Community management

Send us your reckons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQnd5ilKx2Y

Monday, 7 November 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQnd5ilKx2Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQnd5ilKx2Y

4: Community

JOM800 Online Journalism


This week in 3 bullets:

• Why you need your users more than you think

• Tips on managing communities• Understanding Creative Commons and

other copyright issues


You can’t create a community

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tobanblack/3762525969/




UGC vs community management

• Uselessly broad term• UGC useful but limited• Community management enables and

engages• Industry moving toward engagement



Why?

• Sticky and engaged• Distributed (distribution)• Editorially valuable


“We have a way to prevent gangs of humans from acting like savage packs of animals. In fact, we've developed entire disciplines based around this goal over thousands of years. We just ignore most of the lessons that have been learned when we create our communities online. But, by simply learning from disciplines like urban planning, zoning regulations, crowd control, effective and humane policing, and the simple practices it takes to stage an effective public event, we can come up with a set of principles to prevent the overwhelming majority of the worst behaviors on the Internet.” http://bit.ly/cityoj04


http://bit.ly/cityoj04

http://bit.ly/cityoj04

9

Help Me Investigate: a case study


10


13


14




5 ingredients?


The 1%.

Capacity


Feedback.

Momentum


Modularity.

Different scopes for different folks


Diversity and capacity.

Expertise


Visibility.

Communication


The POST process

• People• Objectives• Strategy• Technology

See http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2010/01/19/technology-is-not-a-strategy-its-a-tool/


http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2010/01/19/technology-is-not-a-strategy-its-a-tool/

http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2010/01/19/technology-is-not-a-strategy-its-a-tool/

E.g. “Get to stories before our competitors”

• Monitor UGC on other sites• Monitor mentions of keywords such as

‘earthquake’, etc.• Become part of and contribute to online

UGC communities• Provide live feeds pulling content from

UGC sites*•Monday, 7 November 2011

E.g. “Users spend longer on site”

• Give users something to do around content, e.g. comments, vote, etc.

• Find out what users want to do with UGC and allow them to do that on-site

• Acknowledge and respond to UGC• Showcase UGC on other platforms, e.g.

print, broadcast• Create a positive atmosphere around

UGC – prevent aggressive users scaring others away

•


e.g. Improve the editorial quality of our work

• Provide UGC space for users to highlight errors, contribute updates

• Ensure that we attract the right contributors in terms of skills, expertise, contacts, etc.

• Involve users from the earliest stages of production

•Monday, 7 November 2011

What is your community’s objective?


Change?

Some goals are bigger than others(with apologies to The Smiths)


http://www.breakingcopy.com/occupied-wall-street-journal-issue-2-pdf




Belonging?

..


Advancement?

..


Fun?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujz9bev4j5A




A strategy framework (Jono Bacon)

• Identify the mission• Opportunities• Areas of collaboration• Skills needed


e.g. A utility-driven community

• Mission: Self development• Opportunities: Fulfilment, career

development• Areas of collaboration: Exchange news

& information, contacts• Skills needed: research, writing,

networkingMonday, 7 November 2011

e.g. A change-driven community

• Mission: Change government policy• Opportunities: Improve people’s lives• Areas of collaboration: news,

campaigning, lobbying, events• Skills needed: PR, networking,

organisation, writingMonday, 7 November 2011

e.g. A socially-driven community

• Mission: create a source of mutual support and identity

• Opportunities: progress, happiness, solidarity, pride

• Areas of collaboration: Events, news• Skills needed: Organisation, PR, design


e.g. An emotionally-driven community

• Mission: have fun• Opportunities: Meet others, showcase

creativity• Areas of collaboration: mashups,

sketches, documentary• Skills needed: writing, filming, editing


The scaling problem - and the 4 T solutions


Tasks

Parkinson’s Law of Triviality


Teams

(with ability to communicate across those)


Tools

Clarity and functionality


link


http://onlinejournalismblog.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/a-model-for-the-21st-century-newsroom-pt2-distributed-journalism/

http://onlinejournalismblog.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/a-model-for-the-21st-century-newsroom-pt2-distributed-journalism/

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/

T&Cs


Giving a community the tools to defend itself

• Creative Commons• Attribution and linking• A pub conversation is not public• Leading by example• Seeding the core community• Transparency



And finally: The second visit problem

Feedback, stories and communicationRespond and recogniseRevisitReview and relate


Back to Help Me Investigate: 4 problems

EditorialCommunityLegalTechnical


Back to Help Me Investigate: 4 solutions?

Editorial - focus on resourcesCommunity - focus on networkLegal - decentralise the siteTechnical - open source the code


from Slideshare.net/unthinkingly


Where to go from here:

Draw up a POST strategy: be clear on your editorial & other objectivesIdentify your community’s motivationsDraw up a mission, opportunities, and skills needed to collaborateIdentify opportunities for feedback


Q&A: The assignment and other topics

Was where you are a year ago


This week's lab.

Drawing up a community strategy


Delicious.com/paulb/cityOJ04Delicious.com/paulb/CMDelicious.com/paulb/UGCLih: The Wikipedia Revolution

Further reading.


Education

Community management