books, pictures, or quality of plane travel. Table 2-1 shows some popular sites and the social objects around which they are designed Table 2-1. Social objects for popular sites Social object Flickr http://www.flickr.com Conversations about photographs (plus video and places) Seesmichttp://seesmic.com Video conversations FFFFOUND http:/www.ffound.com Pictures Dopplrhttp:/www.dopplr.comTrips(andmeetingupwithfriends Twitterhttp://twitter.com Short text messages Friendfeedhttp://friendfeed.com Aggregated flow of content and responses from a person Delicioushttp://deliaious.com http://upcoming.yahoo.comEventsandwhoisattending Slidesharehttp://www.slideshare.netprEsentationsandthepeoplewhogavethem http://www.lastfm Youtubehttp://www.youtube.comVideos In the examples in Table 2-1, the obvious object is not always the one the community pivots around. At first glance, most people would say Flickr is about photographs, but more frequently it is your friends reactions to those pictures that make Flickr work Dopplr is about the trip and the potential for social interaction that the trip might engender. Last. fm is about the music on one level, but about social relationships and music discovery on another. For each of these cases, the site provides an initial means of data capture; more complex behavior can be layered on top This might seem a bit abstract, but bear with me. I have been designing social software for scientists for the past few years, so let's look at some of the analysis that resulted in the products for Nature, the science journal When examining what scientists do, you might say nd a lot of time running experI- ry things in their world are the experiments they conduct. Certainly, they spend a ments, and you might determine that they would like a community in which to discuss them. However, experiments are usually confidential. So, while the experiment is probably the most likely topic to engage a scientist in conversation, that conversation will happen only within the scientists lab. Another approach might be to look at wha scientists use, which might result in a product database site listing reagents or equip- ment. Interesting, but not really compelling Scientists are rated on their publications, so this is a good place to look next. They gain or lose grants on the basis of where they are published, so the conversation needs to be about papers that have been published, instead of papers about to be published(which would, of course, betray those secret experiments Analyzing the Essence of Your Communitys Needs 15
books, pictures, or quality of plane travel. Table 2-1 shows some popular sites and the social objects around which they are designed. Table 2-1. Social objects for popular sites Site URL Social object Flickr http://www.flickr.com Conversations about photographs (plus video and places) Seesmic http://seesmic.com Video conversations FFFFOUND! http://www.ffffound.com Pictures Dopplr http://www.dopplr.com Trips (and meeting up with friends) Twitter http://twitter.com Short text messages FriendFeed http://friendfeed.com Aggregated flow of content and responses from a person Delicious http://delicious.com URLs Upcoming http://upcoming.yahoo.com Events and who is attending SlideShare http://www.slideshare.net Presentations and the people who gave them Last.fm http://www.last.fm Music listened to YouTube http://www.youtube.com Videos In the examples in Table 2-1, the obvious object is not always the one the community pivots around. At first glance, most people would say Flickr is about photographs, but more frequently it is your friends’ reactions to those pictures that make Flickr work. Dopplr is about the trip and the potential for social interaction that the trip might engender. Last.fm is about the music on one level, but about social relationships and music discovery on another. For each of these cases, the site provides an initial means of data capture; more complex behavior can be layered on top. This might seem a bit abstract, but bear with me. I have been designing social software for scientists for the past few years, so let’s look at some of the analysis that resulted in the products for Nature, the science journal. When examining what scientists do, you might say the primary things in their world are the experiments they conduct. Certainly, they spend a lot of time running experiments, and you might determine that they would like a community in which to discuss them. However, experiments are usually confidential. So, while the experiment is probably the most likely topic to engage a scientist in conversation, that conversation will happen only within the scientist’s lab. Another approach might be to look at what scientists use, which might result in a product database site listing reagents or equipment. Interesting, but not really compelling. Scientists are rated on their publications, so this is a good place to look next. They gain or lose grants on the basis of where they are published, so the conversation needs to be about papers that have been published, instead of papers about to be published (which would, of course, betray those secret experiments). Analyzing the Essence of Your Community’s Needs | 15
