than rewarding idiots with undue attention, so details don’t bear repeating. However, the charge of censorship crops up a lot, usually with the same old, lazy pejoratives attached. In my experience (as both community leader and participant), this is a common knee jerk reaction from someone who doesn’t understand (or like) that anonymity doesn’t equal anarchy.

There’s definitely the perception in some that the web is not governed by the same basic mores (or laws) as the physical world. These same individuals tend to confuse the definition of free speech and have a hard time visualising a community space on an organisation’s website as territory that has an owner. They can publish what they like on their own blog and accept the personal consequences. But they cannot publish whatever they like on a website they don’t own or have responsibility for. If you remove something from you site that breaches terms of service or community guidelines, that isn’t censorship – and those who don’t agree may give you a rough time.

When are you most proud of your work?

At the risk of sounding terribly sappy, all the time. When I see the wonderful work my team does, I’m thrilled. When colleagues at Lonely Planet are surprised and impressed by our community and its members, I’m positively doting. I’m very happy when our traveller community is singled out in the media for its personality and savvy, or its success as a news gathering hub around events that impact travellers, such as missing persons, natural disasters or health crises. And those nice messages we mentioned previously are pretty warm fuzzy inducing too. These moments preserve your equilibrium when things are hard going.

Do you work at home? How often do you check in on the community on your days off?

Do bears bear? Do bees bee? :-) Yes, I work at home and check in with my community regularly.

I’ve worked hard over the last year to build a strong, talented team and to simultaneously develop new functionality that allows you to step back and be less hands on around the clock. It’s difficult to let go (you’re invested in these people and your space), but it’s also imperative. First of all, if you have a team you’re responsible for, you don’t want to be teaching them this kind of behaviour.

Secondly, if there’s a real problem hitting coverage 24/7 (many communities have one), figure out how to fix that and do your darndest to make it happen. Map out solutions (more staff, tools, whatever), and lobby your organisation for them (a clear business case helps!)

Making moderation and oversight scalable is part of the gig – and unless you clone yourself, you working non-stop won’t be part of that model. I’ve been there, having to work relentlessly due to inadequate support. You put the needs of your community first. However, if you can’t function due to lack of sleep, you’re not really serving the community, are you? This is such a common challenge with online community, and I suspect some organisations are a little too comfortable knowing that their passionate, reliable community manager will pick up the slack. Not cool. Do what you have to do, but make the solution a priority!

Have you ever met any of your members in real life? If so, under what circumstances?

Thorn Tree regulars have been having offline get-togethers almost as long as the forum has been around (that’s over a decade). I’ve been to a couple of these and met some of our fabulous traveller members. In our case, I have to balance this interaction very carefully. These events are member initiated, organised and executed, and I don’t want to intrude in any way (not everyone wants the company rep showing up). I always check with the member or members organising the event to make sure they’re ok with my tagging along, and that they think other attendees are likely to be comfortable also.

Because of the global spread of our membership (and the fact it’s a passion for travel that connects them) gatherings happen all over the world, so it also makes it difficult to do regularly (though I wouldn’t mind jet setting to them all if my bosses would send me).

If you’ll permit me to diverge from the question slightly, I think you touch another interesting consideration – that is, the way our confessional web complicates our online and offline relationships with community managers and their members. It’s something many of us face, not just community managers. Everyone is hyper aware of their online reputation, and cottage industries have emerged to help us ‘manage’ the confluence of personal and professional across these spaces. But for community managers there’s another dimension to these concerns. What if toxic members learn details about you they believe empower their attacks?

Some of my community will likely read this interview. Should I let that mediate what I say (even though I’m not ‘officially’ on the clock while I’m answering these questions)? Should they pay attention to the ‘man behind the curtain’, and if they do, how does that impact our relationship orbit? Though most operating in this work will advocate for transparency and authenticity as primary values and best practice philosophy (myself included), they are not always possible for everyone working as a community manager (even less so, a moderator). Some communities are intimate, personable and naturally fluid between on and offline. Others are vast, disparate and volatile (none of which means they’re necessarily an unsuccessful community.)

I find a helpful analogue is that of a city and its leader/s. Would the mayor or police chief want every single citizen to know what he did on his vacation? His home address and phone number? If my members consider me a friend, does this compromise my capacity to implement governance or discipline problem behaviours?

