How To Build A Social Network

How to Build and Maintain Vibrant Social Networks and Online Communities Laurel Papworth Social Networks Strategist world.com.au

Slides

03. Why am I here?

10. Where do I go?

17. Who am I?

30. Can you help me?

37. What are you doing?

44. How do I behave?

54. What’s going on?

60. What’s the celebration?

67. All together now?

Social Network Why am I here? Are our reasons aligned? Laurel Papworth

Types of Social Networks

Family

Work

Play

Spirituality

Politics

Geographic

Demographic

Topical

Activity

Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs adapted by Amy Jo Kim Take on new roles and new opportunities Develop skills Self Actualisation Ability to contribute and be recognised for those contributions Ability to earn self respect, respect of others and ability to contribute Self-esteem Belonging to a community as a whole, and swarms (subgroups) Ability to give and receive love, belonging to a group Social Protection from hacking and trolling, privacy, level playing field Protection from crimes and war, living in a just society Security and Safety System access, retain management of system identity Food clothing Shelter, health, Physiological

The “Why” of social networking

Name – helps if it’s meaningful

Slogan – funky one liner

Why – ‘public’ company reasons

Interface – colours are important !

Human story – evil or good?

Content, tools, links – what’s inside?

Name and Motto

Fark.com

Mother&Baby

Facebook

iYoMu

Flickr

MySpace

YouTube

… it’s Not News it’s Fark.com

?

? (how many friends have you got)

… Social Networking for Grownups

… Loves You

… a Place for Friends (just not MINE)

… Broadcast Yourself

Where should I visit? Laurel Papworth Social Network Bytes Where do I go?

Where to go?

Areas to meet

Tools to communicate – blogs, forums

News to read

Tools to use – hosted, white label, or self

Useability, sociability, navigation, taxonomy, site maps

(plus the “Why’s”)

How to you like to communicate?

Instant (synchronous), real time support - instant messenger, broadcast, chat channels, SMS, virtual worlds, ventrilo

Delayed (asynchronous) - email, listserv, blogs, forums, wiki,

Either? - Twitter, RSS, APIs

Who-to-who(m)?

One to One - email, personal messages, chat

One to Many - blogs,

Many to Many - forums

Few to Few (gated) - follow me services

Tools to Use

Hosted Facebook, MySpace,

White Label Ning,

DIY Drupal,

Summary

Meeting places (role based) - Newcomer - Off Topic - Elders

Meeting places (tool based) - forums - blogs - wikis

Tools

News

Social Network Bytes Who am I? What is my identity? Laurel Papworth

Who am I?

Sign me up!

Establish identity

Establish reputation

Establish trust

Context: - system, personal, public (old) - as many profiles as needed (new)

Sign Me Up!

Decide on Barrier to Entry and stick to it!

Sign up procedure - CAPTCHA, email confirmation

Welcome email Username, password

Importing friends list

75 th on Google Search

Don’t want to check contacts now? Don’t want to check contacts now?

Looking to meet? Description? Starsign?

Uh.Oh. It’s a dating site

Establish Identity

What is Public and how Public?

What is Gated?

What information is Private?

What is hidden in the System Profile?

Static information

Semi Static

Dynamic status

Evolve the profiles – adds interest

Personality

Avatars

Multiple identities

Explain Profile questions

Tagline (.sig)

Free vs category answers

Fun titles and non-sequitors

Establish Reputation

Who are the top contributors?

Most popular articles?

Newest members?

Newest comments?

Latest uploaded media?

Featured blog, featured profile

Titles – guild, moderator (see status later)

Social Network Bytes Can you help me? How do I get involved? Laurel Papworth

Who am I?

Visitor, Anonymous, no Profile

Registered, novice

Regular, normal

Leaders, contributors (see more later)

Elders

Employees

Owner

Clearly define…

visitor vs registered

Premium visitors

Appropriate areas for newcomers

Regulars

Leaders (see more later)

Elders

Visitors Centre

About Us

FAQ

Media/Press Releases

Tour, Video, Podcast, Interactive

Letter from Host (now: blog)

Membership requirements (age, location)

Site Map

Background, whitepapers

Mission statement, backstory, history

Overview of features (quick grab)

Policies, guidelines, code of conduct

Regular Centre

Read/write not read only

Access to karma points

Show number of posts, length of membership

Premium services

Social Graph Not a People Graph

WoW Virtual World WoW economy Thottbot.com 391 allakhazam.com 798 WowWiki1,299 blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog WoW site 291 incl. Forums

Social Network Bytes What are you doing? How do I get involved? Laurel Papworth

New & Small

Leader, owner/founder, developer, customer service, staff, moderator – you

A bunch of interested people – them

Accept offers of help, monitor and encorage these ( founders ) as they will become ( elders ).