Stepping back from the life of a scientist for a moment, you can see the kind of analysis you might want to do for the people on your site. For each case, you need to consider what people might talk about and whether they are free to talk about these things. Then you need to create a framework to facilitate these discussions Photography is a different kind of field. People might discuss photographs and their merits, or lenses and cameras and their quality. However, how to actually take a picture is hard to discuss, as it is a more practical skill. So, you tend to see equipment and ique conversations online, whereas illustration techniques are usually cov d in books or on dvds Essentially, you need to get down to the things that people care about, not the mundane details or the purely abstract. There is, however, great mileage in the"chewing the fat conversations. So, there are many sites that discuss what Apple might do next, alongside forums for hardware and software products on hundreds of sites. Now you have an idea that a simple message board might not be enough for compelling long-term engagement with your readers. You' ll want your site to reflect the product you create or the stories you generate. This leads to a challenging decision. Do you let people write what they want, or do you pick and choose what appears on your site? Sadly, the answer to this is not a simple yes or no, and there are legal ramifications underlying this decision. I'll return to this in Chapter 8, but I wanted to flag the pos- sibility of an editorially managed community versus an open discussion space here Each has strengths and weaknesses, so keep this in mind as you read on Alongside these different possible community arrangements are many types organiza- tions. Even within the same industry, there are different kinds of companies. Each can create different types of relationships depending on its position in the market or the type of product it creates or trades. Some companies need to present multiple views of themselves to the world Apple and Its Many Communities Apple is a good example of a multiview company that has embraced community. apple chose to do it in different ways for each of its three audiences: journalists, consumers, nd developers. (In reality, apple has many other audiences, but for the sake of sim- plicity, I' m ignoring the retail community. ) Apple has a different means of communi- cation with each of these communities. For the people who buy its products, Apple has discussionforumsonhttp://discussions.apple.com,whereunofficialuser-to-usersup port happens, under the oversight of Apple employees. For official support, you are still encouraged to contact apple directly or use the support website 16 Chapter 2: Analyzing, Creating, and Managing Community Relationships
Stepping back from the life of a scientist for a moment, you can see the kind of analysis you might want to do for the people on your site. For each case, you need to consider what people might talk about and whether they are free to talk about these things. Then you need to create a framework to facilitate these discussions. Photography is a different kind of field. People might discuss photographs and their merits, or lenses and cameras and their quality. However, how to actually take a picture is hard to discuss, as it is a more practical skill. So, you tend to see equipment and photo-critique conversations online, whereas illustration techniques are usually covered in books or on DVDs. Essentially, you need to get down to the things that people care about, not the mundane details or the purely abstract. There is, however, great mileage in the “chewing the fat” conversations. So, there are many sites that discuss what Apple might do next, alongside forums for hardware and software products on hundreds of sites. Now you have an idea that a simple message board might not be enough for compelling, long-term engagement with your readers. You’ll want your site to reflect the products you create or the stories you generate. This leads to a challenging decision. Do you let people write what they want, or do you pick and choose what appears on your site? Sadly, the answer to this is not a simple yes or no, and there are legal ramifications underlying this decision. I’ll return to this in Chapter 8, but I wanted to flag the possibility of an editorially managed community versus an open discussion space here. Each has strengths and weaknesses, so keep this in mind as you read on. Alongside these different possible community arrangements are many types organizations. Even within the same industry, there are different kinds of companies. Each can create different types of relationships depending on its position in the market or the type of product it creates or trades. Some companies need to present multiple views of themselves to the world. Apple and Its Many Communities Apple is a good example of a multiview company that has embraced community. Apple chose to do it in different ways for each of its three audiences: journalists, consumers, and developers. (In reality, Apple has many other audiences, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m ignoring the retail community.) Apple has a different means of communication with each of these communities. For the people who buy its products, Apple has discussion forums on http://discussions.apple.com, where unofficial user-to-user support happens, under the oversight of Apple employees. For official support, you are still encouraged to contact Apple directly or use the support website. 16 | Chapter 2: Analyzing, Creating, and Managing Community Relationships
