The document is an interview with Judy Gombita, a Toronto-based social media strategist, discussing her approaches to curating content for public relations and communication communities. Gombita emphasizes the importance of discovering new ideas through diverse sources and values trust and authenticity in online connections. She also shares her plans to innovate content curation processes within her community to enhance engagement and collaboration.

1. A Conversation
about Social Media
Communities
and Engagement
Interview with
Judy Gombita

2. Judy Gombita is a Toronto-based hybrid public relations, communication
management and social media strategist, with more than 20 years of
employment and executive-level volunteer board experience, primarily in the
financial and lifelong learning non-profit sectors.
She is a principal, co-content editor and Canadian contributor (since 2007)
to the global, collaborative blog, PR Conversations and also wrote a monthly
column on social PR on the Maximize Social Business site for two years. She
is an editorial advisory board member (and contributor) to The Journal of
Professional Communication (JPC).
Judy publishes the daily paper @PRConversations Champions and is a member
of the Paper.li Business Heroes program; a program dedicated to promoting and
recognizing outstanding individuals in the Paper.li community.

3. Part Three
Social Media Communities
and Engagement
3Business Heroes
Interview with Judy Gombita
by Kelly Hungerford
edited by Magda Alexandra Torres

4. Part Three
Social Media Communities
and Engagement
In part II of our interview you outlined in detail how you curate
the @PRConversations Champions Daily. I’m curious where else
you find useful and relevant public relations and communication content
to curate for your community, outside of your daily Paper.li?
And will you be introducing any other tools in future?
At one time I was an enthusiastic consumer of Google Reader —for my own
convenience rather than PR Conversations— but I must admit by the time the service
was discontinued my own usage had dropped off substantially. It’s not that the
blogs I had in my Reader weren’t quality ones, it was because most of my reading
time was sucked up in a finite number of properties of known entities. If you always
spend time reading the same people’s thoughts, you miss out on discovering new
people and ideas, particularly if their current social media profile isn’t very high. And
thanks to the democratization of publishing, there are always new writers and ideas
waiting to be found, on a global basis.
So rather than finding an alternative RRS feed—as many did—my reading patterns
became more ad hoc. I began including the formal and informal curation from
others I trusted—or discovered—into my routine. And I try not to spend all of my
time on The Usual Suspects. I don’t just mean long-established and/or populist
bloggers, but also mainstream media (e.g., The Globe and Mail, New York Times) or
tech publications (e.g., Mashable, GigaOm) or recognized management resources
(e.g., Harvard Business Review, Forbes).
I mentioned that Topsy is a platform to find new people. I make use of others such
as CommPRObiz’s daily Top Blogs picks (that publisher Fay Shapiro personally
selects), monitor my LinkedIn Groups and Google+ public areas.
Sometimes I jump on specific Twitter hashtags and find articles. Other Paper.li
Dailies (where PR Conversations or my own account get picked for a Top Story)
can be a great resource if the list has been thoughtfully curated. Ones where the
publisher is based in a country other than Canada or the USA are particularly useful
regarding more global content.
4Business Heroes
“If you always
spend time
reading the same
people’s thoughts,
you miss out on
discovering new
people and ideas.
Thanks to the
democratization
of publishing,
there are always
new writers and
ideas waiting to be
found, on a global
basis.”

