What happens when communities don’t exactly behave the way we intended them to? Fighting and bickering is normal and actually healthy for communities. In fact, if your members aren’t squabbling every once in a while, there’s a good chance that your community isn’t all that compelling to people. If they fight, they care. That said when things get out of hand, it’s time to take action. Below are some very insightful and more common reasons people fight along with the proposed solutions (as suggested by TheNextEngine.com):
"When Social Media Attacks!" courtesy of Dan Linabury for TheNextEngine.com
The Golden Child
A new member joins the site who seems to be the ideal member: helpful, smart and full of ideas. They become the golden child overnight. The moderator even pays them special attention, making older members jealous.
Solution: Ensure the moderator mentions all members equally. A smart new member is exciting, but don’t forget the older members who helped make the community what it is.
The Delinquent
A small clique forms that takes opposing views to many of the main goals of the community. Eventually they build up enough support that other members not only take notice, they begin to fear them.
Solution: Pay close attention to this group and be aware of not only what they are saying but where they are saying it. Expect that they may take things of the community and create their own support site or blog. If things get really bad, first banning the group, then banning the trouble-making members may be your best bet to save the community.
Tagged as:
communities,
dan linabury,
social media,
thenextengine.com
I have shoes… and LOTS of them. In fact, there’s probably only one thing I love more than social media and that’s high heels. When it comes to shoes, the higher, the better; the more colorful and unique… the more I have to have them. And if you looked inside of my closet, you would know this to be true. Shoes come in all shapes and sizes, colors and varieties, and it’s essential that you find the right fit. Kind of like social media — giving you a unique identity (think Carrie Bradshaw!), putting a little skip in your step, and adding a little swank to your swagger. And, when have found that combination that fits you perfectly, you will indeed drive conversation. In fact, I have found a lot of commonalities between slipping on a pair of high heels and stepping into social media. Here’s what I’ve found:
Instantly Achieve New Heights
It’s amazing what you can do when you achieve new heights! Most people don’t realize that I’m only 5’1″. And that’s because I almost always wear 4″ heels. In fact, the higher the better. The additional height allows me new visibility on what I’m trying to accomplish. If you’re someone who feels like you’re often looking from the ground up, try slipping into your own pair of social media shoes and see if it doesn’t put you at eye level or even higher than your competitors. Here are some basic methods for achieving new heights:
Tagged as:
personal branding,
social marketing,
social media
Whether it be Facebook’s lack of support for privacy, Google’s invasion of our privacy, or our individual inability to realize we no longer have any privacy… Privacy is a huge topic right now. I argue, though, that it’s not just privacy that is failing us. It’s also our inability to apply good ole common sense.
The latest story regarding an employee who got fired for her Facebook update and the ensuing outrage from her supporters really got me to thinking…If I were sitting at a table telling my friends how much I hated my job and criticized the people with whom I work, and my boss was sitting at the next table overhearing the entire conversation… would I get fired? Probably not. But at the very least, my credibility, reputation and career path would be severely damaged. And my common sense would tell me that it’s probably time to start job searching.
What’s the difference between this situation and displaying your discontentment on Facebook? HUGE. Online communication has taken what used to be conversations in controlled settings into an open community for public consumption. Nothing is sacred when it comes to social media and the web. NOTHING.
Late last year, Proofpoint released a study that showed 18 percent of companies had investigated a data loss event via a blog or message board in the past 12 months. 17 percent disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies, while nearly nine percent reported terminating an employee for such a violation (both increases from 2008, 11 percent and six percent, respectively). And with social participation increasing daily, we will see these numbers continue to rise.
Tagged as:
common sense,
facebook,
privacy,
social media
Original post: Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit, Social Media Business Council
The Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit is a draft series of checklists to help companies, their employees, and their agencies learn the appropriate and transparent ways to interact with blogs, bloggers, and the people who interact with them.
We believe in the principles of transparency and openness, and this document is a way of making this real on the inside. Our goal is not to create or propose new industry standards or rules. These checklists are open source training tools designed to help educate the hundreds or thousands of employees in any large corporation the appropriate ways to interact with the social media community.
Downloads and Translations
You can download the Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit as a single document (read on to view it online):
Scenarios Addressed
- Disclosure of Identity
- Personal/Unofficial Blogging and Outreach
- Blogger Relations
- Compensation and Incentives
- Agency and Contractor Disclosure
- Creative Flexibility
Core Document
This is an Open Source Document
- This is a living document that will continually change.
- This document will continue to evolve with community feedback and participation.
Tagged as:
disclosure,
SMBC,
social media,
toolkit
I recently discussed the value of creating a social media program to a group of individuals looking to create an ambassador program for their company. The discussion focused on how to build enthusiasm as well as recommendations on how to implement. Below is what we discussed. Enjoy!
From a corporate perspective, launching a social media ambassador program means you are recognizing that not only your consumers, but also your employees drive and influence conversations – or stories — and are wanting to tap into those conversations. The beauty of social media is that it’s an ongoing dialogue not necessarily between you and one other person, but between any and all of your social network connections. And that’s just it… recognizing that if you are already someone who has a social network profile, then you are someone that can easily be an extension of the corporate brand… a social media enthusiast or ambassador, if you will.
But, in order to do this, there are several key discussion points that should be in your social media ambassador toolkit:
1. Build Enthusiasm for Your Program — You will be asking your social media ambassadors to actively participate at least 20 minutes a day… on their own time (or whatever time frame you decide). So get them excited about doing it. Select participants who have a genuine appreciation and understanding of social media. Don’t forget to launch your program with a welcome letter that describes the program’s overall goals and objectives, defines their roles and responsibilities, the vision of the company, and how their participation contributes to meeting those goals.
Tagged as:
ambassador,
ambassadors,
Employee Engagement,
social media,
social media ambassadors,
toolkit
