#CmtyChat Q2 July 17, 2009: How does a CM deal... - CmtyChat

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#CmtyChat Q2 July 17, 2009: How does a CM deal with the challenges of connecting/cultivating community on different platforms?

July 17, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Daniel Johnson, Jr. and Lilian Mahoukou liked this

Should the platform really have that much importance? - Martin Reed

I believe the core ideas of community building aren't limited to platform. - Star Aasved

When is the "spirit of overcommunication" too much? (same msg across Twitter, FBook, email, website, etc.)? Are multiple touch points necessary? - Daniel Johnson, Jr.

I think the platform has an impact, though. Different people like different platforms. - Teresa Basich

Of course, the community is built around the value, content, and conversations within that cmty - but the platform can have a big effect depending on features, etc. - Sonny Gill

Has the company decided what platforms are of most importance and given them focus? In my case, my community is self-contained and connected to a news site. BUT I know that members are elsewhere and connect with some there. I'm pushing for Facebook Connect. I think it depends on a lot here. - Angela

Agreed. You can often reach different people on Facebook than you would on LinkedIn. - Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Martin, I would say it's best (at least at first) to go to the community on their turf, so I think platform is very important. Make it easy for them to get involved. - Mike Whaling

Daniel: multiple "relevant' touch points are, adn they come in different flavors. - Derek Curtis

Teresa - People should be joining a community because of the people there, not the platform it runs on. People don't care about that. - Martin Reed

@Star, @Martin: Not limited to platform, but what if your community is splintered across different places--different blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. - Bryan Person

Take this chat and compare it with Twitter vs. FriendFeed. There are challenges from both platforms. - Sonny Gill

Teresa, while that is true to some extent in the initial contact session, I believe that if a community is doing the right thing in terms of engaging users, the platform will lose importance. - Star Aasved

@Martin Good point! Objective & strategy are more important and thus should come first before technology. - Patricia Ooi

I find that different followers are on different sites, i.e twitter ,facebook etc. so send one announcement to all works - Michael Woodrum

@Angela - good point, as it really is subjective on the type of community you're building and what the goals are. - Sonny Gill

I think us SM types and many in the circle come to expect getting multiple instances of the same msg as a "necessary evil". - Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Martin and Star -- So maybe that's where Sonny's question comes in? In what ways do you engage to bypass that initial awkwardness of a platform, or make it less important? I mean, you can take this as an example. - Teresa Basich

Also look beyond the buzz of Facebook and Twitter - what methods are used now that can possibly lead to greater engagement. How can you fix/modify/edit your existing newsletter or forum, help desk system and "how to" articles. - Derek Curtis

Ppls familarity & experience to specific platforms also is a variable. - Jeff Hurt

Community ideally would work across multiple platforms, although it could show up differently eg being adapted for a great mobile experience - Peter Hoffman

Certain platforms are less fertile. It also depends on the members interests and tools available. - Lilian Mahoukou

I look at FB etc is just a way to point to my blog, website etc, just to keep me fresh in their minds - Michael Woodrum

Teresa - Make sure the members and the community is more prominent that the platform (and has more importance). In my opinion, the platform the community runs on should have no importance to its members or the decision new visitors make when considering whether or not to join. - Martin Reed

Teresa, I think if you're finding something of interest here, you'll tend to stick with it, if you can determine how to participate easily enough -- which it seems many of us have done. Content is a key, if the content is good, if people can find content they want to comment/expand upon, there will be success. - Star Aasved

So using this chat as an example: We're experimenting with FriendFeed vs Twitter because we felt threaded comments would benefit the conversation. So far, it seems like at least that is true compared to Twitter's platform. - Sonny Gill

I agree, Sonny. It's easier to manage the threads this way. - Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Agreed Sonny -- found it a bit awkward at first, but wanting to participate was the driving factor. - Star Aasved

@Derek: Agreed, the goal should ultimately be to get those users back to a forum on your site, etc. Have a hub that you can drive everyone to, from whatever platform where they originally find you. - Mike Whaling

Sonny - Right. But people joined because they wanted to be involved with Community Chat. No matter where you moved it to, people would have followed. - Martin Reed

Great point, Star. The content really makes any awkwardness of a new platform take a backseat. Thanks! - Teresa Basich

Re: multiple platforms... Many need to see/read/hear a message multiple times before taking action. - Daniel Johnson, Jr.

