AOC Managing Communities - Revision history

Foster: /* Summary */

Foster — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:19:36 GMT

Summary

←Older revision		Revision as of 02:19, 7 January 2008
Line 207:		Line 207:

	==Summary==		==Summary==
-		+
		+	Managing communities can be one of the most difficult and the most rewarding roles whether you do it for fun or as an occupation. While this chapter covers the basic elements of motivation, norms, appropriate behaviors, roles, and skills required, managing communities is a complex role requiring mainly good judgment and common sense.

	==Notes==		==Notes==

	<references/>		<references/>

Foster: /* Intro */

Foster — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:03:32 GMT

Intro

←Older revision		Revision as of 02:03, 7 January 2008
Line 1:		Line 1:
	Back to [[Chapters for AOC]]<br>		Back to [[Chapters for AOC]]<br>
	'''Primary Author: Dawn Foster'''<br>		'''Primary Author: Dawn Foster'''<br>
-
-	==Intro==

	Some of us are lucky enough to have a full time job managing communities, while even more people manage communities for fun in their spare time. The community manager role is part cheerleader, part cat herder, part enforcer, and much more. This chapter covers some of the basic elements of community management: motivation, community manager role, skills required to manage a community, and enforcing good behavior.		Some of us are lucky enough to have a full time job managing communities, while even more people manage communities for fun in their spare time. The community manager role is part cheerleader, part cat herder, part enforcer, and much more. This chapter covers some of the basic elements of community management: motivation, community manager role, skills required to manage a community, and enforcing good behavior.

Foster: /* Intro */

Foster — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:03:13 GMT

Intro

←Older revision		Revision as of 02:03, 7 January 2008
Line 4:		Line 4:
	==Intro==		==Intro==

-	~~Write this last~~	+	Some of us are lucky enough to have a full time job managing communities, while even more people manage communities for fun in their spare time. The community manager role is part cheerleader, part cat herder, part enforcer, and much more. This chapter covers some of the basic elements of community management: motivation, community manager role, skills required to manage a community, and enforcing good behavior.
-		+
-		+

	==Motivation==		==Motivation==

Foster: /* Norms and Behavior */

Foster — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:54:43 GMT

Norms and Behavior

←Older revision		Revision as of 01:54, 7 January 2008
Line 160:		Line 160:
	==Norms and Behavior==		==Norms and Behavior==

-	Norms and behavioral conventions guide participation in online communities in the same way that they guide our behavior in other social situations. In most cases, people would not throw food and eat with their hands at fancy dinner parties, or use noisemakers during a math test. Throwing food and eating with your hands might be fine at a casual picnic among close friends, and noisemakers are completely appropriate at a New Year's Eve party; however, the appropriateness of these behaviors depend on the situation. During most math tests, students are expected to work quietly, not cheat, and listen to instructions. A student could choose to bring noisemakers; however, it would likely result in unpleasant consequences: a failing grade, a trip to the Principal's office, or detention. Online communities have similar rules for behavior and consequences associated with not adhering to the norms of the group. While each community has slightly different expectations for behavior, there are a number of common elements. <br>	+	Norms and behavioral conventions guide participation in online communities in the same way that they guide our behavior in other social situations. In most cases, people would not throw food and eat with their hands at fancy dinner parties, or use noisemakers during a math test. Throwing food and eating with your hands might be fine at a casual picnic among close friends, and noisemakers are completely appropriate at a New Year's Eve party; however, the appropriateness of these behaviors depend on the situation. During most math tests, students are expected to work quietly, not cheat, and listen to instructions. A student could choose to bring noisemakers; however, it would likely result in unpleasant consequences: a failing grade, a trip to the Principal's office, or detention. Online communities have similar rules for behavior and consequences associated with not adhering to the norms of the group, and the task of setting and enforcing these rules mostly likely falls to the community manager. While each community has slightly different expectations for behavior, there are a number of common elements. <br>

	===Play Nice===		===Play Nice===
Line 171:		Line 171:

	===Keep it Legal===		===Keep it Legal===
-

	Adhering to local laws helps to ensure that a community can continue to exist without inference by government officials. No community wants to be the next Napster, shut down due to legal concerns complete with expensive legal defense and eventual bankruptcy.<ref>[http://www.napster.com/ Napster] was eventually resurrected as a legal music site after being acquired by Roxio. For more on the shutdown of Napster visit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Wikipedia]</ref> As an attempt to avoid Napster's fate, YouTube asks members to “Respect copyright. Only upload videos that you made or that you have obtained the rights to use. This means don't upload videos you didn't make, or use content in your videos that someone else owns the copyright to, such as music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programs, or videos made by other users, without their permission.”<ref>[http://youtube.com/t/community_guidelines YouTube Community Guidelines]</ref> YouTube is also proactive about removing content that infringes on copyrights held by others. <br>		Adhering to local laws helps to ensure that a community can continue to exist without inference by government officials. No community wants to be the next Napster, shut down due to legal concerns complete with expensive legal defense and eventual bankruptcy.<ref>[http://www.napster.com/ Napster] was eventually resurrected as a legal music site after being acquired by Roxio. For more on the shutdown of Napster visit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Wikipedia]</ref> As an attempt to avoid Napster's fate, YouTube asks members to “Respect copyright. Only upload videos that you made or that you have obtained the rights to use. This means don't upload videos you didn't make, or use content in your videos that someone else owns the copyright to, such as music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programs, or videos made by other users, without their permission.”<ref>[http://youtube.com/t/community_guidelines YouTube Community Guidelines]</ref> YouTube is also proactive about removing content that infringes on copyrights held by others. <br>
Line 180:		Line 179:
	===Do Not Spam or Attack===		===Do Not Spam or Attack===