You see what I mean about it being an interesting field! ;-)

Do you think everyone is cut out to be a community manager?

No. It’s a specialised role and not everyone will have the skills and temperament, let alone the inclination to take it on.

That said, I think there are core aspects of community management that a diverse range of other roles and professional arenas are looking to adopt. For example, journalists and media-makers are increasingly expected to wrangle and manage leads [chatter] from a network of sources. They need to manage these relationships, assess reliability, crowd-source problems and questions, and so on. Likewise teachers and educators are being asked to adopt this approach.

This is community management 101. In the future we won’t just see community managers looking to sharpen these skills.

And of course, anyone whose work involves the management of a delicate suite of stakeholders is in effect, a community manager. Many of us are community managers within our organisations. And many organisations that may not have an online community are bringing community management professionals in-house to consult on how their tenets and practices can benefit the organisation in other ways (and they can, plentifully!)

And finally, what is your advice to people hoping to get into this type of position, and what should they do to prepare themselves.

Enroll in the most intense boot camp you can find, and make sure it involves hearty doses of self-humiliation :-)

I find this an incredibly fascinating, rewarding career path. It has a bright, shiny future as communities firm as an integral part of many organisations. Recent research suggested that, despite the financial crisis, Community Manager was a role on the rise, and I believe that’s indicative of the growing force of this sector. Many industries and jobs are in irreversible decline (coal and conventional cars for example). All signs seem to suggest this field is positioned for strong upward growth, which makes it a very smart time to get involved and give it a go.

My personal litmus test for community managers is pretty simple. Could you cut it in the public service? How would you feel about being a councillor? A mediator? Will you still champion a cause if people throw tomatoes at you everytime you mention it? If you’re a superb communicator (across mediums), a talented but sincere relationship wrangler, and if you’re invested in the power of community, then you might just have what it takes.

Importantly, these roles are fiendishly diverse from organisation to organisation. In some (including my own), there is a strong legalistic component to the work, so fluency with policy and governance is a must (understand copyright, IP law, safe harbour at least at cursory level). Proficiency with software, systems and the ability to speak fluent developer will make you a real asset (and help you agitate for what you need – or build it yourself). A background in psychology or anthropology can be very valuable. And based on this skills list, reflexivity matters! If you share a passion or interest with your members, that’s often helpful, but if you’re a sterling communicator, that’s usually sufficient.

I’d strongly recommend that people considering this work spend time with people who face similar demands. Have coffee with community managers (we all love to yak about our jobs, as you can tell by this interview). Ask them what community management resources they use.

Think outside the square. Chat to community organisers offline, to councillers, politicians (use to being pulled in every direction by constituents), a lawyer who works the web, change managers, social workers, teachers!

And the obvious one – if you’re not already involved in an online community (not a social network, though that will expose you to some of the challenges involved), spend time within one. Real time (not just a day or two – that will teach you nothing).

Over the coming years you’ll see more higher education and scholarship that addresses community management. Keep an eye on that too!

You’ll notice I haven’t really mentioned marketing. In these early days of community, marketer and marketing thinkers are everywhere in the space. There’s a universe of opining you’ll be exposed to in this work (including ideas you’re expected to execute). Some of it is useful, but the other stuff is harder to come by, and I would argue, more important to get right early on.

There’s plenty of time to understand metrics and social marketing (and no end of consultants and bloggers to keep you in the loop with the latest trends, favoured analytic measures and tools, conferences, etc.)

Hone your understanding of people and how they behave first, or you’ll struggle as a community manager. It’s a mistake I see a lot.

Thanks for the chat Angela! I look forward to seeing some of your wanderlusting readers on LonelyPlanet.com and our Lonely Planet forums. And anyone who wants to chat community management can always grab me for a virtual (or real) coffee :) You can find me @ twitter.com/VenessaP, or at my rarely updated blog: http://venessapaech.wordpress.com/

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This is just one of seven awesome new community jobs listed over on Jake McKee’s blog.
If you weren’t so sure about whether or not this community management thing would take off, or whether or not jobs in social media would become more widely available, this is proof.

Even county governments are hiring Twitter and Facebook experts. Need I say more?

