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Time To Break Up The Cool Kids Club?

by on May 5, 2009 in Communities

Open admission: I didn’t care too much for high school. The primary reason is that I didn’t fall squarely into the so-called Cool Kids Club. I was therefore an outsider, which in some ways proved to be just fine and in other ways was excruciatingly painful. In social circles, ostracism can be a brutal punishment. Maybe this resonates with you (and if you were one of the Cool Kids in high school, it’s fine now…I’m friends with many of them now via Facebook…funny how time changes us…but I digress).

The point I’m attempting to make is to be mindful of your own community. Do you have any cliques? Is there an “elite” class who may be excluding other members from their group? I’m not suggesting that allowing groups to form is a negative. Just be careful about the dynamics forming from this behavior. If members feel they are not included and welcome in different areas of the community, they’ll likely make way for the door.

What to do? Here are four ideas to get you started:

  • Build a language of inclusion into your community communications. Don’t miss an opportunity to express the values of the community. And if you don’t have a guiding set of values, create them.
  • Monitor discussions and interactions. Look at how community “elders” communicate with “newbies.” Is it respectful or disdainful? You may need to pull out some conflict mediation skills here.
  • Reach out to the individuals in the cliquish group. Chances are they don’t realize the potential harm of their actions. Calmly and clearly remind them of the community’s values and desire for inclusion.
  • Find members who model an inclusive approach and send them an appreciative message. You’re rewarding action that you want to see.

Have you ever had to break up a clique or flag inappropriate behavior like this? What did you do? Love to hear your stories.

Oh and by the way, Heathers is one of the most grossly underrated films of all time.

Thoughtful Consideration of Lurkers

by on April 30, 2009 in Communities

I’m reading a research article on how the meaning of community is constructed through a minor league baseball team. The article begins with this quote:

I am on the edge of the crowd, at the periphery; but I belong to it.
…I know the periphery is the only place I can be, that I would
die if I let myself be drawn into the center of the fray, but just as
certain if I let go of the crowd
–Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari

Even though this quote is unrelated to community and the online world, it just seemed to put a different spin on the persona of a lurker. Curious about others’ thoughts…

The Twitter Retention Problem: Oprah, Aloha and Your Community

by on April 29, 2009 in Communities

I tried my hardest to not write a post with the words Oprah and Twitter in it, but I just couldn’t steer away from the soft glowing light of popular discussion (though I guess I am a bit late).

So Oprah and a continuing bevy of celebrities are hitching their brand wagons to Twitter and spurring their faithful followers to give the microblogging service a try. Just one problem: these new members are walking in and just as quickly walking out. From Nielsenwire Blog, Twitter Quitters Post Roadblock to Long-Term Growth:

When Facebook and MySpace were emerging networks like Twitter is now, their retention rates were twice as high. When they went through their explosive growth phases, that retention only went up, and both sit at nearly 70 percent today. Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty. Frankly, if Oprah can’t accomplish that, I’m not sure who can.

What does this say about Twitter? I’m not going to cast doom-and-gloom on the service but there are two lessons anyone who is building or managing communities ought to consider:

Welcoming. Twitter’s been overhyped lately and the fact that folks are coming and going really shouldn’t be a shock. All the media-fed mania did was increase the curiosity of folks who wanted to see what the hubbub was about. And when they got there, they were likely disappointed by what they found because there really is no community with Twitter. It’s a social network that inspires community. Because its a social network first, there is no formal welcome, no Twitter 101, no management plan for helping newbies feel comfortable with the lingo. (Come to think of it, maybe Twitter really does need a Chief Community Officer.)

When a newcomer visits your online community for the first time, do they feel welcome and safe to explore the community space? Or do they feel like they’ve just exited the plane into a strange land where their first inclination is to want to get right back on and go home? Think how nice it is to have a friendly gal or guy waiting on you when you deplane, hand you a lei, and say “Aloha.” If that happens, you might want to hang around and explore all your destination offers. Have a welcome strategy and prepare to execute it in a way that will scale just in case Oprah decides to make your community her next cause célèbre.

Integrating. But don’t stop at “Hello!” or “Aloha!” if you’re still dreamily hanging out at the Hawaii example. Most communities that fail do so because they don’t take the next step which is engagement. Why do some people try out Twitter then lose interest after a few weeks? There could be many reasons and would be a good use case for ethnographic work. I’ll propose one possibility: lack of ongoing value. We’re inundated by so many other distractions (like kids, spouse…okay only joking there). But the competition for eyes, minds and hearts is fierce. Is your community maintaining consistent value for your members? Do they feel engaged by their interactions in your community? Whether your community is tied to a cause-based nonprofit or a business, these are just a few of the questions you need to ask.

This topic of engagement is one of my favorites and one that fuels my own anthropological research. It was also a specialty in my association membership work so I can relate to how challenging it is not only attract new members but keeping them. Yet, retention is crucial so think strategically and make a plan. If you’ve found great ideas for keeping engagement levels high among your new members, share them with others in the community here.

First Commandment Of Community Management…

by on April 15, 2009 in Communities

I don’t believe in creating “hard and fast” rules but I do adhere to some common principles in any work I do. The most important one I know (and incidentally, the hardest for me to live since I can be overly sensitive, at times) is not taking anything personally. Now listen…you might be thinking to yourself, “Gee Chris, that’s pretty much common sense. Is that all you got today?” And I will reply, “Yes, it’s all I have today. And why don’t you take your snarky, moronic, know-it-all attitude and just…” Oh, right. We’re talking about not taking things personally.

While I list this as a commandment of community management, it really does apply in almost all professional and personal situations. Those among us who can master the ability to not shred someone who criticizes our work or ideas may not inherit the earth but they will be far more successful.

The question I ask when confronted with an individual or situation that challenges me is: What can I learn from this? It’s simple and it gets me thinking about other possibilities. If you’re managing a community, how do you deal with criticism, particularly if its negative criticism? Do you defend your position by erecting a barricade or do you welcome the commenter in and try to understand the world from their perspective?

Your company’s community and customer engagement may hang in the balance.

The Relationship To Free In Online Communities

by on April 14, 2009 in Communities

We all have expectations of service when we pay for something, right? Go to even a moderately priced restaurant like Outback Steakhouse and you expect to be served well. If you purchase a computer online from Dell, you want to be taken care of if something doesn’t work. And if you pay dues to your professional association, you expect a level of service to match the cost. So, how does free membership in a community alter our expectations? Should we expect the same level of service for something that we pay no money to support?

I offer two cases: Twitter and Facebook. When things blow up on either of these services, do we as users have any right to demand quick, speedy or personal support? We don’t give one dime for the ability to communicate and expand our networks. The cynical among us might even suggest that we users are really just leaching off of both Twitter and Facebook for our own gain. So if we don’t pay anything for these services, what right do we have to express outrage when we’re met with failwhales, questionable changes to terms of service or disabled features?

This is the conundrum facing most online community managers: delivering service in an age where its expected even on free sites. Perhaps the solution here is that we have to change our ideas of what defines a relationship. We can no longer strictly use the financial transaction as a point for determining service level. Since users bring value to the community through their interactions, it seems that we community management professionals need to adjust our own thinking. That failwhale impacts a user’s overall experience which, in turn, impacts the service’s brand. It’s a rippling effect that defines a daily reality for online communities.

Thoughts?