-	Do not post spam messages or sell the community member lists to spammers. This sounds obvious, but it is not always as straightforward as you might think. For some community members, participating in a community can mean drawing a fine line between being helpful and being a spammer. In some open source communities, particularly those focused on enterprise software, the community members may also have commercial interests in the form of consulting services or add-on products offered for an additional fee. When another community member is having a problem that your product or service could solve, is it OK to suggest it? Maybe yes, maybe no. It depends on the community. It also depends on how frequently you suggest your own products. What if you are recommending your products frequently? Once or twice may be fine with a community, but after recommending your products a few more times, you may find yourself ostracized or even banned from posting any new content to the community. In one open source community, a group of people who forked the original project frequently monitor the parent project, and when users have questions the fork members often suggest that they ask the question on the fork project forums attempting to recruit new community members at the expense of the original community. I refer you back to the Play Nice section of this chapter. Be polite and respectful of other community members or you may find yourself banned from the community.<br>	+	Members should not post spam messages or sell the community member lists to spammers. This sounds obvious, but it is not always as straightforward as you might think. For some community members, participating in a community can mean drawing a fine line between being helpful and being a spammer. In some open source communities, particularly those focused on enterprise software, the community members may also have commercial interests in the form of consulting services or add-on products offered for an additional fee. When another community member is having a problem that your product or service could solve, is it OK to suggest it? Maybe yes, maybe no. It depends on the community. It also depends on how frequently you suggest your own products. What if you are recommending your products frequently? Once or twice may be fine with a community, but after recommending your products a few more times, you may find yourself ostracized or even banned from posting any new content to the community. In one open source community, a group of people who forked the original project frequently monitor the parent project, and when users have questions the fork members often suggest that they ask the question on the fork project forums attempting to recruit new community members at the expense of the original community. I refer you back to the Play Nice section of this chapter. Be polite and respectful of other community members or you may find yourself banned from the community.<br>
		+
		+	Keeping an eye on spam is another fun community management task. Taking steps like requiring captchas and email validation for registration to keep the blatant spammers out in the first place can help, but no tool will keep out every spammer. They will find new and creative ways to spam the community, so community managers have to be proactive and diligent about deleting spam and banning spam accounts. In the communities I manage, someone generally catches spam forum posts pretty quickly, and we can do a quick cleanup. I recently had a spammer who was sending a classic Nigerian bank scam via private message to individual users. He got to quite a few of our users before he hit one of our administrators. Like I said, they will get creative.

	Many Web 2.0 communities add explicit community guidelines or terms of service designed to discourage users from taking any actions that would disrupt the community experience for other members in the form of attacks on the community or on the infrastructure running the community. Digg, for example, specifies that		Many Web 2.0 communities add explicit community guidelines or terms of service designed to discourage users from taking any actions that would disrupt the community experience for other members in the form of attacks on the community or on the infrastructure running the community. Digg, for example, specifies that
Line 205:		Line 206:

	===Dealing with Problems===		===Dealing with Problems===
-	Almost every community (online or off) will probably have an issue with one or more members at some point in time. Methods of dealing with these members vary widely depending on the specific problem and the type of community. On one end of the spectrum, the member can be banned from the community. While banishment is a drastic step, it might be an appropriate step for threatening or harassing other members; hate speech based on race, gender, ethnicity, etc. or other potentially damaging behaviors. In most cases, the first step is to talk to the member creating the problems to help them understand that the behavior is inappropriate giving the person a chance to self-correct.	+	Handling trolls can be one of the most difficult issues for community managers. In general, trolls refer to those people who bait other members to get them into heated debates on controversial topics. Trolls are people who love a good fight and won't give up no matter how the behavior impacts the community. A troll can usually be found in the beginning stages of any lengthy flame war. "Don't feed the trolls" is a common mantra that most open source communities and usenet groups have followed for years. Essentially, this means that you (and your community members) have to ignore the trolls. Responding and arguing with trolls only feeds their disruptive behavior. This may also need to be a point of education for new members who may be easily drawn into these arguments and debates thus feeding the troll without realizing the impact of that action. When the troll doesn't find an audience, they will most likely drift away.
		+
		+	Almost every community (online or off) will probably have an issue with one or more of their own members at some point in time. Methods of dealing with these members vary widely depending on the specific problem and the type of community. On one end of the spectrum, the member can be banned from the community. While banishment is a drastic step, it might be an appropriate step for threatening or harassing other members; hate speech based on race, gender, ethnicity, etc. or other potentially damaging behaviors. In most cases, the first step is to talk to the member creating the problems to help them understand that the behavior is inappropriate giving the person a chance to self-correct.
		+
	==Summary==		==Summary==

Foster: /* Nudity, Obscenity, and Language */

Foster — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:29:47 GMT

Nudity, Obscenity, and Language

←Older revision		Revision as of 01:29, 7 January 2008
Line 187:		Line 187:
	<blockquote>Objects, scripts, or actions which broadly interfere with or disrupt the Second Life community, the Second Life servers or other systems related to Second Life will not be tolerated in any form. We will hold you responsible for any actions you take, or that are taken by objects or scripts that belong to you. Sandboxes are available for testing objects and scripts that have components that may be unmanageable or whose behavior you may not be able to predict. If you chose to use a script that substantially disrupts the operation of Second Life, disciplinary actions will result in a minimum two-week suspension, the possible loss of in-world inventory, and a review of your account for probable expulsion from Second Life.<ref>[http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php Second Life Terms of Service]</ref></blockquote>		<blockquote>Objects, scripts, or actions which broadly interfere with or disrupt the Second Life community, the Second Life servers or other systems related to Second Life will not be tolerated in any form. We will hold you responsible for any actions you take, or that are taken by objects or scripts that belong to you. Sandboxes are available for testing objects and scripts that have components that may be unmanageable or whose behavior you may not be able to predict. If you chose to use a script that substantially disrupts the operation of Second Life, disciplinary actions will result in a minimum two-week suspension, the possible loss of in-world inventory, and a review of your account for probable expulsion from Second Life.<ref>[http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php Second Life Terms of Service]</ref></blockquote>

-	===Nudity, Obscenity, ~~and~~ Language===	+	===Nudity, Obscenity, Language, and Other Inappropriate Behavior===

-	Community standards related to nudity, obscenity, ~~and~~ language vary within each community, and guidelines may not be explicitly stated.	+	Community standards related to nudity, obscenity, language, violence, and other inappropriate behavior vary within each community, and guidelines may not be explicitly stated.

