Austin Hill › Comments

I think this is good to happen now. takes the pressure off the tech sector performance and puts it on problems that have been building since late 70's. - SolidSmack from twhirl

Sure, if people get distracted from the real work of building their companies by all this turmoil, they'll fail. But it's the same bunch that will already be distracted by something. - Mitch Ratcliffe from twhirl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Dave Winer

loic, what do you think? it has got to have an effect on the scene, don't you think? - Şekip Can Gökalp from twhirl

There will be a shake out of bad business models, lifestyle business companies (feature based companies) that didn't deserve large venture rounds and unfortunately some legitimate companies who might have survived in more risk tolerant times will suffer. But this is the 3rd tech / market downturn I've been through as an entrepreneur, and each time my companies and those of friends grew in these times and came out stronger. Many of the big success stories of recent memory occurred grew out of the 2001-2003. - Austin Hill

I don't think it'll disappear but no doubt in my mind that it'll shrink. - Patricia

I've seen maybe 3 downturns- and in each, innovators and entrepreneurs are separated, the wheat from the chaff, and those that survive are stronger for it. It's always an interesting time. Everyone seems to be starting a social media company now- as folks hunker down and get IBM-style jobs, others will stand out from the crowds. @Austin ++ - anna sauce

It may hasten the demise of those that were weak or prevent weak ones from securing funding. Disappear? No. As noted above, we are on the cusp of a tech bubble one way or the other IMO. Far too many start-ups have that 1.0 mentality of ... build the brand, get the eyeballs, and figure out monetization later. When a critical mass of these types of startups exist you know a correction isn't far off. - AJ Kohn

On 9/11, I was walking down to the Potomac River to try and get a better view of the Pentagon on fire. I walked past a building and saw some suits going in with a suitcase and a presentation 'tube' and slides and I remember saying to myself 'what kind of person is actually conducting business on a day like today'. I later found out that was the question VCs were asking for the next few months--what kind of startup thinks they can get funding in a time like this. Unfortunately we're now in a similar time. - Andrew Leyden

Don't forget it costs a lot less to make startups these days. A reduction in available capital isn't as critical now as it would have been not too long ago. It is a bigger issue for small companies trying to get medium and medium to large, however. - Louis Gray

Could get ugly, start-ups might need a business model other than being acquired. - tim

I think it will really get ugly. - Loic Le Meur

On the bright side, there's going to be good money to be made in automation and software that can drive cost savings in companies. - kris. nuttycombe

Most startups will fail. This is always true. - Soulhuntre from twhirl

@Loic: Ugly or not, we are sure to become more creative. - Loren Heiny

Loic it is an experience that counts! If you do not make it in one company you go to the next! This is what business is about. - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

i doubt it will disappear... might slow down a bit, but we'll see. (not if i have anything to do with it tho) - dave mcclure

Just communication through a piece of iron.:) - Igor Poltavskiy

Thought-provoking post! I think humans are subject to a certain amount of "copying behavior" -- what my dad used to call "monkey see, monkey do." I know I've seen someone tweet or comment on FriendFeed about waffles or cheeseburgers or some random food item, and the next day I've found myself strangely craving it. :-D So in one sense social media can end up as yet another advertising medium (thank you Google). - Karim

But the potential is there for someone to also comment on how they are donating time or money to some virtuous, philanthropic effort, and that can encourage copying behavior as well. Social media can also encourage giving. It doesn't *have* to be all flash mobs and viral ads. It may just really reflect ourselves, en masse. - Karim

What powers a lot of social media is the idea of reciprocal altruism. I link to you, you link to me. I see someone post a funny clip on Youtube and I find a mashup of similar funny clips to upload myself. I see someone has changed something on Wikipedia, which encourages me to participate and do the same. This what anthropologists and economists call gift economies, because work that otherwise could have monetary rewards are done for social reasons. So it's give & take, but reciprocity powers the system - Austin Hill

You can get your own too (it's free!): http://shop.akoha.com/product... - Vincent X

very cool! just ordered. :-) - Corie

Another picture I took that was kinda hidden: http://friendfeed.s3.amazonaws.com/77b3986... (gotta click on the button with arrows for it to show up) - Vincent X

