Excellent post from FeverBee:
If you want a successful community launch, you need a huge number of people ready and eager to join the day your interface is live.
If you’re planning to start an online community in April. These ideas might help.
April: Laying the foundations to become a community member…July: Launch
Heather Champ, speaking on communities. Star of SWSX too, by all accounts!
Why not encourage the use of real names, with the option of an
editable ‘username field’ auto-populated by the first name/last name and
titled ‘Name displayed’ or ‘Display name’? And for that to be non-unique (’cause the uniqueness is supplied by the profile)…
There’s been a great discussion about configuring forum discussions on e-mint recently (‘Discussions boards navigation/IA’), with one post from Ian Dickson sparking my interest on another level. He concluded his reply on the subject with the following ‘PS’: “it’s easier to simplify something that is overengineered than it is to complexify (?) something simple unless youn write off the older content.”
Why is this of interest? Because it points to the value of a complexity approach in unifying the organic nature of an online community and and its structure. Sure, you might say, I could see why a bunch of people online can be seen in organic terms, but structure? But here’s the point. A motor engine is not complex its complicated, because its not based on organic principles, but mechanic ones. It also has none of the properties of self-regulation which an organic system has, hence the need for a control mechanism. But the structure of an online community can be designed along organic lines, based on simple parts which are assembled to form a complex whole. Seen in this complexity light Ian’s then in ideal terms it really is as straightforward to simply the complex as it is to make the simple complex. But what I suspect he means by ‘overengineered’ is in fact ‘complicated’. And in that sense I agree with him. As it is very difficult to make the mechanically complicated simple. So that’s why its important to build it on complex lines in the first place. And with the bonus that it fits with the way you approach management of the community itself, along organic lines, encouraging self-regulation rather than seeking control as a way of unleashing the power of the community. Hey, it’s just theory, but thanks again to Deirdre’s original post and Ian’s reply for the inspiration!
Loved this post from Community Guy, Jake McKee on why the Obama administration is the first social media government, quoting the value of offline and online communities to connect people in a common cause for good. Now wouldn’t it be great if this same theme was picked up by the UK Government?
Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration’s online programs will put citizens first. Our initial new media efforts will center around three priorities:
Communication — Americans are eager for information about the state of the economy, national security and a host of other issues. This site will feature timely and in-depth content meant to keep everyone up-to-date and educated. Check out the briefing room, keep tabs on the blog (RSS feed) and take a moment to sign up for e-mail updates from the President and his administration so you can be sure to know about major announcements and decisions.
Transparency — President Obama has committed to making his administration the most open and transparent in history, and WhiteHouse.gov will play a major role in delivering on that promise. The President’s executive orders and proclamations will be published for everyone to review, and that’s just the beginning of our efforts to provide a window for all Americans into the business of the government. You can also learn about some of the senior leadership in the new administration and about the President’s policy priorities.
Participation — President Obama started his career as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, where he saw firsthand what people can do when they come together for a common cause. Citizen participation will be a priority for the Administration, and the internet will play an important role in that. One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it.
Nice example of the power of recommendation to build a community from Matt Rhodes’ FreshNetworks Blog:
The growth came from the constant and ongoing growth work that the community management team have been doing. But the final push came when another community member picked up on some of this activity and started to talk about our community on another site. We didn’t ask them to do this, they just thought we were offering something of interest to members of a very well read forum in the UK.
The result was immediate and notable. Overnight, our membership base increased five-fold and by the weekend we had a much larger number of members than we might have expected by the end of a full year of the community. And what was perhaps more important is that these new members joined the conversations and discussions on the site. Increasing number of members is fine, but what we really want to do is to increase the value of the community to all members. And this only really happens when people take part.