community – Dave Briggs

LINK: “The Right Way to Build an Online Community”

These products have come to be called ‘social media,’ but that’s not what Flickr was. Flickr was an online community. The reason they started calling it social media is because you can sell media. You can sell column inches, you can sell broadcast hours, you can advertise against it. But Flickr was not social media. Flickr was an online community.

Original: https://medium.com/@reidhoffman/the-right-way-to-build-an-online-community-3-rules-from-investor-and-flickr-cofounder-caterina-32d7b48b342c

Online PR – join in or be left behind

Helen Coen is currently online community manager for the RSPCA, the UK’s leading animal welfare charity. Previously she has been a senior RSPCA press officer and award-winning journalist. She is also Dave’s sister.

I admit it: I wasn’t always that interested in the internet and social media.

In all honesty I was a tad old-school – I’d started out as a newspaper journalist before the internet really took off, and before social media became mainstream.

I just didn’t quite get it.

As far as I was concerned print and broadcast media were very important and social networks and blogs were something ‘other’ and a bit of a mystery.

Luckily I had a hunch that I needed to get with the times (and keep up with my brother!) and learned through courses, conferences and trial and error.

As my knowledge and experience increased I realised that online is where people are now and how wonderful – and important – online and the communities that form there really are.

It was natural to feel that communicating online – and directly with the public rather than via journalists – was a risky business. After all, I was responsible for protecting the RSPCA’s reputation.

It’s a common fear that by having an online presence you’re making it easier for the general public to slate you whether you deserve it or not.

To some extent this is true. But people will say negative things about you online whether you’re there or not.

At least if you’re easily contactable and listening to the conversation you have a chance of putting things right or setting the record straight.

There’s no getting away from it, entering the digital world does involve risk and not a small amount of time and money. But there is no doubt in my mind that not getting involved is a huge opportunity missed – and frankly not an option.

I’ve found that communicating online is an essential way of building relationships direct with key influencers – whether it’s through working with bloggers and forums or building your own online community.

The most rewarding and worthwhile element of my online work so far has been talking with bloggers.

I’ve been blown away by how hard bloggers work – mostly in their ‘spare’ time – to make sure their content is genuine, engaging and well written, and also by their brilliant help spreading the word to the right people.

A handful of bloggers I’ve contacted have said that it’s not a cause they can support or agree with, or they already support their quota of charities.

But (approached in the right way) most are happy to do what they can to help, have a vital part to play and are a pleasure to work with.

Okay, not all bloggers have a huge readership, but small, carefully chosen blogs have massive influence on the people that matter – and don’t forget that newspaper articles (and content on news sites) are here today, gone tomorrow – blog posts stick around for years.

Twitter: @HelenRSPCA

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/helen-coen/

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to:

The learning organization: an often-described, but seldom-observed phenomenon | Harold Jarche – "What should a true learning organisation look like?"
Connecting and engaging inside your organisation – "Social networks are inherently bottom up and user powered. In IBM, BlueIQ worked because it had buy-in from the very top. You need both otherwise time is wasted overcoming resistance."
Local 2.0: How digital technology empowers local communities | The Young Foundation – Useful report covering how digital innovation can impact on communities.
The order I check things | Stephen Hale – I love reading how people do this stuff!
Cutting down on cookies: practical tips | Puffbox.com – Useful tips from SImon Dickson.

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to.

Tales of the city: the rise of the local blog – "In its daily blogposts, Spitalfields Life aims to portray the full colour of life in London's East End. But who is the mysterious 'Gentle Author' behind this extraordinary work of social history?"
Apache Cordova – "Apache Cordova is a platform for building native mobile applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript."
Building Community in your Area? There’s a Handbook for that! – "The Community Organizers Handbook is the one-stop-shop for tips, tricks and how-tos for organizing local communities."
User experience design on new.shropshire.gov.uk – Project WIP – "Our aim is to provide the user with best experience we can possibly give them allowing them to do what they want quickly and easily."
When is an ‘official’ Twitter account not an official Twitter account? | Puffbox.com – "Much consternation in certain political circles this afternoon, as Boris Johnson renames his Twitter account… and takes a quarter of a million people's details over to his election campaign HQ."
The problem with digital politics – "If the major parties get their act together, the next election could be a very interesting time indeed for technology-watchers."
@LiamStacey9 : Tangential Ramblings – "Online hate is a big problem. Children, adults, celebrities and people outside of the public eye are all victims. The trouble is: those that dole out the abuse don’t seem to be the sorts of people who care."

You can find all my bookmarks on Pinboard.

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to.

Facebook’s ‘dark side’: study finds link to socially aggressive narcissism – "Psychology paper finds Facebook and other social media offer platform for obsessions with self-image and shallow friendships."
The UK Hackspace Foundation – "Hackerspaces are physical places where people can meet to learn, socialise and collaborate on projects."
‘The world hasn’t ended’: what happens when you give all staff access to social media – A great story – lessons for many organisations fearful of letting people loose on online networks.
FixMyStreet’s been redesigned – A welcome new look for a still vital site.
The university as a hackerspace | Expedient Means – "Like any programme of study, work and investment, it needs careful thinking about how to set it up right, but from where I stand, it feels like a gaping hole in higher education that needs to be filled. Do you know of any examples that are already running? A ‘MIT Media Lab lite’ could be close to what I have in mind, but I have no experience of how it’s run and whether it breaks down the distinction between academic and non-academic staff to the extent I have in mind."

You can find all my bookmarks on Pinboard.

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to.

We the People | The White House – E-petitions, White House style
How to create sustainable open data projects with purpose – Nice article from MySociety's Tom Steinberg.
One in six IT projects is a ‘ticking timebomb’ – University of Oxford – "A surprisingly high number of business and government technology projects are 'ticking time bombs', according to researchers at the University of Oxford. "
Slashdot and CmdrTaco — the end of another geek era – Really nice article about a great online community
TransferSummit | 2011: Open Innovation Everywhere – This looks like a fabulous open source jamboree.

You can find all my bookmarks on Pinboard.

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to.

Clay Shirky Says Good Collaboration is Structured Fighting – "Large collaborative projects aren't, in fact, large collaborative projects according to Shirky. They're small collaborative projects with tight groups, that integrate very large amounts of small participatory effort."
Clay Shirky Says Good Collaboration is Structured Fighting – "Large collaborative projects aren't, in fact, large collaborative projects according to Shirky. They're small collaborative projects with tight groups, that integrate very large amounts of small participatory effort."
Will it be orange? | Government Digital Service – Is orange a good colour for a government website?
Does democracy have to be political? | The Democratic Society – "I can’t be the only one who has been struck by the way in which the people getting involved with the community clear-ups after the riots have been so keen to state that their motive is not political."
Opening government, the Chicago way – O’Reilly Radar – "To get anywhere close to achieving that goal, Chicago will have to close the IT gap between the public and private sector, particularly in the emerging field of data science."

You can find all my bookmarks on Pinboard.