Jake’s blog is a great resource and I encourage you to subscribe. Jeremiah Owyang also maintains an excellent list of web strategy jobs that you’ll want to tap into as well.

Have you seen any cool new community or social media jobs lately?

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This is a cross post from the American Society of Business Publication Editor’s national blog.

Engage or Die: Why your publication must embrace social media

Would I like you to click the link and read the post? Yes, but that is not the point of this particular post. I am bringing it to your attention to highlight a different lesson altogether. It’s one that I believe is greatly overlooked but can be done almost daily, and without a great amount of effort if you’re passionate about a topic.

Let me tell you how I got the opportunity to blog over there.

It all came from a thoughtful comment I left on a post that was recognized by the editor who later contacted me and asked me to write on a specific subject. That was not my goal when I left the comment. I was just doing what I do: Participate in the conversation, add value when I have it to offer and share my passion about online communities, social media, journalism and a few other topics that I pretty much live and breathe.

But the opportunities didn’t stop there. I was also asked to come speak to a group of editors in Washington, DC next month. All from one little comment.

Do you see the amazing value in that?

This is why I always say that we have to communicate like the whole world is watching. Chris Brogan often talks about providing value and readily sharing what you know. I think comments is one of he easiest ways to do that on a large scale.

Have you ever seen entire posts on popular blogs that stem from the comments? That is often where the reading gets good and the conversations reach a whole new level.

There’s power in the comment box. Share what you know, and scour the comments section of your own posts for nuggets of wisdom and ask for more. It’s the ultimate community builder.

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The next time you meet someone who doesn’t “get” Twitter, and you don’t have an hour to make a believer out of them but you really feel they’d benefit a great deal if they understood its power, send them a link to Brandon Uttley’s 15 page ebook, This is Your Brain on Twitter.

I am a big fan of what I call the “101 Approach” where people who are clearly in the know about a certain topic, explain it to to others without the least bit of condescension and the ultimate goal of educating them. That is what Brandon has done with this ebook.

He acknowledges that it can seem puzzling at first, which in my opinion is the first step to building trust with the reader, particularly if they’ve been struggling to wrap their arms around all of the recent hype.

Uttley offers useful tips for businesses, such as “Monitor keywords relevant to your brand or industry,” but instead of leaving it at that, he shares various tools to help the reader get started including Monitter, TweetGrid, (one of my personal favorites) BackTweets, TweetBeep (love that one too…) and Tweetlater to get email alerts on keywords and phrases. This information is listed under a section called Top Ways to Lurk More Effectively on Twitter.

The more I read, the more I learned, and it became evident that this ebook has something in it for everyone. Not only does this ebook offer excellent advice and tips for newbies, it’s a resource for veterans as well because you are bound to learn something new.

The format is easy on the eyes and the cost was my name and email address over on Brandon’s blog.

I would have paid more.

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I’m a fan of Slideshare. I upload all of my presentations there. Well, at least those that I feel are of value to the masses.

When asked for a copy of my presentation after a speaking engagement, I always provide the URL to my personal slideshare space or e-mail a direct link to that particular slide.

But, I’ve learned that Slideshare provides so much more opportunity and value and we should all view it as a social network that allows us to connect with others, much like our other favorites.

Here are a few ways you can connect and build community through Slideshare.

  1. Check to see who has “favorited” and/or “embedded” your slides. This is the ultimate lead. Once you do this you will have a list of people who are genuinely interested in your content.If someone has embedded your slide, click through to the actual post and comment. Thank them for sharing your content.
  2. Visit their profile and view their slides. You may find something you like since you clearly have similar interests. Learning more about their content is a perfect way to decide if you want to connect.
  3. Send a personal message asking to connect. You now have enough info to compliment their work, ask to use their presentation or maybe even get them to guest blog for you.
  4. Search keywords for your topics of interest. Once you do this, repeat steps 2 and 3.
  5. Share your slides on LinkedIn and Facebook. This is very easy to do, and it exposes your Facebook and LinkedIn contacts to your presentations. A win-win.
  6. Post thoughtful comments and offer feedback on presentations. Not everyone will appreciate this, but some will. It’s worth a shot.
  7. Share presentations with others and be sure to let the creator of the slide know about it.
  8. Embed slides (yours and others) in blogposts and on your website. This will bring your current audience to Slideshare and you could be providing new opportunities for your readers as well.
  9. Consider sharing more than just slides. I recently shared the media kit for my book on Slideshare. It accommodates many types of files, so think outside the box and get creative.

