photo credit: Hôtel Concorde Berlin

I was curious about this, so I thought I’d ask: what do you think are the most important events for online community professionals?

And I want to qualify that question a bit by saying I mean those who manage structured or hosted, on site communities, as opposed to those who maintain a Twitter profile, Facebook page, use social media listening tools, etc. People who do that (myself included) are managing a community, as well, just in a different context and I want to try to focus the answers down a bit.

Why am I asking? For one, I want to know and I’m curious. For two, I’m booking speaking engagements for this fall and winter (and 2011) and want to know where I should be. Please leave any and all answers in the comments. I appreciate it.

photo credit: Nikolai O.

A couple of days ago, on Twitter and Facebook, I remarked that “if I wasn’t a professional, I’d start “forum users from hell” and share the messages I get from some people.” In response, I received messages from 7 people supporting the idea (as well as two additional people liking the message on Facebook).

When I said it, it wasn’t necessarily a legitimate site idea I was considering, but when people responded as they did, I began to think about it. As I did, I thought I’d share my thought process here, in order to get feedback from you – people managing communities (veterans and new people alike) and those thinking about doing so. After you’ve read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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photo credit:
country_boy_shane

Over the last few years, I’ve talked with a handful of companies about taking on some community or social media leadership role with them. Some of these names, you’d definitely know. Some of them you wouldn’t. But, I am always really appreciative when someone thinks of me and willing to listen because I am definitely open to the right opportunity.

The majority of opportunities aren’t right for me, but a few of them, I have considered more closely and spoke more with the people behind them. However, for various reasons, they didn’t end up being the right move (for me, for them or both). In these cases, there is at least one issue that comes up that prevents it from happening.

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photo credit: StewBl@ck

I work very hard to not make a mistake when it comes to managing my communities. Attention to detail is extremely important to me and I lead by example. Because of that effort, and that care, I limit mistakes a great deal. But, I do make them.

Today, I want to share a noteworthy mistake that I made on one of my communities and what I did to rectify it.

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photo credit: anoldent

It has always been about community. It didn’t become about community with the popularization of the internet and social media. It’s easier to build community and it’s easier for everyone to have a voice, but that’s not the invention of community.

No, community has always been there. Community isn’t a choice. It was about community for television, for newspapers, for magazines, for the radio. It was about community for Coca-Cola, for Wal-Mart, for The Beatles, for Star Wars, for everyone. It was about community for any successful business or endeavor.

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photo credit: marcianneliese

I went back and forth on whether or not to hit publish on this because, well, I agree with Jason Falls and what he said on the whole “social media expert” thing. Those of us in this space probably have work to do, rather than talking about this issue, but I also put aside time to write about this space here, so why not.

Managing an online community – managing a structured community, not so much the whole social media listening thing – is something anyone can do. Just like anyone can be President. But, it’s not something that anyone should do, can do well or for a long period of time.

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photo credit: alamez

I was talking to someone responsible for a Ning site tied to a major label rapper and this Ning site is basically just stealing articles from other sites. He did it to one of my articles, so I filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice and had Ning pull it down.

The subsequent conversation was weird and disappointing. It was clear that the person didn’t have even a cursory grasp of online content creation or copyright. In defense of his actions, he pointed out other sites that did the same thing. The sites that he pointed out, however, didn’t exactly do what he said. They did it sometimes, but sometimes they didn’t, not 100% of the time like him. And they included source links.

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photo credit:
Stéphane Moussie

As I write this post, I’m listening to “The Ghost of Christopher Wallace” by Jay Electronica featuring Diddy. It was made available as a free download recently and I really like it.

The song features two verses from Electronica and lots of ad-libs from Diddy, which I love. The second half of the song is all ad-libs. But, in between the first and second Electronica verses, Diddy raps, “your reign on the top was short like leprechauns, as I crush so-called willies, thugs and rapper-dons.” This line comes from “Kick in the Door” by The Notorious B.I.G.

Though it’s not what Biggie meant, what I’m thinking about right now is how destructive it can be, for anyone managing a community, to get wrapped up in their reign on the top.

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photo credit: Ivan Walsh

“There is absolutely no reason for any middle school student to be a part of a social networking site.”

These were the words of Anthony Orcini, the principal of Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Ridgewood, New Jersey. They were included in an e-mail he sent to parents at the end of April, urging them to immediately ban their children from using any social network. Lou Young of WCBS has the story and a full copy of the letter. This comes care of my friend James Dasher.

I’m not wholly surprised by this e-mail, but was a little stunned by the wording of it. Personally, I don’t believe that this is the right course of action – not in general and not for all families. Certainly, parents have the right to block their children from using a social network and that may be the right choice for them. However, I question whether that choice should be made due to a forcibly written message by a school principal. I just hope parents don’t read this and make any rash decisions.

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photo credit: jcfrog

One question I get asked a lot goes something along the lines of “how will forums keep up with [something]?” or “forums are old hat, why would people use them over [something]?” or “why use forums when you can use [something]?” However will forums survive? Let’s talk about it.

This is Limited Thinking

Forums aren’t going anywhere. Let’s get that out of the way. My great grand kids may well look back at this post and laugh at their crazy great grandfather and his talk of vinyl records, er- I mean forums. But, for as far into the future as I can possibly see, I do not see a time where structured, text based online discussion communities will cease to exist. Unless the internet ceases to exist or, at least, changes very dramatically.

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