Welcome to Akoha Vincent. Great pics. Glad to have you be a part of our playtesting community. - Austin Hill

Thanks Austin! Great to see another exciting startup based in Montreal. - Vincent X

I like that you have a soundboard next to your keyboard. - Pete Delucchi

wow that sounds like fun and something to get us out of the house during the fall/winter. i just signed up for the beta. i also just ordered mine. how long does it take to arrive? - Admiral Anika

I ordered mine on September 4, it was shipped on Sept.19, and I received the package on Friday, Sept. 26. - Vincent X

thanks vincent, i was just hoping i wouldn't have to wait 6 - 8 weeks. - Admiral Anika

I just signed up too, the concept is interesting, and I like the idea of the social "WTF" aspect of it. - Haggis (Sean Loyless)

I'm completely hooked. My kit also arrived today, already played three cards ;-) - Marcos Marado

That's pretty cool and a fun/funny idea. - Alex Scoble

cool concept - mikepk

Damn. That is a very cool idea! :) - AJ Batac

I ordered mine. Can't wait to get it! :-) -

This looks addicting. - Rodfather

Cool! - Brandon Titus

Is this like training for introverts on how to be extroverted? A 12-step program? :) - Lindsay

Wow I wish my youth group had something like that. - Rachel R.

Rachel: create akoha accounts for them! - Marcos Marado

No I can't really yet, until I had check it all out more thoroughly myself first. ;) - Rachel R.

@Rachel We'd love to have you check it out, but at this time we are focused on more late-teen/adult themed missions. The need for safety when involved teens in a reality based game has caused us to delay missions & decks focused on teen demographics until we can build a safe segregated area for them. We don't want adults playing "Invite someone to drinks" with a young teen. We've begun speaking with teachers about a moderated set of mission kits & area for them to play with students. - Austin Hill

Good to know, @Austin; that's why I didn't say yes immediately to you @Marcos Marado. - Rachel R.

This is an awesome idea. I'd really like to try it out. Hope it will catch on. It's a little like geocaching, but a bit more practical. - Kamilah Gill

Can we turn it into a "I want to see Twitter die a Trillion Deaths" call for action. Megaphoning brain vomits FTL. - Mona Nomura

Kyle this is not a joke - I have taken us to Defcon 2 - Allen Stern

I'm getting my strap on. - jeneane sessum

oh yea Robert's a terrible role model...Gettin' all drunk like that in public! ha! :*) - Susan Beebe

WTF? - David Ward

I'm still trying to figure out if there is sarcasm somewhere in here.. - Kyle Lacy

Ban that jerk! - Robert Scoble

@Kyle I just had my Sarcasometer recalibrated last week, and it is registering none... - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

My friends in the cab says "I would f### you up." (@rocmanusa). - Robert Scoble

haha @ Sarcasomete.. but Robert liked it.. lol - Kyle Lacy

Will there be pitchforks? A real protest requires pitchforks . . . and hot dogs! Oh, and it needs more cowbell, too, I don't think there is enough cowbell in this protest. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Waddya know! Even Robert Scoble wants to ban Robert Scoble. - Helen Sventitsky

I am glad, for the general population of the greater Boston area, that Robert is in a cab... - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

scoble dont worry about bringing it because its already been broughten - Allen Stern

I think we should delay the ban and focus on the serious issues plaguing our country - like why Robert Scoble won't Qik his drunken adventures. - Shawn Farner

i'd do shots with scoble and stern :) - Patricia

Can his butt off the A-list...actually that would probably be like dropping Admiral Kirk to Captain and giving him back command of his Enterprise - Alex Scoble

+Fitty Brian! - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

patricia - i prefer not to be around scoble, all we will hear about is his 40,000 followers and how his followers dictate who he is, etc. but i will drink with you anytime! - Allen Stern

nice trolling, lol :-) - Duncan Riley

Brian - "brung" is the past participle of "broughten" so in my usage, my usage is the correct usage. - Allen Stern

