Makin’ Whuffie
5 keys for maxing social capital and winning
with online communities
by
tara ‘missrogue’ hunt

wtf

is

whuffie?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/437288525/

boingboing

corey

is crazy

about

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/459418289/

he wrote

sci-fi story

his characters

actually live in

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/459418289/

instead of

money

thing he calls

whuffie

=

social capital

=

reputation

connections
(both strong and weak)

influence

access to resources/access
to more connections

favors added up (reciprocity)

public accomplishments

levels of trust

etc.

in corey’s future

when you

http://www.flickr.com/photos/notic/86343146/

whuffie

score

high score

=

good reputation

trust them

listen to their advice

it also buys you stuff

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brraveheart/2072543750/

but this should sound

familiar

this ain’t the future

& it ain’t science fiction

it’s real

right now

how

relate

online communities

1,614 Facebook Friends

5,800+ twitter followers

950

I have strong or weak
connections to

I’m not telling you this to show
off

i’m not that unique

“there are three kinds of lies: lies,
damned lies, and statistics”
Mark Twain

!=

buy

whuffie

you see

whuffie

!=

currency

online communities

are for

connections
+ time
= trust
= the basis of whuffie

credibility matters

if you are known to take $$ to
talk about a product

you lose credibility

without whuffie

you lose

you will be seen as

if you want to become an

influencer

[someone who is whuffie rich]

credibility

it’s really as simple as that

but there is a catch

didn’t happen overnight

it required a different
perspective

involves

5 key components to raising
your whuffie

#1.
turn that bullhorn inwards

how marketing looked before
the internet

got louder

and louder

led to

main characteristic

impersonal

http://www.flickr.com/photos/b-tal/179390300/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tin-g/90143310/

which is why

people we trust

if you are still

you are totally missing

http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/133146861/

if you want to

http://www.flickr.com/photos/klapow/39693385/

sounds easy, but it isn’t

focus on individuals

understand the needs of a
community

that’s totally challenging

the 10 commandments of
receiving feedback

1. Thou shalt listen to the ‘experts’, but design for
novices.
2. Thou shalt remember that what people want
and what they say they want is very different.
3. Thou shalt respond to all feedback, even when
thou need to say, “No thanks.”
4. Thou shalt not take negative feedback
personally.
5. Thou shalt give credit to those whose ideas you
implement.

6. Thou shalt flag even small changes thou
make.
7. Thou shalt be agile: make small, incremental,
iterative changes, rather than hold off for big
ones.
8. Thou shalt realize that sometimes the
smallest, simplest improvements make the
biggest impact.
9. Thou shalt remove thou’s ego from the
picture (it’s not about thou).
10.Thou shalt avoid consensus at all costs.

to really become

#2.
become part of the
community you serve

getting out

the question is

figure out

who is it that you serve?

what problem are you solving?

for whom?

knowing that makes it easier

then join them!

not as market research

not as a voyeur

not to sell anyone anything

if you join a community with
the wrong intentions

authenticity matters

what you need to figure out is

learn from that

integrate it into what you are
offering

lastly figure out

why would they give a damn?

seemingly infinite choice

what is the difference between

you need to be remarkable

because then

some people may even give a
damn.

and how does one achieve
remarkability?

#3.
create amazing customer
experiences

when I say amazing

I mean experiences that lead
to

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lugolounge/6780004/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/teointarifa/490408075/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60852569@N00/242746787/

and then you will

this doesn’t need to be
complicated

10 things you can do to create
amazing experiences

1. pay close attention to details
2. go above and beyond
3. appeal to emotion and nostalgia
4. be a social catalyst
5. inject fun into your product

6. experiment and be agile
7. turn banality into something fashionable
8. design for flow
9. let people personalize
10.make happiness your business model

#4.
embrace the chaos

controlling the message?

heh

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiseacre/153532248/

lay the foundation

set a template

then get ready to discover

another list

7 ways to embrace the chaos

1. Stop moving and look around you until you see
everything clearly.
2. Transfer the knowledge.
3. Every time you feel anxiety, acknowledge it.
4. Define your own measure of success.
5. Get outside of your personal circle.
6. Realize that everything is out of your control
anyway.
7. Have patience.

in no time you will feel

we’re just one more step away
from

here is some food for thought

while money is part of the

market economy

whuffie is part of the

gift economy

it acts kind of opposite

the more you give away, the
more whuffie you gain

whuffie is only valuable when it
circulates

and as it circulates, it

but we still need to make $$
to pay the rent

so the question is...

what can you give away that
won’t leave you broke?

#5.
find your higher purpose.

born out of passion?

serving a need?

fighting the good fight?

maybe that stuff doesn’t
interest you

maybe you just want to

does it mean that you will be
whuffie poor?

nah.

you just have to find a way to
give back to the community

the more you give, the more
that comes back

it’s not just a nice thing to do

it’s part of

“nerd values”

“doing well by doing good”

what can you give away that
won’t leave you broke?

democratize something

open it up

build bridges

co-opetition

spread love

www.avantgame.com/projects.htm

value something bigger

• democratize something inaccessible
• open up
• build bridges
• spread love
• value something bigger

whuffie

will grow over time

so combine all of the

• turn the bullhorn around
• become part of the community you serve
• create amazing experiences
• embrace the chaos
• find your higher purpose

you will raise whuffie

whuffie rich

=

better word of mouth

repeat sales

customer loyalty

=

big, fat increase to your
bottom line

which will help you buy stuff

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brraveheart/2072543750/

which is why makin’ whuffie is
the here and now.

end.

licensing:
http://www.slideshare.net/missrogue

about those rockin’ images:
• Many are from iStockphoto.com (totally cool site)
• except as marked on the photo...
• a screenshot of my friendwheel: http://
apps.facebook.com/friendwheel
• and the logos & screengrabs I stole from all of the
respective sites...

some references
• Avant Game: http://www.avantgame.com
• Cruel 2 B Kind: http://www.cruelgame.com
• Microformats: http://www.microformats.org
• OpenID: http://www.openid.net
• Creative Commons: http://www.creativecommons.org
• BarCamp: http://barcamp.org
• Coworking: http://coworking.info
• Ma.gnolia: http://ma.gnolia.com
• Friend Wheel: http://apps.facebook.com/friendwheel
• Great internet stats: http://pewinternet.org
• Whuffie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whuffie

Tara Hunt
tara@citizenagency.com
415.694.1951
skype: tarahunt747
www.citizenagency.com
www.horsepigcow.com