	Some communities explicitly ban certain items: "YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your video, even if it's a video of yourself, don't post it on YouTube."<ref>[http://youtube.com/t/community_guidelines YouTube Community Guidelines]</ref> Other communities are specific about where certain activities / content is or is not acceptable:		Some communities explicitly ban certain items: "YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your video, even if it's a video of yourself, don't post it on YouTube."<ref>[http://youtube.com/t/community_guidelines YouTube Community Guidelines]</ref> Other communities are specific about where certain activities / content is or is not acceptable:

Foster: /* Community Management */

Foster — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:26:42 GMT

Community Management

←Older revision		Revision as of 01:26, 7 January 2008
Line 116:		Line 116:

	Seth Godin recently called the Online Community Organizer role a Job of the Future. <ref>Seth Godin recently called the [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/07/jobs-of-the-fut.html Online Community Organizer role] a Job of the Future</ref>. This brings me to a common question: “What exactly does a community manager do?” I see the online community manager role as having several key elements: ongoing facilitation, content creation, evangelism, and community evolution. There are certainly many more tasks, but I suspect that 90% of the work falls into one of these four very broad categories.		Seth Godin recently called the Online Community Organizer role a Job of the Future. <ref>Seth Godin recently called the [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/07/jobs-of-the-fut.html Online Community Organizer role] a Job of the Future</ref>. This brings me to a common question: “What exactly does a community manager do?” I see the online community manager role as having several key elements: ongoing facilitation, content creation, evangelism, and community evolution. There are certainly many more tasks, but I suspect that 90% of the work falls into one of these four very broad categories.
		+
		+	===Community Manager Roles===

	'''Ongoing Facilitation''': This is probably the activity that most people think of first when talking about community management. A community manager is an active participant within the community to answer questions, deal with trolls or other abuses, explain how things work, monitor the content closely, role model appropriate behavior, and much more. It also involves a lot of cat herding and helping people connect with each other. On Jivespace and Ignite Realtime, I frequently pull Jive engineers into the discussion to answer questions in an area where additional technical expertise is needed. It can also mean walking a very fine line between the community and the company by representing the company in community discussions and representing the needs of the community when working inside the company.		'''Ongoing Facilitation''': This is probably the activity that most people think of first when talking about community management. A community manager is an active participant within the community to answer questions, deal with trolls or other abuses, explain how things work, monitor the content closely, role model appropriate behavior, and much more. It also involves a lot of cat herding and helping people connect with each other. On Jivespace and Ignite Realtime, I frequently pull Jive engineers into the discussion to answer questions in an area where additional technical expertise is needed. It can also mean walking a very fine line between the community and the company by representing the company in community discussions and representing the needs of the community when working inside the company.
Line 126:		Line 128:

	As a community manager, you should be thinking about how to make sure that all four of these items get an appropriate amount of attention. Responding to questions and writing an occasional blog may by not enough if you want your community to flourish. Community management can be a tough, but rewarding job, requiring a diverse set of skills to be successful.		As a community manager, you should be thinking about how to make sure that all four of these items get an appropriate amount of attention. Responding to questions and writing an occasional blog may by not enough if you want your community to flourish. Community management can be a tough, but rewarding job, requiring a diverse set of skills to be successful.
		+
		+	===Skills===

	Seth Godin's description of this role is a good starting point for thinking about the skills required to accomplish the above four requirements for the job of community manager:		Seth Godin's description of this role is a good starting point for thinking about the skills required to accomplish the above four requirements for the job of community manager:

Foster: /* Community Management */

Foster — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:16:34 GMT

Community Management

←Older revision		Revision as of 01:16, 7 January 2008
Line 117:		Line 117:
	Seth Godin recently called the Online Community Organizer role a Job of the Future. <ref>Seth Godin recently called the [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/07/jobs-of-the-fut.html Online Community Organizer role] a Job of the Future</ref>. This brings me to a common question: “What exactly does a community manager do?” I see the online community manager role as having several key elements: ongoing facilitation, content creation, evangelism, and community evolution. There are certainly many more tasks, but I suspect that 90% of the work falls into one of these four very broad categories.		Seth Godin recently called the Online Community Organizer role a Job of the Future. <ref>Seth Godin recently called the [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/07/jobs-of-the-fut.html Online Community Organizer role] a Job of the Future</ref>. This brings me to a common question: “What exactly does a community manager do?” I see the online community manager role as having several key elements: ongoing facilitation, content creation, evangelism, and community evolution. There are certainly many more tasks, but I suspect that 90% of the work falls into one of these four very broad categories.

-	*'''Ongoing Facilitation''': This is probably the activity that most people think of first. A community manager is an active participant within the community to answer questions, deal with trolls or other abuses, explain how things work, monitor the content closely, role model appropriate behavior, and much more. It also involves a lot of cat herding and helping people connect with each other. On Jivespace and Ignite Realtime, I frequently pull Jive engineers into the discussion to answer questions in an area where additional technical expertise is needed. It can also mean walking a very fine line between the community and the company by representing the company in community discussions and representing the needs of the community when working inside the company.	+	'''Ongoing Facilitation''': This is probably the activity that most people think of first when talking about community management. A community manager is an active participant within the community to answer questions, deal with trolls or other abuses, explain how things work, monitor the content closely, role model appropriate behavior, and much more. It also involves a lot of cat herding and helping people connect with each other. On Jivespace and Ignite Realtime, I frequently pull Jive engineers into the discussion to answer questions in an area where additional technical expertise is needed. It can also mean walking a very fine line between the community and the company by representing the company in community discussions and representing the needs of the community when working inside the company.
-	*'''Content Creation''': In any community, content needs to stay fresh and current regardless of whether you are talking about code releases or other content. People will wander away from a community that looks stale or inactive. I have been focused on recording new podcasts ~~(which are now in iTunes)~~ and blogging regularly in addition to making sure that questions get answered (also part of facilitation). This also involves working with others to create content by encouraging them to blog about their areas of expertise relevant to the ~~developer~~ community.	+
-	*'''Evangelism''': Getting the word out about your community can take a number of forms depending on the type of community. In general this can be served by talking to people (customers and other interested parties), blogging, speaking at conferences, and being actively involved in related communities.	+	'''Content Creation''': In any community, content needs to stay fresh and current regardless of whether you are talking about code releases or other content. People will wander away from a community that looks stale or inactive. I have been focused on recording new podcasts and blogging regularly in addition to making sure that questions get answered (also part of facilitation). This also involves working with others to create content by encouraging them to blog about their areas of expertise relevant to the community.
-	*'''Community Evolution''': This may be the most overlooked area for many communities. It is important to continue to keep the community engaged by evolving along with the technology. New features, contests, group activities and more should be planned from the beginning. ~~With Jivespace, I plan to implement improvements about every 3 weeks including upgrades to~~ the ~~latest Clearspace X release, which come out every 3 weeks. For example, a few things in~~ the ~~works include some bug fixes, improvements to the developer beta program,~~ and ~~a developer event of some type~~.	+
		+	'''Evangelism''': Getting the word out about your community can take a number of forms depending on the type of community. In general this can be served by talking to people (customers and other interested parties), blogging, speaking at conferences, and being actively involved in related communities.
		+
		+	'''Community Evolution''': This may be the most overlooked area for many communities. It is important to continue to keep the community engaged by evolving along with the technology. New features, contests, group activities and more should be planned from the beginning. Keeping the community software updated and evolving into new areas are part of growing the community and keeping it fresh over time.