Apple seems to take a dim view of negative threads on its products, and even locks or deletes such conversations on occasion. An article on a a5. third-party site, Tom's Hardware, covers the deletion of some conve ns regarding LCD panel bit depth. The title of the linked- article is"Apple Censorship. "Many companies use this practice, hough it does not make conversations go away. It is important to realize that the Internet is one network; you can push conversations such as these off your own site, but you cannot silence them FordevelopersApplehasasetofmailinglistshostedonhttp://ists.applecom(again it offers informal support). Apple also has a bug-tracking system and a ticket-based help system for developer For journalists, apple has a press release website and mailing list. It also hosts invite- only briefings and events for the media and investors Each of these means of communication is a good fit for its audience. Mailing lists for developers is a good choice, as developers are good at using and finding technical in formation. It is also an ongoing conversation, one which the developer will perhaps be part of for years. Plus, the conversations can be archived locally on the developer's computer. For the more general discussion aimed at users of Apple's products, the public forums work because they are in an easy-to-discover place that many people will go to when they have a problem. visibility is more important than long-term involve- ment.)Finally, for journalists, Apple publishes press releases and runs press conferen- ces; in this case, it fits its message to the working practices of journalist Determining Your Site's Purpose To create a purposeful engagement with your (potential)community you first need to have a clear idea of who you are and the purpose of your company. For, say, fiction publishing, this might be entertainment. Once you know this, you can create something of value beyond an incremental extension of your core business. Moving from books to book reviews is social, but there are other areas to explore. For example, Penguin took this bolder approach and created We Tell Stories with the development com- pany Six to Start. The result was a set of stories that can be told only on the Internet Taking a wider view, book reviews are a popular idea. Another possibility might be fan fiction or sharecropping stories where community members write stories using the same worlds(settings, characters, etc. )as published authors. Neither of these is that satisfying for the hosting company, and to some degree it competes directly with the business of publishing books. So, moving onward, if books are about entertainment then what about game playing that allows readers to continue experiencing the settings and characters in the worlds they' ve enjoyed when reading the books? This extension can work in many situations, and in Chapter 9, we'll explore some techniques to get beyond a simple message board Analyzing the Essence of Your Communitys Needs 17
Apple seems to take a dim view of negative threads on its products, and even locks or deletes such conversations on occasion. An article on a third-party site, Tom’s Hardware, covers the deletion of some conversations regarding LCD panel bit depth. The title of the linked-to article is “Apple Censorship.” Many companies use this practice, though it does not make conversations go away. It is important to realize that the Internet is one network; you can push conversations such as these off your own site, but you cannot silence them. For developers, Apple has a set of mailing lists hosted on http://lists.apple.com (again, it offers informal support). Apple also has a bug-tracking system and a ticket-based help system for developers. For journalists, Apple has a press release website and mailing list. It also hosts inviteonly briefings and events for the media and investors. Each of these means of communication is a good fit for its audience. Mailing lists for developers is a good choice, as developers are good at using and finding technical information. It is also an ongoing conversation, one which the developer will perhaps be part of for years. Plus, the conversations can be archived locally on the developer’s computer. For the more general discussion aimed at users of Apple’s products, the public forums work because they are in an easy-to-discover place that many people will go to when they have a problem. (Visibility is more important than long-term involvement.) Finally, for journalists, Apple publishes press releases and runs press conferences; in this case, it fits its message to the working practices of journalists. Determining Your Site’s Purpose To create a purposeful engagement with your (potential) community you first need to have a clear idea of who you are and the purpose of your company. For, say, fiction publishing, this might be entertainment. Once you know this, you can create something of value beyond an incremental extension of your core business. Moving from books to book reviews is social, but there are other areas to explore. For example, Penguin took this bolder approach and created We Tell Stories with the development company Six to Start. The result was a set of stories that can be told only on the Internet. Taking a wider view, book reviews are a popular idea. Another possibility might be fan fiction or sharecropping stories where community members write stories using the same worlds (settings, characters, etc.) as published authors. Neither of these is that satisfying for the hosting company, and to some degree it competes directly with the business of publishing books. So, moving onward, if books are about entertainment, then what about game playing that allows readers to continue experiencing the settings and characters in the worlds they’ve enjoyed when reading the books? This extension can work in many situations, and in Chapter 9, we’ll explore some techniques to get beyond a simple message board. Analyzing the Essence of Your Community’s Needs | 17
