A couple of useful links for community editors (or aspiring community editors):Tish of the Constant Observer shares her Seven Traits of Highly Effective Community Developers. I know some of ours might not be keen on number 3:
3. Must enjoy technology. These days, the tools of digital media are (or should be) easy to learn. Your community manager will understand -- and be able to adapt quickly to -- upgrades in tools. She or he also might suggest new tools, and will learn new tools pretty quickly.Meanwhile Howard Owens shares some tips for newspaper people new to community management. I like this one:
Participate. When a reader posts incorrect information, offer up a correction or clarification. When a reader posts an assertion that would benefit from factual support, ask for it. When someone makes a statement that reminds you of an interesting quote or event that didn't make your story, leave your own comment about it. Your participation not only makes the conversation more interesting, and keeps people coming back, it gives you credibility when it comes time to play cop.One day I'll figure out why that one is so hard for journalists. And then I'll become a consultant and make a fortune... :)
June 18, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply
Adam - I am going to surprise you and say that I do agree with number three. But I like the fact that Tish adds that people, rather than technology, should come first.
I'm claiming that's part of my problem - I spend too much of my time participating in my community and not enough time looking for new tools and trying them out...!
June 18, 2008 12:10 PM | Reply
Well, at least that gives Andrew and I a reason for living... :-)
June 18, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply
Hi Adam...and thanks for the link! A bit to Howard's point--some newspapers simply don't think through the idea of participation and that their newsroom staff, who are doing something different from talking to people about a story, might need a guideline on how to handle things. If there's no guideline, people are going to hesitate for fear of Transgressing the Unwritten Law and losing their jobs. Further, some papers might not want their staff participating--even though the staff might want to participate. From what I've been observing, whether or not staff participates depends on what upper management has to say about it.
As for my #3 point--believe it or not, that comes out of my own luddite tendencies of avoiding Twitter. which I shouldn't be doing. that may change...
June 18, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply
Tish,
We certainly see problems with journalists not wanting to join in, even when management are encouraging it. I do think it's a fear thing, though, with people not wanting to put themselves "out there", into personal exposure. Which is kinda weird when your job involves publishing to thousands of people...
And come join us on Twitter! It'd be great to have you in that conversation.
June 18, 2008 11:20 PM | Reply
I think that point five also has some resonance,especially the need to "listen carefully" and observe the community we host. Everyday is a learning process and failure can sometimes be the best way to learn the pressure points of your community.
Maybe that's just me though, a tryer :-)
June 19, 2008 6:31 PM | Reply
Yeah. I think use of terms like "our community" is non-useful, because we don't own them - they own it, and we just provide facilities for it. And you have to listen to what they want.