+1 to Allen for using participle - Kyle Lacy

Interesting way to maybe get couple days off:) - Barbara Duck from twhirl

Petitions are so 1.0 - Johnny Worthington

yeah! let's drink to that patricia! :D - AJ Batac

Commenting for posterity. This will go down as the pinnacle of Trolling on FriendFeed. And it turns into an awesomely funny conversation about semantics and bewilderment. - Stu Andrews

"broughten" is actually correct. Let's bring down the Scoble empire. - B. Hatin

Of course Scoble wants to join. He's the first to join anything. Now try to make him chairman and responsible for the organization and that would make me laugh :) - Austin Hill

wait - next scoble will tell us that he is behind this - Allen Stern

I'm behind this...Who else would do such a thing to my brother? - Alex Scoble

Alex!! - LOL!! - Susan Beebe

ban Scobelizer for president? - rob friedman

No idea what you're talking about. I only follow Alex. - Charlie Anzman

Listen, Scoble is just calling a Time Out, so he can go to Washington and solve the financial crisis... - Indio Apache from twhirl

I'm so confused. - Shelly Weiss

Blame Scoble ..both of 'em. ;) - Jeremiah Owyang

interesting how there is 38 comments and 9 likes - yet i can't get any of you to like my content - hmm... - Allen Stern

Therefore being "relentless in promoting a new idea" (the idea of the community) and "inherently hyperactive" - Bjoern Negelmann

@brianoberkirch check out The Four Tenets of the Community Manager http://www.web-strategist.com/blog... - Jeremiah Owyang

Discussing with community leaders - Igor Poltavskiy

Community managers mediate between community members! - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

Well don't community managers manage communities? - Wayne Schulz

My favorite part of the role is sifting through all the great feature requests and recommendations, getting free user feedback on how to make your product better. - Adam Darowski

http://conniebensen.com/blog... - joshuabacker

Suggest they be called something else. You don't MANAGE your community, you serve it. - shelisrael1

I like Shel's answer! ;-) - Igor The Troll יִצְחָק

Smartly ride herd on the cattle, the cowboys, the ponies and the coyotes--y(ou can tell I've been in Colorado too long from this answer, can't you?) - susan mernit

Shel, we agree the term isn't a good one. In my case, HR needed to have the term manager in the books for the title. We all know the real rules of engagement. - Jeremiah Owyang

Damage Control. - Geoff Schultz

Ask HR. Are they Human Managers? (well in a sense they are). By parallel the title could be Manager, Community Relations - Michael Markman

Found enough good stuff in links & commentary here & twitter to do a (gasp) blog post on this. You remember those, right? - Brian Oberkirch

Most companies I've studied are horrible at bootstrapping community. They don't know how to get one going. But they are fairly good at managing things that are already built. So, a community manager is someone who keeps an already-existing community happy. Who listens to the community and takes care of problems. Who finds new content and other things for that community, IE, who feeds that community. Here on FF we're ALL community managers due to the distributed nature of how FF works. - Robert Scoble

@Robert I couldn't agree more. Been on both ends. Was moderator for a huge board for a couple of rock stars and did exactly as you say. That community thrived because they wanted to be there. Nothing I did generated that. I only maintained it. I sure learned the difference when I tried to start communities for several other orgs! - Melanie Reed

Way back in the day I "managed" several mailing lists (I still miss majordomo, btw), most of which were very focused. It's really more like herding cats than cattle. A largely thankless job that you do because you have a passion for the topic at hand. Community managers, if up to the task, can keep the channel clear of enough noise for the community leaders' signal to get through. - ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ

They hang out in the community and rep the company and its products. Apologizes if the company screws up. Encourages people to choose the company's products over the others. Helps people find the right person in the company to work with. Retains their humanity, and generally takes the customer's side whenever possible. Quits if the company acts in an unprincipled way, so they act as a guarantor of the honesty of the company. A canary in the coalmine. Best if it's the CEO of the company. - Dave Winer

We call the roll Community Gardener since they need to plant the right seeds, ensure water & sunlight and a healthy environment. That includes tending to weeds, ensuring that things that will pollute the healthy growth of the community do not take hold. - Austin Hill

The Real Community Manager is Proselytes Maker - Lora Lufark