Staff – (unpaid) Volunteers or Contractors (part-time) - Enthusiasts

Mix up social and disciplinary?

Welcome greeter: usually called Angel

Host: main leaders who unite with purpose

Moderator/editor: evaluate content

Moderator/police: warn, ban, remove

Teacher: answer newbies, recruit

Events/party-er: co-ordinate

Admin: leads moderators, writers, team

Developer/owner: “god”, bottom line,

Any of these can be volunteer. Or paid.

Volunteer vs Paid

Status

Giving to the community

Learn new skills

Make networking contacts (career change)

Choose your leaders

… or your community will choose for you.

Or choose together.

Encourage behaviour by showcasing it

“ Spotlights”

Rewards…

Tools – special chat channels, controlling access, locking down content

Type of Community Rewards

Competition community? Then Ratings/Rankings e.g. high scores

Task based community? Then “spotlight” tasks e.g. blog entries

Profit based community? Share the love: auctions, classifieds, storefronts, affiliates

Knowledge based? Then reward with feedback

Critique User Generated Content

… or consumer generated media or ‘members creating stuff’.

Quantitative : Check page hits, posting activity or hours logged in.

CrowdSourced – rated and ranked media

Editor sourced – manually collect and exhibit media from members.

Find Usability/SEO consultants who understand Sociability

Social Network Bytes How do I behave? It’s War: Rules of Engagement Laurel Papworth

Documentation & Tools

Who can join?

Technical decisions

Behavioural rules

Behavioural advice

Privacy policy

Terms of Use, Terms of Service

Tools for leaders

Yes Moderators are st00p1d

We can’t work out that fcuk really means a naughty word. Oh and “Click here for pr0n” . What does a$$h0le mean?

However we ignore OM F G .

Do you take offence at Newbie? How about Nubby? Nublet ? N00b or n00bie?

Technical decisions

Images, video, media

What constitutes porn, shock sites

Civility

Spam

Privacy

Liability

Censorship

Ownership of content

Documents

Member agreement.

Legal

Community or Social Guidelines

Support Issues Help: FAQ, Knowledgebase

Official ADMIN???? … there are 650 Admins . And I'm pretty sure the one with Fuck You in the headline and the other one with My Willys Is Bigger than Yours are not real admins…

Tools for Leaders

Moderators are a community too !

Own titles, own forums, own areas/places

Evidence Locker – remove content to an evidence locker. Do not delete.

Rap Sheet – keep a database of details of Watched, Warned, Banned members Includes, all IP addresses, signup and all email addresses, links to evidence locker, copy of Personal Messages.

Social Network Bytes What’s going on? Where’s the party? Laurel Papworth

Events

Personal Calendar

Community calendar

Contests

Meetings

Performances

Event co-ordinators (support them)

Transitory forum

Tools

*An important moment/highlight in the week. Even an update achieve that…

Event Management

Online or Offline? Both?

Plan: Strategy, Location, Infrastructure, ‘staff’ needs, documents, time and place,

Marketing: display information, launch details, staff, troublemakers

Follow up: continue the discussion, distribute the results, plan next one

Contests

Create debate

Quizzes – polls, debates, hot or not

Foto of the day - “interesting” Flickr

Causes

Vampires, Werewolves on Facebook

Board games

Meetings

Book club

Support physical meeting (not replace)

Instant (IRC) with developers

Monthly roundup of issues (forum)

Create regularity and loyalty

Performances

Interviews with developers

Podcast interviews

Technical training, webinars, webcasts

I might put these slideshows up, once a week! 

Who’s on stage this week? Spotlight leaders, elders and owners

Social Network Bytes What’s the celebration? Recognising & rejoicing with others Laurel Papworth

Ritual and Holidays

Power of belonging

Acknowledgement of communication context

Community Holidays (Founders day)

Passages and Transitions (Funerals)

Hello and Goodbye

… and everything in between

Welcome newcomer, one year ‘avatar’ birthday, reaching 1000 posts, finding 5000 th friend, most popular leader, farewell

Birthdays, engagements, weddings, pregnancy, birth, divorce, death – particularly death

Birthdays Gifts Co-incidence? I think not…

Sophie Delezio: 16,000 entries in basic guestbook online community

Control some rituals

Thankyou, Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou

Social Network Bytes All together now? Me and my buddies Laurel Papworth

Intimacy vs Growth