@Sonny Gill, it's working for threaded yet other pros & cons. I'm struggling with it though. And I want to converse with Community Chat. - Jeff Hurt

Daniel - or, perhaps, to buy into it. - Star Aasved

@Martin - Fairly true, but there are differences. The people I see here I see on Twitter, but the conversation, due to the format, is definitely different. - Sonny Gill

Look at Plenty of Fish - (are they a 'community'?). People always complain about the awkwardness of their platform. Hasn't dented their success though. - Martin Reed

@Jeff - I understand. We know there are going to be likes and dislikes with us trying FriendFeed out. And we want to hear that from everyone here. - Sonny Gill

One point of potential distraction here is the multiple threads going on and trying to keep up with all of them. Anyone else having trouble with that? - Bryan Person

@sonny finding it difficult to follow several threads at once when I want to see stream of what ppl are discussing like in Twitter whether this thread or others. So it's narrowing opportunity for me. - Jeff Hurt

@BryanPerson threading great for organized archive, but hard to follow as it's happening. - Daniel Johnson, Jr.

There doesn't seem to be a way to limit the number of threads going on at once. I'm the admin, but that option isn't available. - Bryan Person

I think you need to go where the conversations are happening, and adapt to whatever tools people are using. Today's event is a perfect example. - Lou Ordorica

@Daniel: Agreed. - Bryan Person

Bryan, I can follow the two threads that are currently on-screen, but scrolling makes it tough to follow more than that. - Star Aasved

@Bryan Yep, I am. Seems great for a static conversation that people can reply to any time. Not sure about live convo yet. - Jeff Hurt

Good points Bryan and Jeff. That is somewhat of a challenge, to keep up with all the threads. - Sonny Gill

Also agree with Daniel, this will be great for later ... but tough to follow in the moment. - Mike Whaling

Good point, Lou. Adaptability is key. - Teresa Basich

What do you think of one Twitter DM sent to members of a group? DM often thought of as 1 to 1, but in this case it's 1 to many. Some in my cmty didn't like that. - Daniel Johnson, Jr.

@Lou Agreed. We should start to take advantage of our listening work at first, and then go where the conversations take place. - Lilian Mahoukou

Re: platform, in my experience non-tech-savvy community members gain comfort in one place & will drop out rather than switch if platform changes. CM can't assume members are *only* about the people and connections. - Marcia Conner

Lilian -- I think listening is a discovery process that can be exhilarating! I'm amazed at how little I actual really know the more I study the conversations and connect with groups and individuals. - Lou Ordorica

I think there's more to listening than just saying you're listening to folks. I think it takes an acknowledgement of the ppl you're listening to. I also think ppl in social media have "listening fatigue" because it's so overused as term right now. - Jeff Hurt

Are you suggesting "listening" has become a cliche? :) - Bryan Person

Jeff, I think listening is the starting point - you need to be able to hear in order to act. Yes, acknowledgment is important as well, but until you understand the various currents that are floating, you can't engage with any authenticity. - Star Aasved

You need to prove you're listening by engaging in real conversations. People will then know whether you are *really* listening or not. - Martin Reed

@staraasved - it's just like any other relationship, personal or professional. You're right. - Derek Curtis

Back to the question... having a way to monitor changes in conversation across multiple platforms is essential, whether through RSS or email notifications. Otherwise you'll be spending your entire day checking for new comments across the multiple channels. - Daniel Johnson, Jr.

I mean, if you're getting paid to do that, it's one thing. I feel, though, we're striving for more efficiency here. - Daniel Johnson, Jr.

@Daniel: Some communities really are confined to one platform. But increasingly these days, it seems, things are spreading out across multiple platforms - Bryan Person

Daniel - I've built "listening dashboards" that aggregated conversations from blogs, social networks, etc and used these to report on brand mentions, what competitors are saying, trends and "bullets". Very effective tool, I need to put together a slideshare on how to do this. - Lou Ordorica

@Martin - Should the platform have that much importance? It does if it creates barriers to people being able to freely chat. IMO, this vehicle created new barriers to me and I found I could not respond in adequate time. - Jeff Hurt

Jeff: Agreed that there were times that keeping up with all the messages was a bit of a challenge. I think (and hope) this will get easier in subsequent weeks. The difficulties could also have been because you were new to the platform? - Bryan Person