The point of this post is to encourage you to do more with this great tool. I was able to connect with @MeriWalker on Twitter after noticing her interest in one of my presentations, and it’s largely because I live and breathe “community.”

You don’t have to live and breathe it, but be mindful of new opportunities and try to look at every tool as more than what it seems. It usually is.
What other platforms are you using to build community?

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Are you feeding your Twitter stream into Friendfeed? Do you ever LOG IN to Friendfeed to see what people are saying about those tweets?

Well, in case you didn’t know, there are people on Friendfeed commenting on your tweets and if you aren’t talking back to them you are missing a great opportunity to build your community.

With twitter becoming so mainstream people are flocking to Friendfeed in droves. So the days of leaving your FriendFeed to its own devices as a location to cull your many RSS feeds, are over. Well, they should be over, starting today.

Pay attention to your FriendFeed and join the conversations. I have been commenting and “liking” tweets, photos, links, Brightkite status updates, YouTube videos, Picasa photo albums, you name it! Someone could be commenting about your blogpost on Friendfeed and you may not even know it.

So go back and see exactly what you’ve got streaming into your Friendfeed account, and start taking action. Just like you check for @responses on Twitter, or use services like Tweetgrid, Tweetdeck, Tweetbeep and others to follow the conversation, you need to check the conversation on Friendfeed regarding those tweets as well.

If you don’t you’ll continue to miss out, because as I always say…communicating with your community is key.

You can find me as @communitygirl on both platforms.

Hope to see you there.

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This is a sentiment I share in an interview posted over on Le blog du Community Management.

Have a look.

Many thanks to blogger Dominique, for his interest in my work and his commitment to sharing the importance of community management to his colleagues across many time zones. You can find Dominique on twitter.

He’s @blog_communaute.

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I have to take a few minutes to share what I think is fabulous news. I received word today via email that my blog, Online Community Strategist is now listed on the AdAge Power 150. This is really a testament to your interest in the blog and continued support.

THANKS TO ALL MY READERS!

-Angela Connor


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If you’re looking for an easy way to get your community members talking, write a quick blog complaining about an issue in your life and they will quickly commiserate.

It’s human nature, and people simply cannot resist the urge to chime in and tell their own stories.  Throw out a topic and let them run with it. Keep in mind though, that it  has to be something they can relate to, so don’t go on and on about something that matters only to you and expect people to care enough to jump on board.

Were you stuck in traffic this morning? If so, you weren’t the only one. Complain about that, and stories of individual traffic woes will follow. Trust me. l do it all the time in my Editor’s Blog and it works.  I even devote an entire chapter to the benefits that complaining can provide in my new book, which by the way is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com.

I recall complaining about  gas prices last summer and I was in good company. Remember those insane prices?  Who didn’t want  to complain about that?

Try it. Everyone can stand a little free commiseration.

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The value of online communities isn’t lost by major retailers. It is a smart move. Definitely smarter than Facebook fan pages, but that’s my personal opinion to be expressed in another post, probably my next.

This post is about two new online communites: MySears and MyKmart.

Sears Holdings Corp launched the two communities as venues for consumers to read and write reviews as well as communicate with each other in a variety of ways to share information about products, according to Internet Retailer. The goal is to help customers make purchasing decisions.

Here’s an excerpt that pretty much characterizes the features:

The communities allow members to write product reviews, post comments on the reviews of others, participate in discussion boards and post ideas for the community to vote on. They can upload photos, and write blog posts as well as exchange private messages with other community members. Users also can create their own profiles on the sites, and Sears hopes to soon add functionality to allow members to import their existing profiles from other social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

As a community manager, I think this is has great possibilities, and importing profiles from Facebook and MySpace is icing on the cake. This company has done it’s homework, creating niche sites for two different venues when they could have easily and probably for less money, combined them into one.

I hope they hired a community manager and plan to promote the sites in stores. I’ll be watching and will definitely report back.

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Connie Bensen posted a great presentation on SlideShare a few weeks ago that I must share here. Five steps for establishing metrics for a successful online community. I like that she stresses the importance of identifying business objectives and priorities first, because without a clear idea of what you’d like to gain, what good is measurement? This is often the missing link in many cases when it should really be the first step. Enjoy.