	As a community manager, you should be thinking about how to make sure that all four of these items get an appropriate amount of attention. Responding to questions and writing an occasional blog may by not enough if you want your community to flourish. Community management can be a tough, but rewarding job, requiring a diverse set of skills to be successful.		As a community manager, you should be thinking about how to make sure that all four of these items get an appropriate amount of attention. Responding to questions and writing an occasional blog may by not enough if you want your community to flourish. Community management can be a tough, but rewarding job, requiring a diverse set of skills to be successful.
Line 131:		Line 134:
	I have put a little more detail behind this description breaking the role into several slightly overlapping skills.		I have put a little more detail behind this description breaking the role into several slightly overlapping skills.

-	*'''Patience'''. The community manager should not be the one responding to all of the questions. She needs to hold back and let others within the community participate. This is especially true when someone in the community is being particularly difficult. It can be easy to fire off an angry response that might be regretted later, but waiting until the emotions cool a bit can make the response more thoughtful and constructive. This includes patience with newbie community members. She may have heard the question a million times from other newbies, but this is probably the first time this particular person has asked the question. Taking a little time to welcome new community members while pointing them to a list of helpful resources (nicely) can go a long way toward helping to grow your community.	+	'''Patience'''. The community manager should not be the one responding to all of the questions. She needs to hold back and let others within the community participate. This is especially true when someone in the community is being particularly difficult. It can be easy to fire off an angry response that might be regretted later, but waiting until the emotions cool a bit can make the response more thoughtful and constructive. This includes patience with newbie community members. She may have heard the question a million times from other newbies, but this is probably the first time this particular person has asked the question. Taking a little time to welcome new community members while pointing them to a list of helpful resources (nicely) can go a long way toward helping to grow your community.
-	*'''Networking'''. The best community managers are the ones who seem to know everyone and have a large group of colleagues who can help in various ways. These people do not typically acquire large networks by accident; they have good networking skills and are constantly meeting new people and growing their network.	+
-	*'''Communication'''. Community managers should be great communicators. In some communities where the interactions are primarily online, good writing skills are essential. Public speaking skills can also be required for those community managers who also spend time organizing community events, evangelizing, and speaking at conferences on topics related to the community. The ability to take complex ideas and synthesize them into a concise summary is also a key part of the communication required.	+	'''Networking'''. The best community managers are the ones who seem to know everyone and have a large group of colleagues who can help in various ways. These people do not typically acquire large networks by accident; they have good networking skills and are constantly meeting new people and growing their network.
-	*'''Facilitation'''. I spend a fair amount of time making sure that the right people are involved and engaged in the community. No one person can (or should) respond to every question or comment, so the community manager is frequently in the position of facilitating the discussions.	+
-	*'''Technical Skills'''. Having at least a basic understanding of the technologies used in your community are important. This varies widely depending on the community. In my case, the ability to administer the Clearspace installation, maintaining and writing web pages, bug tracking software, svn, etc. have been really helpful. I find that my background as a sys admin has been really helpful in this job. Not all community managers need to be highly technical. It certainly helps to be able to do some things yourself, but in my case, I do what I can and rely on our hosting provider, our web ~~developer~~, and other developers at Jive to help with the tricky stuff.	+	'''Communication'''. Community managers should be great communicators. In some communities where the interactions are primarily online, good writing skills are essential. Public speaking skills can also be required for those community managers who also spend time organizing community events, evangelizing, and speaking at conferences on topics related to the community. The ability to take complex ideas and synthesize them into a concise summary is also a key part of the communication required.
-	*'''Marketing'''. For those of us managing developer communities, marketing may seem like a dirty word, but yes, marketing skills are a requirement. The community manager needs to be able to promote community activities, solicit new members, and in general get the word out about the community.	+
-	*'''Self Motivation'''. In most cases, no one will be looking over the community manager’s shoulder telling him what to do. He needs to be self motivated to do whatever it takes to keep the community active and healthy without much direction from others.	+	'''Facilitation'''. I spend a fair amount of time making sure that the right people are involved and engaged in the community. No one person can (or should) respond to every question or comment, so the community manager is frequently in the position of facilitating the discussions.
-	*'''Workaholic Tendencies'''. I do not mean that the community manager must work all the time; however, most communities do not exist in the 9-5 work hour schedule. People from all time zones participate at all hours of the day. Community managers probably want to at least check in on the community outside of business hours and respond to any hot topics or heated debates. This ties into the self motivation skills described above.	+
-	*'''Organization'''. Community managers should also be organized. Keeping track of loose ends, making sure that questions are answered, being able to organize events, etc. all require good organizational skills and attention to detail. This is probably the toughest one for me. Although I tend to be highly organized, I tend not to be particularly attentive to details. I’m working on it.	+	'''Technical Skills'''. Having at least a basic understanding of the technologies used in your community are important. This varies widely depending on the community. In my case, the ability to administer the Clearspace installation, maintaining and writing web pages, bug tracking software, svn, etc. have been really helpful. I find that my background as a sys admin has been really helpful in this job. Not all community managers need to be highly technical. It certainly helps to be able to do some things yourself, but in my case, I do what I can and rely on our hosting provider, our web developers, and other developers at Jive to help with the tricky stuff.
		+
		+	'''Marketing'''. For those of us managing developer communities, marketing may seem like a dirty word, but yes, marketing skills are a requirement. The community manager needs to be able to promote community activities, solicit new members, and in general get the word out about the community.
		+
		+	'''Self Motivation'''. In most cases, no one will be looking over the community manager’s shoulder telling him what to do. He needs to be self motivated to do whatever it takes to keep the community active and healthy without much direction from others.
		+
		+	'''Workaholic Tendencies'''. I do not mean that the community manager must work all the time; however, most communities do not exist in the 9-5 work hour schedule. People from all time zones participate at all hours of the day. Community managers probably want to at least check in on the community outside of business hours and respond to any hot topics or heated debates. This ties into the self motivation skills described above.
		+
		+	'''Organization'''. Community managers should also be organized. Keeping track of loose ends, making sure that questions are answered, being able to organize events, etc. all require good organizational skills and attention to detail. This is probably the toughest one for me. Although I tend to be highly organized, I tend not to be particularly attentive to details. I’m working on it.