The term sharecropping comes from shared fields, which are common a tions in the United States because of past abuses. Some authors permit others to write stories in the worlds they have created, while others try toforbiditfOragoodoverviewacrossdifferentgenresseehttp://home pages. paradise. net. n/triffid/trimmings/volume l/art41htn If you create content for your site, try to avoid competition with the voice of your users. You need to make sure you do not create a platform that gives the impression that you is your content and what is your users' content is important. Also, if the commu a have taken on the role of official "publisher"for your community. Clarity between wha individuals are commenting on your published content, it is important to have your staff interact with the community, to avoid a"you versus them"situation Creating and Nurturing Relationships If the community is the focus of what you do-perhaps you run a hobby site or you are selling a product-you can concentrate on managing the relationship within your community. However, in any situation, there is a community host, and one of your most important decisions is who will represent your side of the community. As dis- ussed in "Community Managers"on page 75, I suggest it should be a consistent person or group of people, and preferably not employees in marketing or sales. You need people who understand how the Internet works; they should be the digitally native people I mentioned earlier When Flickr launched, the hosting staff was present on the site for hours at a time, meeting and getting to know their new community of photographers. This early launch phase was intense, but it created a strong sense that the creators of Flickr cared about establishing a friendly community greeting every single person who came to the site. We introduced them to people, K George Oates (an early Flickr employee)and I would spend 24 hours, seven days a weel chatted with them. This is a social product. People are putting things they love- hotographs of their whole lives-into it All of these people are your potential evang sts. Y ou ne ced to show those people love. This discussion on content leads nicely to a term I dislike: user-generated content. It implies faceless entities making valueless stuff. Kevin Anderson, blogs editor at the Guardian, a popular UK newspaper, renamed it community-generated content, which is better, in my opinion. Flickr's Heather Champ, along with her husband, author Derek Powazek, uses the term authentic media, t which also indicates the right sense of com- From Inc.. "How We Did It: Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake. Co-founders. Flickr. " December 2006;http:/www.inc.com/magazine/20061201/hidi-butterfieldfake_pagen_2.html. thttp://www.powazek.com/2006/04/000576.html 18 Chapter 2: Analyzing, Creating, and Managing Community Relationships
The term sharecropping comes from shared fields, which are common in agricultural communities, though the word has negative connotations in the United States because of past abuses. Some authors permit others to write stories in the worlds they have created, while others try to forbid it. For a good overview across different genres, see http://home pages.paradise.net.nz/triffid/trimmings/volume1/art41.htm. If you create content for your site, try to avoid competition with the voice of your users. You need to make sure you do not create a platform that gives the impression that you have taken on the role of official “publisher” for your community. Clarity between what is your content and what is your users’ content is important. Also, if the community individuals are commenting on your published content, it is important to have your staff interact with the community, to avoid a “you versus them” situation. Creating and Nurturing Relationships If the community is the focus of what you do—perhaps you run a hobby site or you are selling a product—you can concentrate on managing the relationship within your community. However, in any situation, there is a community host, and one of your most important decisions is who will represent your side of the community. As discussed in “Community Managers” on page 75, I suggest it should be a consistent person or group of people, and preferably not employees in marketing or sales. You need people who understand how the Internet works; they should be the digitally native people I mentioned earlier. When Flickr launched, the hosting staff was present on the site for hours at a time, meeting and getting to know their new community of photographers. This early launch phase was intense, but it created a strong sense that the creators of Flickr cared about establishing a friendly community: George Oates (an early Flickr employee) and I would spend 24 hours, seven days a week, greeting every single person who came to the site. We introduced them to people, we chatted with them. This is a social product. People are putting things they love— photographs of their whole lives—into it. All of these people are your potential evangelists. You need to show those people love.* This discussion on content leads nicely to a term I dislike: user-generated content. It implies faceless entities making valueless stuff. Kevin Anderson, blogs editor at the Guardian, a popular UK newspaper, renamed it community-generated content, which is better, in my opinion. Flickr’s Heather Champ, along with her husband, author Derek Powazek, uses the term authentic media, † which also indicates the right sense of com- * From Inc., “How We Did It: Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, Co-founders, Flickr,” December 2006; http://www.inc.com/magazine/20061201/hidi-butterfield-fake_pagen_2.html. † http://www.powazek.com/2006/04/000576.html 18 | Chapter 2: Analyzing, Creating, and Managing Community Relationships
