The tide is turning. People are finally realizing that the online communities they’ve left abandoned could probably use some attention. I don’t know if this is due to frustrations with Facebook or mounting concerns over the fact that they’ve put all of their eggs in someone else’s basket and not enough in their own. It seems logical to try to build your community on existing platforms, especially when you constantly hear about their size and the same old case studies about the success of company A or company B and how you too could be capitalizing on all of these millions of people waiting to interact with your brand. The reason I say the tide is turning is that I’ve been tapped quite a bit recently to help with engagement tac

ReadWriteWeb posted fascinating results about the use of third-party logins earlier this week revealing  that Facebook dominates all others. What that means is people are opting to login to other websites using their Facebook credentials more so than others. But, when it comes to news sites, Facebook falls way behind. It seems that when using a third-party login to post on a news site, Twitter is the clear winner, with only 25% using Facebook.  Now, keep in mind that this is only the people who use a third-party login. I’m sure a great deal have separate logins for their favorite news sites that are independent of their social networks. That’s important to note. This news isn’t surprising to me at all, thanks to my behind the

This isn’t intended to be a rant against my former employer; they did what they had to do, much of which involved figuring out next steps for the community and how they’d like to see it develop going forward. That, I understand since, after all no one knows the struggles better than me, the person who launched and managed it from its infancy.  At the end of the day, you have to make good business decisions, and they are known for doing just that. But here is a post from a community member asking them to bring on another community manager, and since we discuss this type of thing here all the time, it is truly my duty to share it. GOLO since Angela has left, blogs mysteriously disappear, people get promoted, we write and ask wh

The only excuse for having stale content in your online community is apathy. And that’s not even a real excuse. If you find yourself saying you don’t have time, then ask yourself this question: Why did I create the community in the first place? When you can’t be bothered to post fresh content in your community, how will you possibly motivate others to do it? A community requires ownership. Internal ownership. It needs someone whose job it is to care, cultivate and connect with the community. This shouldn’t be a difficult concept to grasp, but most communities fail because they are abandoned shortly after launch. I gave a presentation to a group of executives in Geneva, Switzerland two weeks ago (via Skype) about what it takes to

Here is a direct quote from a Cyber Security expert I met at an economic development forum recently: "If you've ever gone through a federal clearance, social media is your worst enemy." He was serious. And you know what? I didn't argue. After all, I've never been through a federal clearance and after he told me about the tongue-lashing he gave his sister for posting a photo of him and his kids on Facebook, I knew he was not to be tested. It is so easy to get caught up in the social media bubble, get social media fever and adopt an attitude that it's the best thing since sliced bread, but for many it isn't, and it can't be. Period. During the course of our conversation he told me that this country really needs to wrap its ar

If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands or even millions of people running an online community on Ning, it’s time to pull out your credit card or look for new digs. The company announced earlier this week that the free model is going away. TechCrunch published the memo issued by Ning CEO Jason Rosenthal and I encourage you to read it. You may recall that I interviewed Mr. Rosenthal back in November when he was Chief Operating Officer of Ning and he had nothing but great things to say about the company’s growth. At any rate, here is an excerpt from the memo announcing the changes: …We will phase out our free service. Existing free networks will have the opportunity to either convert to paying for premium services, or transi

If you're hoping to snag a job as a Community Manager in the near future, it would behoove you to gain a real understanding of all that it entails. It is not a job for the weak, weary or faint-of-heart. If your skin isn't thick enough to handle nasty, hateful trolls who often go for blood, work as an army of one, and gracefully handle the frustrations that come with  being the only person in the organization with a clue about what you do and how you do it, stop reading now. You don't have what it takes. It takes a specific skill set to manage online communities. And I'm not talking about posting updates on a Facebook fan page or managing a Twitter account. I'm not saying that's not a community on some level, but true community managem

Are you working on a new community with big time bells and whistles that caters to a niche that you just know has been waiting for a place to call home? If so, I encourage you to push ahead full steam. But, let me caution you first. Your new community, no matter how great will not change habits. What I mean by this is you will not be able to stop potential members from posting on Facebook or twitter or their favorite Ning community.  If you are assuming that your new community will become the new gathering place for those belonging to the niche, I think you will be disappointed. Can you make it a great destination with robust content and interesting discussions? Absolutely. I know from experience what that kind of commitment can do

Have you ever wondered how some members of your online community (or any community for that matter) can get so overwhelmingly caught up in online drama with people they hardly know?  I know I have. Well, there could be a real, clinical reason behind it, according to a new study, that goes beyond them needing to “get a life.” Psychologists from Leeds University say they’ve found “striking” evidence that some avid internet users develop compulsive  habits in which they replace real-life social interaction with online chat rooms and social networking sites. The lead author of the study wrote in the the journal of Psychopathology that the study “reinforces the public speculation that over-engaging in websites that serve

I have a rogue group of members in my community. They don’t think I know it. But I know it all too well. Their tactics are completely juvenile. They plot against other members, and pat each other on the back when their antics cause others grief. They clearly have a lot of time on their hands. One of the members was once an employee and I believe this person is trying to settle a score by bringing what my grandfather would call “ill-will” to the community, which in this persons mind  causes problems for the company. But that’s another story for another post. I have struggled with handling this group. I just want to kick them all out. They all have alter egos. They present themselves to me in one way, and do a complete 180 whe