As long as newspapers offer less each day- less news, less great writing, less graphic innovation, fewer photos- then they’re giving readers few reasons to pay for the paper itself. With our prototype, we aim to make the physical object so beautiful and luxurious that it will seem a bargain at $1. – gawker
It’s interesting because there is so much for free out there. It has fast become the norm. But how good is free really?
Free almost naturally loses the quality that we once upon a time expected. Everything is rushed. The competition is tough. It’s about being first, not the best. Just like Dave talks about a different experience for printed newspapers. I’d like to see different and better experiences online.
All the things that I desire for aren’t available because everyone seems to be trying to cater for an audience of thousands and millions. I want them to cater for me. Mostly me and perhaps some others
It would be nice if we all knew each other a bit better. Put a face to the avatars, but more importantly know the personality behind these people communicating on the web and to have some kind of trust with them.
My younger son (aged 4) is such a copycat. He looks up to his older brother (aged 5) in adoration and will often mimic his every word and move.
You may think this copycat syndrome is just for kids. It is clearly not. It’s visible all around the social web.
It’s not a bad thing to adopt what others are doing, but only if it is suitable for your context.
Organisations quickly jump up to create a Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Bebo, YouTube, etc presence. They happily link into them and shout about how ‘socially aware they are with the web’, but upon quick invesitigation there is nothing worth the effort to look into further.
If you create a Twitter account that you widely promote be sure you Tweet.
If you create a YouTube account be sure you have some kind of video to post.
You catch my drift.
You will look worse if you maintain a dead social media account, so why not focus on what you know you can deliver?
Heather Champ, Director of Community for Flickr, shares her experiences in shepherding passionate communities at HICK Tech 2008 in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. In this keynote presentation Ms. Champ shows you how Flickr has learned their most valuable lessons: Own it; Don’t wait; Change is hard; Avoid creating super-villains; and Embrace chaos
Are you doing something good or perhaps something that people (apparently) like. Perhaps you have a cool online community. Or a very useful blog. Or sell some nice products nicely package with top customer service.
Should you have to ask people to spread the word for you?
I recently got asked to RT (retweet) something on Twitter. I didn’t do it. Not anything against the person or organisation that made the request (they’re actually doing good stuff), but it’s more against my principles. I’m happy to spread the word when I feel it is right for me, my brand and the people that may be following me.
You are probably doing something not quite right if you find yourself asking people to review your product. Or to write an article on it. Or to tweet about it.
A great way to let your community grow is to keep your members happy. If they are happy they won’t think twice about promoting your online community or business for free (and with pleasure).
The world often gets too carried away with the latest and coolest website getting all the attention.
Facebook worked well initially because it was friends you already knew that you were connecting to. It probably doesn’t work as well (or is used very differently) for those that use it to keep in touch with anyone and everyone willing to be their ‘friend’.
LinkedIn originally worked well because people were connecting with people they had worked with. I feel it doesn’t work as well now (or is now serving a different purpose) as people strive to get as many contacts as possible without considering the important quality angle.
Relationships take time to build. We have the technology available to make it easier to find the people we want to connect with. However it doesn’t mean the process of building your community of friends (social or business) is any easier.
We still have to deal with normal human behaviour, which is frankly quite complex and takes time to evolve into a sound relationship.
Technology can help us do this, but it certainly can’t do it for us.
A cup of coffee is an opportunity to meet someone, talk about a few other things, make a friend or a business acquaintance. Done right, the face to face reference check is a lot more than a reference check. It’s a way to grow your network and your business. And it’s also the best way to find out exactly what you need to know about a person you want to hire, invest in, or otherwise go into business with. – Fred Wilson
10 years ago it was hard and expensive to create any decent kind of online presence. Now everything is so easy and minimal technical know how is needed to get things started.
I remember working on projects that seemed to take forever to agree on, create and launch. They cost tens of thousands to make. The actual impact post launch was minimal.
Clients realised after the launch that they should have done things differently.
Big launches…
The problem with big launches are that expectations are high. Perfection is expected. If you don’t reach certain ambitious goals then it (and you) will be seen as a failure.
Start small…
Instead of spending money on something that your team thinks will work, why not use the time launching something simple and reaching out to understand what people actually want or need.
Make them feel special by implementing features that they request.
Communicate to your fans. Listen to what they say. Action your words. Provide great customer service.
It’s not the technology that will make you stand out. That’s now the easy part. It’s your down to earth people skills.
There’s a perception that everything on the web has to be big and mostly free to be a success.
The problem with this is that with so many online communities fighting for your attention then nothing much differentiates them and it all becomes incredibly boring and saturated.
So imagine online communities:
that were private
that were small
where people actually knew or supported each other
where you really felt that community managers knew and cared
where you got real value for money because you weren’t just another cog in the machine
Communities like these start to feel real. Kind of like the corner or coffee shop in your area. Something that you can’t see yourself live without and wouldn’t hesitiate to pay for.
