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Cultivating Community @ mesh08

Started at @ 5/22/2008 5:19:14 PM
Last Post @ 5/22/2008 9:09:16 PM
  • Communities are powerful things, and online communities that form around a company, product or service can use their power in a positive or a negative way. How do online communities form, and what can companies do to try and ensure that their effects are mainly positive? Is it possible to build or create a community, or do they emerge organically and resist cultivation? What are some of the successful strategies companies have used? Join a discussion with George Tsiolis of Agoracom, an online investment community for small cap companies, Derek Szeto of RedFlagDeals, 'Canada's Bargain Hunting Community', and Christopher Jackson of Epitome Pictures, which runs an online community for fans of the TV show Degrassi - The Next Generation, moderated by Jen Evans.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:31:51 PM
  • Getting started...
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:31:58 PM
  • Introducing the panel...
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:32:24 PM
  • George: Agoracom: overcome challenges of investment communities
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:33:08 PM
  • Derek: Runs RedFlagDeals
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:33:21 PM
  • Chris: Online community for Degrassi fans
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:33:47 PM
  • How large are your communities?
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:33:55 PM
  • Chris: Licenses degrassi content worldwide. Degrassi.tv is the community for Canada. Coordinates digital licensees worldwide. Canadian community = 210K registered years since 2001 (1st season of Degrassi). 930K users have registered, 210K active.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:34:18 PM
  • Derek: Help communities save $, find best promotions. Do that through their community. 1.4M/month uniques. 23M pageviews/month. Focussed on Canadian shopping.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:35:46 PM
  • George: Created great community from niche community. Specialize in small cap companies. 140K unique visitors/month. Claim to fame: got rid of spam/flamming (Web 1.0 problems). How? 2 tier: 1) in shortterm, can allow all that to happen, 2) in longterm, diminishing return. Community focussed on companies, monthly fees from companies to host micro-communities and that pays for moderation, etc. Poached ppl from competitors
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:36:55 PM
  • How deal with younger demographic? @Derek
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:41:00 PM
  • Derek: Use community moderators. We get to see issues that are bubbling up via community. Moderators = part of the community but do not get paid (just a Christmas gift).
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:41:08 PM
  • How do you handle the moderation (for a younger demographic website)? @Chris
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:42:46 PM
  • Chris: No community can be 100 %safe, but we try to come as close as we can. Have team of 5 moderators. 3 min delay on all posts. Moderators can mod while on the road via mobile. Somewhat rely on community to police itself. Degrassi: a show with good social values; community takes pride in those values and strives to uphold them. Any user can flag content.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:43:05 PM
  • How do you develop those policies? Cocreated with community?
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:45:09 PM
  • Derek: When we started, we tried one form and it didn't work so we restarted. Had to see how ppl used it and build around that.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:45:29 PM
  • George: Took Chris' approach: 6 simple rules of use (no spamming, no flamming,etc). But rules aren't important, it's the enforcement that matters. Must stick to your rules so don't bred confusion.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:46:44 PM
  • Chris: For Degrassi, it was "top down". Couldn't leave it to the community to determine the rules. "Degrassi Code of Conduct" = less rules, more philosophies e.g. "don't make someone feel small". Hard for moderators to enforce, but the community watches for stuff like that. Existing users champion the philosophies for new users coming from FB (more free).
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:47:28 PM
  • Did you have to scale your moderators?
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:49:52 PM
  • Derek: For sure, 1,200-1,500 user growth per month = need more moderators.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:50:22 PM
  • Chris: Same moderation team since 2001. They really don't have a problem determining what is inappropriate. Teen forums like real life = "lots of hair pulling". Biggest problem is context; mods are seeing posts one at a time. They err on the side of caution.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:50:49 PM
  • George: Community getting so big = introduced a reputation system. 100s of community moderators based on reputation score. Some parts of community a little more loose, so outside moderators wouldn't understand that = so they put 2-3 moderators per community.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:52:03 PM
  • How does community interact? Web-based primarily?
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:53:38 PM
  • Chris: Primarily HTML discussion boards. The show is the thing = there to foster communication about the show. Just launched 3D virtual world (VSide -partner)
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:53:53 PM
  • Derek: We don't want to necessarily build stuff. Integrate tools out there, that ppl know already, into their CMS.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:56:54 PM
  • How do you continue to sustain interest over time?
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:57:45 PM
  • George: Make sure you are fully immersed in your community, into conversations. Use it yourself. Do you structure the way you immerse yourself in the community? No, "our involvement isn't structured at all". Have a separate forum for ppl with admin power.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 5:58:12 PM
  • Derek: It's content for them. Want to help retailers sell more product, consumers to be more informed.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:00:19 PM
  • What are your business models?
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:00:58 PM
  • Chris: Not revenue driven. Cost is seen by networks as promotional (like subway ads). Poor revenue back in community to maintain it.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:01:54 PM
  • Derek: Try to monetize where we can. Advertising around content. Affiliate links in threads and discussion = generate commission on a sale. Some of best ads on site are best deals. Ask advertisers to open discussion up.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:03:57 PM
  • George: When we created a community, we created a business model. Viewed advertising as not sufficient. Asked themselves:"How do we make a community that's valuable for someone to be a part of?" Ask yourself how to make money from the beginning. Go knock on doors in the community, offer them a value-added business tool ("you want to be here").
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:05:51 PM
  • Do you think community space is going to more niche communities?
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:09:06 PM
  • George: "I think it is niche." Yahoo has shown that that model has dimensed returns; they do too many things too thin.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:09:17 PM
  • Derek: Thinks they are very niche too. Can't get too niche or there won't be a business model to support that.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:10:15 PM
  • Chris: The show is the unifying force, "it's all about being a team." "It is a nice...our play is to stay a niche". Hope to make niche as big as possible.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:11:37 PM
  • Question from audience: @George: How did ppl, you lured away (from Stockhouse community), find out about you?
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:12:21 PM
  • George: Created a 5 min Powerpoint presentation on "how we can make you a rockstar". Reached out to higher profile ppl, then "let it take off on its own" from there. Don't be afraid of competition. "They had our target market; we wanted them....We never spammed". It's about salesmanship.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:12:52 PM
  • Question: Do you think Degrassi self-moderates because of reputation of the show? Would it work with another program?
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:15:19 PM
  • Chris: Would depend on what code of conduct was developed. Our code of conduct was developed before the community was opened. Some users regard their community as a safe-haven; in some examples, they tell us things they wouldn't tell anyone. They have partnered with KidsHelpPhone. What do you do when a kid is on there bearing their soul?
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:16:03 PM
  • George: No matter what your community is, how wholesome it is, we live in a world where ppl fight with each other. Expect there are going to be ppl that are passionate about the topic and see things from diff points of view = you are going to have to step in at some point.
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:19:16 PM
  • END/applause
    by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 6:20:11 PM
  • by Jonathan Keebler (Live) at 5/22/2008 9:09:16 PM
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