	The skills required also vary a bit depending on the type of community being managed. For example, managing a developer community might require more technical skills than managing an online social community. Most community managers probably need all of these skills, but at varying levels depending on the situation.		The skills required also vary a bit depending on the type of community being managed. For example, managing a developer community might require more technical skills than managing an online social community. Most community managers probably need all of these skills, but at varying levels depending on the situation.

Foster at 01:08, 7 January 2008

Foster — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:08:17 GMT

←Older revision		Revision as of 01:08, 7 January 2008
Line 111:		Line 111:

	In some ways, the gift giving motivation is just a different way of looking at some of the other motivations previously described in this chapter. The gift culture may be most closely associated with the motivation to achieve status and recognition, since social status within a gift culture is determined by what you give. Passion about a topic tends to drive people to contribute freely without the expectation of receiving anything in return, and the gift giving acts a way to share their passion with others. Acquiring new skills and then freely sharing that knowledge is also a form of giving. Gift giving can relate to the career advancement motivation, since people become well known for their contributions to the community. The act of gift giving can also be a social activity where people come together and freely share ideas and information in an online social environment.		In some ways, the gift giving motivation is just a different way of looking at some of the other motivations previously described in this chapter. The gift culture may be most closely associated with the motivation to achieve status and recognition, since social status within a gift culture is determined by what you give. Passion about a topic tends to drive people to contribute freely without the expectation of receiving anything in return, and the gift giving acts a way to share their passion with others. Acquiring new skills and then freely sharing that knowledge is also a form of giving. Gift giving can relate to the career advancement motivation, since people become well known for their contributions to the community. The act of gift giving can also be a social activity where people come together and freely share ideas and information in an online social environment.
		+
		+
		+	==Community Management==
		+
		+	Seth Godin recently called the Online Community Organizer role a Job of the Future. <ref>Seth Godin recently called the [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/07/jobs-of-the-fut.html Online Community Organizer role] a Job of the Future</ref>. This brings me to a common question: “What exactly does a community manager do?” I see the online community manager role as having several key elements: ongoing facilitation, content creation, evangelism, and community evolution. There are certainly many more tasks, but I suspect that 90% of the work falls into one of these four very broad categories.
		+
		+	*'''Ongoing Facilitation''': This is probably the activity that most people think of first. A community manager is an active participant within the community to answer questions, deal with trolls or other abuses, explain how things work, monitor the content closely, role model appropriate behavior, and much more. It also involves a lot of cat herding and helping people connect with each other. On Jivespace and Ignite Realtime, I frequently pull Jive engineers into the discussion to answer questions in an area where additional technical expertise is needed. It can also mean walking a very fine line between the community and the company by representing the company in community discussions and representing the needs of the community when working inside the company.
		+	*'''Content Creation''': In any community, content needs to stay fresh and current regardless of whether you are talking about code releases or other content. People will wander away from a community that looks stale or inactive. I have been focused on recording new podcasts (which are now in iTunes) and blogging regularly in addition to making sure that questions get answered (also part of facilitation). This also involves working with others to create content by encouraging them to blog about their areas of expertise relevant to the developer community.
		+	*'''Evangelism''': Getting the word out about your community can take a number of forms depending on the type of community. In general this can be served by talking to people (customers and other interested parties), blogging, speaking at conferences, and being actively involved in related communities.
		+	*'''Community Evolution''': This may be the most overlooked area for many communities. It is important to continue to keep the community engaged by evolving along with the technology. New features, contests, group activities and more should be planned from the beginning. With Jivespace, I plan to implement improvements about every 3 weeks including upgrades to the latest Clearspace X release, which come out every 3 weeks. For example, a few things in the works include some bug fixes, improvements to the developer beta program, and a developer event of some type.
		+
		+	As a community manager, you should be thinking about how to make sure that all four of these items get an appropriate amount of attention. Responding to questions and writing an occasional blog may by not enough if you want your community to flourish. Community management can be a tough, but rewarding job, requiring a diverse set of skills to be successful.
		+
		+	Seth Godin's description of this role is a good starting point for thinking about the skills required to accomplish the above four requirements for the job of community manager:
		+	<blockquote>“It would help if that person understood technology, at least well enough to know what it could do. They would need to be able to write. But they also have to be able to seduce stragglers into joining the group in the first place, so they have to be able to understand a marketplace, do outbound selling and non-electronic communications. They have to be able to balance huge amounts of inbound correspondence without making people feel left out, and they have to be able to walk the fine line between rejecting trolls and alienating the good guys.<br><br>
		+
		+	Since there’s no rule book, it would help to be willing to try new things, to be self-starting and obsessed with measurement as well.” <ref>Quote from [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/07/jobs-of-the-fut.html Seth Godin’s Blog]</ref></blockquote>
		+
		+	I have put a little more detail behind this description breaking the role into several slightly overlapping skills.
		+
		+	*'''Patience'''. The community manager should not be the one responding to all of the questions. She needs to hold back and let others within the community participate. This is especially true when someone in the community is being particularly difficult. It can be easy to fire off an angry response that might be regretted later, but waiting until the emotions cool a bit can make the response more thoughtful and constructive. This includes patience with newbie community members. She may have heard the question a million times from other newbies, but this is probably the first time this particular person has asked the question. Taking a little time to welcome new community members while pointing them to a list of helpful resources (nicely) can go a long way toward helping to grow your community.
		+	*'''Networking'''. The best community managers are the ones who seem to know everyone and have a large group of colleagues who can help in various ways. These people do not typically acquire large networks by accident; they have good networking skills and are constantly meeting new people and growing their network.
		+	*'''Communication'''. Community managers should be great communicators. In some communities where the interactions are primarily online, good writing skills are essential. Public speaking skills can also be required for those community managers who also spend time organizing community events, evangelizing, and speaking at conferences on topics related to the community. The ability to take complex ideas and synthesize them into a concise summary is also a key part of the communication required.
		+	*'''Facilitation'''. I spend a fair amount of time making sure that the right people are involved and engaged in the community. No one person can (or should) respond to every question or comment, so the community manager is frequently in the position of facilitating the discussions.
		+	*'''Technical Skills'''. Having at least a basic understanding of the technologies used in your community are important. This varies widely depending on the community. In my case, the ability to administer the Clearspace installation, maintaining and writing web pages, bug tracking software, svn, etc. have been really helpful. I find that my background as a sys admin has been really helpful in this job. Not all community managers need to be highly technical. It certainly helps to be able to do some things yourself, but in my case, I do what I can and rely on our hosting provider, our web developer, and other developers at Jive to help with the tricky stuff.
		+	*'''Marketing'''. For those of us managing developer communities, marketing may seem like a dirty word, but yes, marketing skills are a requirement. The community manager needs to be able to promote community activities, solicit new members, and in general get the word out about the community.
		+	*'''Self Motivation'''. In most cases, no one will be looking over the community manager’s shoulder telling him what to do. He needs to be self motivated to do whatever it takes to keep the community active and healthy without much direction from others.
		+	*'''Workaholic Tendencies'''. I do not mean that the community manager must work all the time; however, most communities do not exist in the 9-5 work hour schedule. People from all time zones participate at all hours of the day. Community managers probably want to at least check in on the community outside of business hours and respond to any hot topics or heated debates. This ties into the self motivation skills described above.
		+	*'''Organization'''. Community managers should also be organized. Keeping track of loose ends, making sure that questions are answered, being able to organize events, etc. all require good organizational skills and attention to detail. This is probably the toughest one for me. Although I tend to be highly organized, I tend not to be particularly attentive to details. I’m working on it.
		+
		+	The skills required also vary a bit depending on the type of community being managed. For example, managing a developer community might require more technical skills than managing an online social community. Most community managers probably need all of these skills, but at varying levels depending on the situation.

