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On last night’s episode of SuccessfoolTV, I came on to talk about online community, forums, social media, the book and more. I thought it went really well and that it was really informative, so I wanted to share it. You can check it out below.

Live TV by Ustream

Thank you to Alejandro for having me and to everyone who stopped in, helped to spread the word through Twitter and had kind words to say, during and after. I really appreciate it.

Live Video Interview Tonight on SuccessfoolTV with Alejandro Reyes

Posted by Patrick on November 12th, 2008 in Press

Tonight at 9 PM ET, I will be participating in an (approximately) hour long live video interviews with Alejandro Reyes of SuccessfoolTV. We’ll be talking about online community, how you can market yourself on forums, and more. It’ll be on the Successfool Ustream.TV channel and, if you are free, please stop by! Thanks.

Co-Hosting the Copyright 2.0 Show and the SitePoint Podcast

Posted by Patrick on November 10th, 2008 in Managing the Community, Press

I’m happy to say that I am now co-hosting a pair of podcasts (when it rains, it pours). First, the Copyright 2.0 Show with my friend Jonathan Bailey of PlagiarismToday, who I recently met in person for the first time at ConvergeSouth. It’s a weekly podcast dedicated to copyright related issues. As a content creator, I have a definite interest in the subject and have had to deal with people infringing upon my rights on many an occasion. As a community administrator, it is definitely a worthwhile listen as these are challenges that we all face.

The show itself is already 83 episodes in and my first episode, number 84, is online now. Ironically, we will now be taking a 2-3 week break, as Jonathan and myself will both have a little away time.

The second is the SitePoint Podcast, where we soft launched episode 1. This one is co-hosted with Brad Williams, Stephan Segraves and Kevin Yank. Out of the bunch, I’m the only non programmer, so I’m the non techical one, mainly just trying to keep it light and adding insight wherever I can. The SitePoint Podcast is in a sort of alpha beta phase, but hopefully, everything that needs to happen (on all ends) will happen, and we’ll keep it going!

Having been a guest on approximately 30 or more podcasts, these two shows represent my second and third forays into podcast hosting, following my old community management themed podcast, The Community Admin Show.

Outreach Crosses a Line When You Use a Space That is Not Yours to Use

Posted by Patrick on November 8th, 2008 in How Should I Participate?

During the “Avoiding Disaster: How Not to Use Social Media” panel at Blog World Expo, Ricardo Bueno asked about outreach, specifically tied to promoting a blog, and how aggressive you can be, with that outreach. Check out the video below of the question and answer, care of Lynn Terry.

My answer was, basically, that I feel that where outreach crosses a line is when you use a space that is not yours to use. As an example, I mentioned a blog or a forum where you post a comment or create a new thread and you mention your website.

My friend Jason Falls, the panel’s moderator, deferred to me because I had reached out to him when I was promoting my book, to ask him if he’d like a review copy. I didn’t go to Jason’s blog and post a comment. I contacted him directly. I introduced myself in a respectful, professional manner and I asked him if he’d be willing to allow me to send a copy of the book. And that’s it, really. He could have said no, and he never would have heard from me again. But, he said yes and I sent him one and we got to know each other through that, through me taking the initiative to contact him.

Outreach is fine, but outreach can turn into spamming real fast if you don’t respect who you are speaking to and who the owners of a given space – whether that be a social networking site, a forum, a blog or something else. Outreach should be delicate and considered. You have to be aware of what your surroundings are and who holds the keys.

If someone doesn’t want you, they don’t want you. If they say no, accept it and move on. If you don’t ask and they don’t want it, they’ll shut you down, anyway, and you can gain a poor reputation. At least, if you ask, you’ll be showing them respect, which they’ll appreciate and, you never know, they might actually help you, where they might not have, had you just attempted to abuse their community.

ConvergeSouth 2008 and the Independent Blogging Conference at Greensboro Recap

Posted by Patrick on November 1st, 2008 in Managing Online Forums (Book), Press

A couple of weeks ago, I traveled to a pair of conferences in Greensboro, North Carolina. I have now made some headway into my to do pile, so I wanted to take some time to write up a recap while it was still relatively fresh in my mind. What follows is my personal recap of ConvergeSouth 2008 (October 17) and the Independent Blogging Conference at Greensboro (October 18).

Thursday

I drove from my home in Harbinger, North Carolina to Greensboro and it took me about five hours and fifteen minutes, with two stops along the way. My friend Jared Smith, driving in from Charleston, South Carolina, arrived just 10 minutes after I did.

There were two big things that hooked me into coming to these conferences in the first place. The first one was that my friend Jonathan Bailey of PlagiarismTodaywas speaking at ConvergeSouth. But, the other reason was Jared. When I was thinking about the conference, knowing he was within striking range travel wise, I reached out to see if he would be interested in going. Undecided, I kind of helped push him to attend, I guess you could say.