munity you want to encourage. However, if you can use more concrete terms, such as photographers put photos and conversations on Flickr, it is better than saying users or user-generated content Communities can also drive your own behavior. "The Archers, "a long-running radio serial on the BBC, is a lovely example of giving the people something to do. The message boards used to close at 10: 00 p. m In the United Kingdom, bars close at 11: 00 p.m., so he community set up a Yahoo! group to host the conversation until 11: 00 p. m. this mimicked the natural lives of the characters in the radio program, so when time was called at 11: 00 p. m, people would say good night and head to bed. ("The Archers message board now operates all the time; the community encouraged the bbc to allow longer opening hours. Your company brand can work both for and against you when creating relationships You need to determine the value your brand adds to yoursite. will users react positively to it? Also, companies often operate in cost-constrained markets, so there might not be money to spend on community development. In this case, perhaps sponsoring another site would be a better choice than a company-(brand-)supported community site. If you don' t have the resources to manage a community, it may make sense to support another site that doe If you have a prestigious brand, it can draw people to you, but it can lso make them hesitant to contribute to your site. They may not wish tS As to say something lightweight in the presence of senior peers. Insituations uch as this, you can operate moderated conversations like The econo- mist does with its Oxford-style debates. The Oxford Union hosts regular forthright debates, which encourage audience participation. t Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired and author of the book The Long tail(Hy- perion), notes that social networking is a feature, not a destination. s So you need to have a means for people to do something more than peruse through a "Rolodex of contacts, "as Om Malik, a senior writer for Business 2.0, describes it. I The social ex- change around trips, photos, or music must be possible for there to be a reason to return The Flickr example showed the amount of work that launching a site can entail. Do not underestimate this. Whether you have an existing community or are starting from scratch, you will have a cold start in terms of community. The likelihood is that people will come and kick the tires and then most of them will leave. If that happens, you need to look hard at what you are offering to and expecting of your community. They will thttp://www.oxford-union.org/debates Shttp://www.longtailcom/the_long_tail/2007/09/social-networki.html Ihttp://gigaom.com/2007/02/05/are-social-networks-just-d-feature/ Analyzing the Essence of Your Communitys Needs
munity you want to encourage. However, if you can use more concrete terms, such as photographers put photos and conversations on Flickr, it is better than saying users or user-generated content. Communities can also drive your own behavior. “The Archers,” a long-running radio serial on the BBC, is a lovely example of giving the people something to do. The message boards used to close at 10:00 p.m. In the United Kingdom, bars close at 11:00 p.m., so the community set up a Yahoo! group to host the conversation until 11:00 p.m. This mimicked the natural lives of the characters in the radio program, so when time was called at 11:00 p.m., people would say good night and head to bed. (“The Archers” message board now operates all the time; the community encouraged the BBC to allow longer opening hours.) Your company brand can work both for and against you when creating relationships. You need to determine the value your brand adds to your site. Will users react positively to it? Also, companies often operate in cost-constrained markets, so there might not be money to spend on community development. In this case, perhaps sponsoring another site would be a better choice than a company- (brand-) supported community site. If you don’t have the resources to manage a community, it may make sense to support another site that does. If you have a prestigious brand, it can draw people to you, but it can also make them hesitant to contribute to your site. They may not wish to say something lightweight in the presence of senior peers. In situations such as this, you can operate moderated conversations like The Economist does with its Oxford-style debates. The Oxford Union hosts regular forthright debates, which encourage audience participation.‡ Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired and author of the book The Long Tail (Hyperion), notes that social networking is a feature, not a destination.§ So you need to have a means for people to do something more than peruse through a “Rolodex of contacts,” as Om Malik, a senior writer for Business 2.0, describes it.‖ The social exchange around trips, photos, or music must be possible for there to be a reason to return. The Flickr example showed the amount of work that launching a site can entail. Do not underestimate this. Whether you have an existing community or are starting from scratch, you will have a cold start in terms of community. The likelihood is that people will come and kick the tires and then most of them will leave. If that happens, you need to look hard at what you are offering to and expecting of your community. They will ‡ http://www.oxford-union.org/debates § http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2007/09/social-networki.html ‖ http://gigaom.com/2007/02/05/are-social-networks-just-a-feature/ Analyzing the Essence of Your Community’s Needs | 19