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Wednesday Aug 02, 2006
Creating community contributions
With the growing number of people setting up online communities, especially with the current 2.0 dash, we often get asked at YouthNet, through our work on TheSite.org, for some advice on how to set up and manage community offerings.
As the community manager I've been considering this for quite a while, so I thought it might be worth outlining a few pointers to how I think you can achieve a positive community offering.
Think about why you are doing what you are doing
If you’re planning to set up a community, then make sure you know why. The reason behind your service is going to determine how you run it, whether it’s moderated before or after post, who you want to encourage to take part; everything basically.
Remember who makes a community
Websites are run by companies or charities, but communities are made of real people. You need to maintain a balance of control over what goes on in a community and respecting and understanding your members. Without them, you’ve got nothing, so make sure they can shape what happens.
You’re never perfect
In your community you won’t always be liked by your members, you won’t always be agreed with, and you won’t always get it right. You should be ready to listen to any complaints people might have, and you shouldn’t ever be too proud to say sorry.
Be honest and open
Getting people to look in on your community can be managed with advertising, with incentives, but getting people to stay is much harder. One thing that matters is that people feel they are in a place they can trust. By being open and honest and making sure any changes or developments involve your users then everyone remains part of a community, rather than simply an audience to target news and promotions at.
Posted by Jim Valentine ( 3:41 PM ) Link to this post Comments[0]