ManagingCommunities.com

President Trump Just Made a Direct Threat to Online Communities

Patrick — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 05:05:22 +0000

President Trump made a pretty direct threat to online communities today. Twitter “SHADOW BANNING” prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2018 Shadow banning (or global ignore), which is not an “illegal practice,” is when you allow someone […]

I Spent Some Time on White Supremacist Twitter

Patrick — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 18:59:59 +0000

I recently found my way over to white supremacist Twitter because I saw a retweet of a story about one of the white supremacists complaining that they were banned from GoFundMe. He kept whining and calling for a boycott, and urging “right wing people” and “Trump supporters” to join him. He tagged GoFundMe. Here’s how […]

Facebook’s “Community” Announcements and the Reality of Facebook Groups

Patrick — Sat, 24 Jun 2017 19:33:23 +0000

My immediate reaction to Facebook’s “community” announcements: Great. I like Facebook. Words are cool, but as we sit here today, group admins have an exceptionally poor toolset, provided by the world’s 8th most valuable company. When I say that Facebook Group admins don’t have the tools of forum admins in 2000, I’m not being hyperbolic. […]

How to Confirm Email Addresses Without Interrupting Onboarding

Patrick — Mon, 16 May 2016 10:50:52 +0000

With community member accounts, a confirmed email address is a wonderful thing to have. Yes, you can use it for notifications and to contact the member. But just as important, it’s an account security issue. If the member ever has trouble accessing their account, confirmed contact information might be the only way for you to […]

Your Community’s Buddy Bench

Patrick — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 10:50:42 +0000

An elementary school in Saskatoon, Canada has a green bench in their playground. They call it the buddy bench. If you can’t find a friend or a group to join, or you’re feeling lonely, you can just sit on the bench. At which point, other kids will see you, and you’ll be talking to someone […]

Genius: $56.9 Million in Funding, 6+ Years to Add a Report Abuse Button

Patrick — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 10:50:14 +0000

Genius, the popular service best known for its community-sourced explanations of song lyrics, launched in October of 2009. They are powered by user-generated content (UGC), where anyone can simply highlight a passage of text and add an annotation. They have raised at least $56.9 million in funding. It took them 6 and a half years […]

Why Do Community Professionals Burnout?

Patrick — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 10:50:30 +0000

Why do so many online community professionals choose to leave the profession behind? Is there something about the role that makes burnout more common? An acquaintance of mine was pondering this recently. He wasn’t talking about people who are leaving for greener pastures – he was talking about those who have had enough. Here’s what […]

Community Software Could Offer a Sandbox for New Members

Patrick — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 10:50:06 +0000

When a new member enters your community, what should they do first? What will encourage them to contribute and help them feel more comfortable in doing so? Online community onboarding efforts vary. Frankly, a lot of new members are effectively thrown right into the community. Some communities might go a bit deeper. Perhaps they make […]

I Don’t Build Addictive, Habit-Forming Online Communities

Patrick — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 10:50:55 +0000

I am wary of people who talk about building online communities, social apps, and related services, in an “addictive” or “habit-forming” way, as if these are respectable goals. Speaking for my own personal responsibility, I am not comfortable with it. If you do a Google search and read about addiction, terms related to it and […]

Do You Have Call Deflection or Call Accumulation?

Patrick — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 10:50:08 +0000

Call deflection is very often used to prove the ROI of community efforts, especially those tied to support. The idea is that, when someone receives an answer to their question in the community, instead of calling you on the phone, you save money because it costs you less to provide that answer. This could also […]