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Presentation I had the honor of speaking to an esteemed group of gentlemen today, all CEO’s of great companies, who wanted to learn more about social media. Many admitted simply not getting it as they introduced themselves before we got started, and I made it my goal to change that.

As I shared examples of ways different companies use various social media platforms, I began to see light bulbs coming on across the room. Some took notes, others nodded their heads with what I knew was a new understanding of the possibilities.

I made it clear that social media strategies are not one-size-fits-all manifestos that organizations can just borrow from the next guy and that it’s okay to pass if a particular platform doesn’t support your goals.

This Blendtec video was a hit. Nothing like seeing an iphone blended to smithereens, right? The video did provide comic relief, but it also served as a testament to trying new ideas and going out on a limb to see what works.

Have you seen any social media light bulbs go off lately? If not, you’re not speaking from the heart and sharing the best possible advice you have to offer. Leave the industry talk and inside lingo for the echo chambers and geekfests and start telling people the things they really need to know about social media and it’s amazing possibilities.

Gentlemen, thank you for your time and attention today. It was a pleasure and I look forward to seeing all of you harness the power of social media.

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When a person dies, family members go to great lengths to fill their obituaries with the most important aspects of their lives. They go as far back as their memories will take them, dredging up every great thing their loved one has ever done, and in some cases great things they didn’t do.

Career success and various other accomplishments are highlighted, along with their passions, hobbies and details of a very rich family life.

What you might not expect to come across in an obituary is mention of their involvement in an online community. Well, I came across that very thing a few weeks ago, and I was stunned.

Do you remember a recent post where I discussed the death of a member of my community? He was one of the first 100 members, joining the day after we launched, on July 3, 2007…a date that is etched on his profile page.

The community meant a lot to this member and he was liked by many. His family knew this, and they honored his active participation and involvement in the community by mentioning it in his obituary not once, but twice. It was brought to my attention by another member, who had attended his funeral with several others who knew him from the blogs and live chats on the site.

This is something I won’t soon forget. I have a copy of it in my office. It is a true testament to the power of community. Communities can change lives and make a real difference whether we acknowledge it or not.

I am proud to have grown a community that could register high enough in a person’s life to be celebrated in his death.

Don’t underestimate the power of community.

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Online communities are not created equal. So stop telling me that my issue should be easy to fix, or better yet, that it shouldn’t even be an issue.

Your community is different from mine.

Of course I’ve tried communicating with the troublemakers offline. Sometimes it works, other times it fuels their fire. One behind-the-scenes email that worked wonders for you may spark a major troll-fest for me.

Your community is different from mine.

Don’t tell me that public reprimands are anti-community and that they should NEVER happen.  Are public reprimands ideal? No. But they can send a message that the community supports as well as illustrate your seriousness on the matter and nip it in the bud.  (Here is one of my recent posts about feuds among members.)

If yours is a niche site and mine is very broad and a bit unwieldy, we may not be able to handle things the same way. Your solution may not be mine, and mine may not be yours. 

But even if our solutions aren’t the same, I want to know about your experiences. I want to know what has worked for you and tell you about my successes and failures.

The dialogue among community professionals should be understanding, empathetic and most importantly, stem from the mutual agreement that this is not a one-size-fits all craft.

The conversation that took place on Bryan Person and Sonny Gill’s #CommunityChat on Friday is a leap in the right direction. Community managers were open and honest about the jobs we’re tasked with doing and weren’t afraid to share dissenting opinions. It was a beautiful thing. You can see the transcript here.

We have to keep in mind that no one has cornered the market on community management. Success will always depend heavily on many factors including the brand it represents, demographics, mission and long-term goals.

And the key here is this:

Community Management is not a science.

It’s an art.



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Okay, it’s my first stab at a video for this blog.  I shot it in my kitchen using my BlackBerry very close to midnight.  The good part is I’m well aware of the lack of video quality and I promise if I decide to shoot more video, I will invest in a flip camera!

18 Rules of Community Engagement, by Angela Connor from Angela Connor on Vimeo.

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This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. Feel free to challenge me, disagree with me, or tell me I’m completely nuts in the comments section of each blog entry.

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