	==Norms and Behavior==		==Norms and Behavior==
Line 160:		Line 191:
	===Dealing with Problems===		===Dealing with Problems===
	Almost every community (online or off) will probably have an issue with one or more members at some point in time. Methods of dealing with these members vary widely depending on the specific problem and the type of community. On one end of the spectrum, the member can be banned from the community. While banishment is a drastic step, it might be an appropriate step for threatening or harassing other members; hate speech based on race, gender, ethnicity, etc. or other potentially damaging behaviors. In most cases, the first step is to talk to the member creating the problems to help them understand that the behavior is inappropriate giving the person a chance to self-correct.		Almost every community (online or off) will probably have an issue with one or more members at some point in time. Methods of dealing with these members vary widely depending on the specific problem and the type of community. On one end of the spectrum, the member can be banned from the community. While banishment is a drastic step, it might be an appropriate step for threatening or harassing other members; hate speech based on race, gender, ethnicity, etc. or other potentially damaging behaviors. In most cases, the first step is to talk to the member creating the problems to help them understand that the behavior is inappropriate giving the person a chance to self-correct.
-
-	==Community Management==
-
-	Seth Godin recently called the Online Community Organizer role a Job of the Future. <ref>Seth Godin recently called the [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/07/jobs-of-the-fut.html Online Community Organizer role] a Job of the Future</ref>. This brings me to a common question: “What exactly does a community manager do?” I see the online community manager role as having several key elements: ongoing facilitation, content creation, evangelism, and community evolution. There are certainly many more tasks, but I suspect that 90% of the work falls into one of these four very broad categories.
-
-	*'''Ongoing Facilitation''': This is probably the activity that most people think of first. A community manager is an active participant within the community to answer questions, deal with trolls or other abuses, explain how things work, monitor the content closely, role model appropriate behavior, and much more. It also involves a lot of cat herding and helping people connect with each other. On Jivespace and Ignite Realtime, I frequently pull Jive engineers into the discussion to answer questions in an area where additional technical expertise is needed. It can also mean walking a very fine line between the community and the company by representing the company in community discussions and representing the needs of the community when working inside the company.
-	*'''Content Creation''': In any community, content needs to stay fresh and current regardless of whether you are talking about code releases or other content. People will wander away from a community that looks stale or inactive. I have been focused on recording new podcasts (which are now in iTunes) and blogging regularly in addition to making sure that questions get answered (also part of facilitation). This also involves working with others to create content by encouraging them to blog about their areas of expertise relevant to the developer community.
-	*'''Evangelism''': Getting the word out about your community can take a number of forms depending on the type of community. In general this can be served by talking to people (customers and other interested parties), blogging, speaking at conferences, and being actively involved in related communities.
-	*'''Community Evolution''': This may be the most overlooked area for many communities. It is important to continue to keep the community engaged by evolving along with the technology. New features, contests, group activities and more should be planned from the beginning. With Jivespace, I plan to implement improvements about every 3 weeks including upgrades to the latest Clearspace X release, which come out every 3 weeks. For example, a few things in the works include some bug fixes, improvements to the developer beta program, and a developer event of some type.
-
-	As a community manager, you should be thinking about how to make sure that all four of these items get an appropriate amount of attention. Responding to questions and writing an occasional blog may by not enough if you want your community to flourish. Community management can be a tough, but rewarding job, requiring a diverse set of skills to be successful.
-
-	Seth Godin's description of this role is a good starting point for thinking about the skills required to accomplish the above four requirements for the job of community manager:
-	<blockquote>“It would help if that person understood technology, at least well enough to know what it could do. They would need to be able to write. But they also have to be able to seduce stragglers into joining the group in the first place, so they have to be able to understand a marketplace, do outbound selling and non-electronic communications. They have to be able to balance huge amounts of inbound correspondence without making people feel left out, and they have to be able to walk the fine line between rejecting trolls and alienating the good guys.<br><br>
-
-	Since there’s no rule book, it would help to be willing to try new things, to be self-starting and obsessed with measurement as well.” <ref>Quote from [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/07/jobs-of-the-fut.html Seth Godin’s Blog]</ref></blockquote>
-
-	I have put a little more detail behind this description breaking the role into several slightly overlapping skills.
-
-	*'''Patience'''. The community manager should not be the one responding to all of the questions. She needs to hold back and let others within the community participate. This is especially true when someone in the community is being particularly difficult. It can be easy to fire off an angry response that might be regretted later, but waiting until the emotions cool a bit can make the response more thoughtful and constructive. This includes patience with newbie community members. She may have heard the question a million times from other newbies, but this is probably the first time this particular person has asked the question. Taking a little time to welcome new community members while pointing them to a list of helpful resources (nicely) can go a long way toward helping to grow your community.
-	*'''Networking'''. The best community managers are the ones who seem to know everyone and have a large group of colleagues who can help in various ways. These people do not typically acquire large networks by accident; they have good networking skills and are constantly meeting new people and growing their network.
-	*'''Communication'''. Community managers should be great communicators. In some communities where the interactions are primarily online, good writing skills are essential. Public speaking skills can also be required for those community managers who also spend time organizing community events, evangelizing, and speaking at conferences on topics related to the community. The ability to take complex ideas and synthesize them into a concise summary is also a key part of the communication required.
-	*'''Facilitation'''. I spend a fair amount of time making sure that the right people are involved and engaged in the community. No one person can (or should) respond to every question or comment, so the community manager is frequently in the position of facilitating the discussions.
-	*'''Technical Skills'''. Having at least a basic understanding of the technologies used in your community are important. This varies widely depending on the community. In my case, the ability to administer the Clearspace installation, maintaining and writing web pages, bug tracking software, svn, etc. have been really helpful. I find that my background as a sys admin has been really helpful in this job. Not all community managers need to be highly technical. It certainly helps to be able to do some things yourself, but in my case, I do what I can and rely on our hosting provider, our web developer, and other developers at Jive to help with the tricky stuff.
-	*'''Marketing'''. For those of us managing developer communities, marketing may seem like a dirty word, but yes, marketing skills are a requirement. The community manager needs to be able to promote community activities, solicit new members, and in general get the word out about the community.
-	*'''Self Motivation'''. In most cases, no one will be looking over the community manager’s shoulder telling him what to do. He needs to be self motivated to do whatever it takes to keep the community active and healthy without much direction from others.
-	*'''Workaholic Tendencies'''. I do not mean that the community manager must work all the time; however, most communities do not exist in the 9-5 work hour schedule. People from all time zones participate at all hours of the day. Community managers probably want to at least check in on the community outside of business hours and respond to any hot topics or heated debates. This ties into the self motivation skills described above.
-	*'''Organization'''. Community managers should also be organized. Keeping track of loose ends, making sure that questions are answered, being able to organize events, etc. all require good organizational skills and attention to detail. This is probably the toughest one for me. Although I tend to be highly organized, I tend not to be particularly attentive to details. I’m working on it.
-
-	The skills required also vary a bit depending on the type of community being managed. For example, managing a developer community might require more technical skills than managing an online social community. Most community managers probably need all of these skills, but at varying levels depending on the situation.
-
	==Summary==		==Summary==