I’ve known Jared for about eight years now. We met through phpBBHacks.com, when he came to the site and became a member of my staff, from very early on in the site’s history. He saw a lot of the … fun challenges that working in the phpBB community afforded us, helping me to tackle them. He was always by my side and we developed a close friendship from that point forward. But, we’d never met in person. It was awesome to be able to do so and a ton of fun to hang out with him for a few days.

ConvergeSouth had official dinners starting at 7 on Thursday, one of which I was scheduled to attend. With Jared headed to one and me to another, we didn’t really have much time to chat before we had to get ready and separate. I went to the one at Table 16. Anil Dash was supposed to be hosting it, but he had a flight change and ended up being unable to do so (he actually ended up coming to the dinner that Jared was at, in a strange twist).

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New Book: “Designing the Digital Experience: How to Use EXPERIENCE DESIGN Tools & Techniques to Build Websites Customers Love”

Posted by Patrick on October 27th, 2008 in Developing Your Community, Managing Online Forums (Book), Press

There’s a new book out called “Designing the Digital Experience: How To Use EXPERIENCE DESIGN Tools & Techniques to Build Websites Customers Love” and it was written by David Lee King. I met David a while back for something pertaining to my book and he was working on a book himself. He asked me to read a pre-release copy in consideration of advance praise.

I read the book and I enjoyed and was happy to provide him with the praise. Here is what I said:

When your aim is to provide a valuable product or service, it’s not just the product itself that counts, but the atmosphere that you have – the experience that you create. This is true of the offline world and of brick and mortar business, but it is also true online. The websites, communities, services, companies and individuals who provide their visitors with an enjoyable, memorable experience will have a distinct, noticeable advantage over those that do not. David Lee King’s “Designing the Digital Experience” presents solid ideas and strategies that can help you to gain that advantage.

If you have an interest in the subject, I’d definitely recommend picking up David’s book.

Video: My Presentation for Social Media Club Louisville: “The Value of Online Forums and How to Approach Them as a Marketer”

On October 21, I presented at a Social Media Club Louisville meeting via live video. It was actually the first time that I’ve ever done anything like this (I’ve given presentations, but never without actually being at the venue), but I thought it went well. The talk didn’t really have a title… but, I’m going to give it one now. I’ll call it “The Value of Online Forums and How to Approach Them as a Marketer.”

A big thank you to my friend Jason Falls who set it all up and emceed it. He recorded the video and posted it on the Social Media Club Louisville website, so I wanted to share it here. Please let me know what you think.

The Graduate Student Survival Blog Guest Post on Blogging For Dollars

Posted by Patrick on October 21st, 2008 in Generating Revenue, Press, Promoting Your Community

I wrote a guest post on The Graduate Student Survival Blog on the subject of blogging for dollars. The premise was to talk about how you could create a profitable blog in three months with a budget of $20. The blog is a part of the Albany Times Union website. Thanks to Brandon Mendelson for having me.

ManagingCommunities.com Added to Alltop

Posted by Patrick on October 19th, 2008 in ManagingCommunities.com, Press

Alltop, self described as “an “online magazine rack” of popular topics,” has accepted ManagingCommunities.com into their Social Media and Leadership categories. Thanks to them!

Using Your Online Community to Help Others in Time of Crisis

Posted by Patrick on October 15th, 2008 in Managing the Community, Thinking

In honor of Blog Action Day, I’d like to talk about how you can use your online community to help people in a time of crisis. Healthy online communities, big or small, feature people united by some sort of common bond. Most often, it is subject based. But, there are sure to be other things that tie individual members to one another. This grouping of people can be powerful.

After the United States, my country, was attacked on September 11, 2001, I took what I had up on ifroggy.com down and I put another page up, sharing my feelings on the event and asking for people to help how they could. Archive.org has a copy of the page. I posted announcements on my sites and I linked my network bar back to that page.

When the tsunami hit Asia in December of 2004, I posted some similar announcements, such as this one at phpBBHacks.com. When Hurricane Katrina hit the southern United States, I did the same.

What impact did we have? How many dollars did we raise? $2? $5? $100? We didn’t keep track and I have no idea. But, that’s not really the point. The point is trying, the point is raising awareness and the point is that everything counts, regardless of how small.

The power of online community can be immense. But, even if you feel like your small community cannot help anyone, remind yourself that everything counts. You never know the impact that you can have.

I’m using examples of major catastrophes here and monetary donations, mainly. But, obviously, that is not the limit. If a well established and liked member who has greatly contributed to your community faces some sort of devastating hard ship, how can you help them? Not necessarily with money, but with ideas and with personal, genuine sentiment and compassion for them and their situation.

Have your door open to listen to people who have ideas. I get pitched charitable efforts by various people. Sometimes I share them, sometimes I don’t. We all have limitations. I know I do and I know I’d like to be much more charitable than I am. Money wise, anyway. I would like to think I am charitable with my time as I make an effort to help others and to share my knowledge.

Online community is, by and large, about relationship and relationships are what drive us to care and to help others. It’s a powerful thing and it can be used for good. In all sorts of ways. Good in helping people, good in giving people enjoyment, good in helping you to fulfill your dreams and, yes, charitable good, as well.