Foster: /* Community Building */

Foster — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:13:28 GMT

Community Building

←Older revision		Revision as of 23:13, 6 January 2008
Line 103:		Line 103:

	Both online and offline interactions have their place, but it is interesting to see how the two are merging in our social interactions to the point where we do not even consciously think about how we use them both. The social motivation to participate in online communities become an extension of our human social needs in the offline world.<br>		Both online and offline interactions have their place, but it is interesting to see how the two are merging in our social interactions to the point where we do not even consciously think about how we use them both. The social motivation to participate in online communities become an extension of our human social needs in the offline world.<br>
-
-	====Need====
-

	====Gift Cultures====		====Gift Cultures====
Line 111:		Line 108:
	Open Source software is occasionally referred to as a gift economy where the contributions of code, documentation, and other content can be thought of as gifts from one person to the community. <ref>Magnus Bergquist & Jan Ljungberg describe this concept in an Information Systems Journal article from 2001 titled “The power of gifts: organizing social relationships in open source communities”.</ref> Eric Raymond points out that “in gift cultures, social status is determined not by what you control but by ''what you give away''.”<ref>[http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cathbazpaper/ The Cathedral and the Bazaar] page 81 of the 2001 revised edition.</ref> This is in contrast to the exchange economy that governs most of the rest of our interactions. In an exchange economy, one party offers something of value in exchange for goods or services; the “something of value” often refers to currency, but it can also include bartered goods. Even when the motivation to contribute to an online community is economic as described previously in this chapter, the gift culture analogy still holds true in most cases because the code is being given to the open source community. The developer receives compensation from some third party company in the form of employment or other contract work; however, the developer and the company sponsor are still contributing freely to the community. <br>		Open Source software is occasionally referred to as a gift economy where the contributions of code, documentation, and other content can be thought of as gifts from one person to the community. <ref>Magnus Bergquist & Jan Ljungberg describe this concept in an Information Systems Journal article from 2001 titled “The power of gifts: organizing social relationships in open source communities”.</ref> Eric Raymond points out that “in gift cultures, social status is determined not by what you control but by ''what you give away''.”<ref>[http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cathbazpaper/ The Cathedral and the Bazaar] page 81 of the 2001 revised edition.</ref> This is in contrast to the exchange economy that governs most of the rest of our interactions. In an exchange economy, one party offers something of value in exchange for goods or services; the “something of value” often refers to currency, but it can also include bartered goods. Even when the motivation to contribute to an online community is economic as described previously in this chapter, the gift culture analogy still holds true in most cases because the code is being given to the open source community. The developer receives compensation from some third party company in the form of employment or other contract work; however, the developer and the company sponsor are still contributing freely to the community. <br>

-	Within open source communities, the idea of contributions as gifts is fairly common; however, many other online communities also operate as gift giving cultures. Contributors to Digg and Newsvine freely submit stories, comment on stories submitted by others, and vote on stories they feel should be on the front page without expecting anything in exchange for their efforts. Most bloggers (with the exception of the few who actually make money from sponsorships, advertising, or some other payment model) can also be part of the gift culture by submitting content freely to anyone wanting to read their thoughts, ideas, or advice on a particular topic. The community of readers also offer comments as a part of the gift culture. <br>	+	Within open source communities, the idea of contributions as gifts is fairly common; however, many other online communities also operate as gift giving cultures. Contributors to Digg and Newsvine freely submit stories, comment on stories submitted by others, and vote on stories they feel should be on the front page without expecting anything in exchange for their efforts. Most bloggers (with the exception of the few who actually make money from sponsorships, advertising, or some other payment model) can also be part of the gift culture by submitting content freely to anyone wanting to read their thoughts, ideas, or advice on a particular topic. The community of readers also offer comments as a part of the gift culture. Jean Russell commented on an early draft of this section to say that "If it doesn't have a gift economy, then it is NOT a community."<br>

-	In some ways, the gift giving motivation is just a different way of looking at some of the other motivations previously described in this chapter. The gift culture may be most closely associated with the motivation to achieve status and recognition, since social status within a gift culture is determined by what you give. Passion about a topic tends to drive people to contribute freely without the expectation of receiving anything in return, and the gift giving acts a way to share their passion with others. Acquiring new skills and then freely sharing that knowledge is also a form of giving. Gift giving can relate to the career advancement motivation, since people become well known for their contributions to the community. The act of gift giving can also be a social activity where people come together and freely share ideas and information in an online social environment.~~<br>~~	+	In some ways, the gift giving motivation is just a different way of looking at some of the other motivations previously described in this chapter. The gift culture may be most closely associated with the motivation to achieve status and recognition, since social status within a gift culture is determined by what you give. Passion about a topic tends to drive people to contribute freely without the expectation of receiving anything in return, and the gift giving acts a way to share their passion with others. Acquiring new skills and then freely sharing that knowledge is also a form of giving. Gift giving can relate to the career advancement motivation, since people become well known for their contributions to the community. The act of gift giving can also be a social activity where people come together and freely share ideas and information in an online social environment.

	==Norms and Behavior==		==Norms and Behavior==

Foster: /* Community Building */

Foster — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:08:40 GMT

Community Building

←Older revision		Revision as of 23:08, 6 January 2008
Line 92:		Line 92:

	Most social software is not about achieving some goal or increasing productivity. Some people may get productivity gains out of using some social networking tools, but I would argue that this is a side effect more than a motivation for participating in many communities. Young people do not use MySpace solely as a substitute for productivity tools like email and IM; they use it as an online mall or coffee shop where they can connect with friends, get to know friends of friends, leave inside jokes as public comments to demonstrate that they are in someone's social circle, organize events, and more. These online activities create a network of peers and identification within their community of friends. When all of your friends are on MySpace, you miss out by not joining, which is a strong form of peer pressure and social motivation. Second Life is another great example of a community built around social diversion. People in Second Life create avatars to represent their online self, meet new people, and engage in all kinds of interesting activities. <br>		Most social software is not about achieving some goal or increasing productivity. Some people may get productivity gains out of using some social networking tools, but I would argue that this is a side effect more than a motivation for participating in many communities. Young people do not use MySpace solely as a substitute for productivity tools like email and IM; they use it as an online mall or coffee shop where they can connect with friends, get to know friends of friends, leave inside jokes as public comments to demonstrate that they are in someone's social circle, organize events, and more. These online activities create a network of peers and identification within their community of friends. When all of your friends are on MySpace, you miss out by not joining, which is a strong form of peer pressure and social motivation. Second Life is another great example of a community built around social diversion. People in Second Life create avatars to represent their online self, meet new people, and engage in all kinds of interesting activities. <br>
		+
		+	Many groups of people are driven to community participation to fulfill a specific personal need. Support communities are increasingly moving online for medical conditions and other concerns affecting only a small number of people. People can reach out and discuss a touchy medical condition and get social support from others facing the same problems online in an anonymous manner. For some rare conditions, a person might be the only one with that condition for 100 miles, but online they may be able to reach out to hundreds or thousands of other people for support in a social, online environment.

	For others, the social motivation for participating is less about pure fun and diversion and more about networking and increasing business relationships. Many of us participate in the LinkedIn community to build our business network online. We can search for jobs, get connected to other people with similar business interests, get introduced to someone we may want to partner with, or reconnect with old colleagues. This is the online version of attending an industry conference or trade show to meet people and connect with others that you already know within the industry.<br>		For others, the social motivation for participating is less about pure fun and diversion and more about networking and increasing business relationships. Many of us participate in the LinkedIn community to build our business network online. We can search for jobs, get connected to other people with similar business interests, get introduced to someone we may want to partner with, or reconnect with old colleagues. This is the online version of attending an industry conference or trade show to meet people and connect with others that you already know within the industry.<br>
		+

	People participating in a community are seeking positive social encounters, and it is worth mentioning that any community should strive to increase the positive experiences and decrease the negative ones. Community members can certainly be driven away from a community by negative experiences like abusive comments or discussions that turn very nasty. I will cover this idea in more detail later in the section on community norms.		People participating in a community are seeking positive social encounters, and it is worth mentioning that any community should strive to increase the positive experiences and decrease the negative ones. Community members can certainly be driven away from a community by negative experiences like abusive comments or discussions that turn very nasty. I will cover this idea in more detail later in the section on community norms.
Line 102:		Line 105:

	====Need====		====Need====
-	~~Talk here about how people are driven to community participation by specific needs (support communities, medical conditions, etc.)~~	+

	====Gift Cultures====		====Gift Cultures====