5. Part 3. Social Media Communities and Engagement
5Business Heroes
Although it’s generally not encouraged, links shared during focused Twitter chats
can be great. (Hint: Favorite them during the chat and revisit them later.) Even public
streams or personal LinkedIn updates, sponsored posts, enewsletters to which I’m
subscribed and the occasional on-target news release provides reading fodder. A
free service like Newsle (which is connected to my LinkedIn contacts) lets me know
about articles where my most-valued professional contacts are mentioned.
Indeed, I’m looking into another formal curation process for the PR Conversations
Twitter (and Google+) account with another platform. It’s GaggleAMP, which
I referenced in the same CommPRObiz (two-part) guest article as I did Paper.li.
Glenn Gaudet, GaggleAMP’s president and founder, has kindly offered me a Public
Gaggle for PR Conversations.
I want to make use of this Public GaggleAMP in a way I don’t believe anyone else
has: Instead of the typical internal usage to external focus, I want to flip the equation
around, and have the majority of Gaggle suggestions for curation come from
external entities (i.e., not the internal principals or better-known Champions of PR
Conversations).
I’m hoping to persuade the quieter members of our PR Conversations “community”
of PR and communication practitioners and academics—particularly ones unknown
to me, from a variety of countries and organizations—to voluntarily join our Public
Gaggle and encourage them to “pitch” relevant and interesting articles and posts,
whether their own or that of others.
If an item is accepted (because I will still make that decision, based on suitability),
the person proposing the article will either receive an author credit or a hat tip for
suggesting it. I believe attribution (with its inherent accountability for rationale) is
important, particularly when individuals aren’t affiliated on a formal basis such as
being salaried employees.
The goal is to make the PR Conversations Gaggle a true PR relationship-building
endeavour with new people, rather than just raise the profile (through a form of
marketing) of our own blog, which appears to be the intention of existing Public
Gaggles. If my active-users goal proves viable, the possibility exists of finding new
guest contributors for the blog. Definitely I anticipate increasing the number of @
PRConversations Champions for our Paper.li list as an outcome.
And if this innovative usage proves successful, perhaps Paper.li and GaggleAMP
will consider formalizing similar collaborations, as your services really are
complementary.

6. Part 3. Social Media Communities and Engagement
6Business Heroes
When we ‘met’ back in 2012 it was due to what I consider one of
your greatest talents: community building. What do you value most
in your online connections and communities?
Some of the people I value and trust the most I’ve yet to meet in person—that’s the
power of global connectivity and professional and personal sharing. The majority
of these relationships developed one-to-one or in small groups, not so much the
wild-and-woolly ride found in social media platforms. But sometimes initial personal
connections are forged in the public realm—the first digital baby steps in a possible
long and multi-hued journey.
Trust is related to honesty, not only about true knowledge, experience and skills, but
also in the idea of, “Say what you mean, and mean what you say.” And if a joint initia-
tive is undertaken, either the outcomes have to be equal or the person recruited by
the other needs to come out slightly ahead. That’s always been my creed.
Otherwise the “relationship” appears calculating, with too much self interest.
A person isn’t really doing any favours if he or she offers an opportunity and then
later changes the proposal or even takes it away. I like to make connections and find
the right fit for people; the most-valued online acquaintances have a similar ethos
and moral compass. And as a disruptor, I appreciate when other people speak
up when witnessing a perceived wrong-doing or some other kind of “relationship”
aberration.
It’s important to know what a person values and how he or she relate to others
—is it as equals? Can I trust the person’s knowledge, judgments and opinions?
Although overused words, is this person transparent and authentic, plus relatively
free of ego?
I enjoy people who spark my own thinking with new ideas. I appreciate generosity
in giving credit and/or shining the light on others. Is the person listening to what I
have to say before jumping in with personal thoughts? I try—it’s not easy—to show
that same courtesy. As Anna Maria Tremonti suggested to attendees at a CPRS
conference, “Listen to listen, don’t listen to speak.” Debates based on facts and per-
sonal experiences are great; personal attacks, not so much. How a person accepts
criticism is very telling.
From a public relations perspective, I appreciate people who do not subscribe
to all of the stereotypes I detailed earlier—making public relations really small and
limited to media relations, publicity or simply a tactical function of marketing (i.e.,
product or service promotions). Smart people exhibit an avid curiosity in learning

7. Part 3. Social Media Communities and Engagement
7Business Heroes
more about the power and possibilities of public relations in its more nuanced and
mindful manifestations.
On a personal basis, I’m interested in people’s passions, particularly when they
mirror my own—maybe a global traveller, theatre and film buff, opera fan or an avid
reader. Alternatively, I appreciate when a person’s passion for something is so bril-
liantly described that she or he gets me interested in finding out more about it.
Finally, I appreciate a well-developed sense of humour and smart or warm fun. It’s
probably the reason why my favourite emoticon is ;-) .
I’ve found online communities to be rather fluid—one day they are robust and then
poof many members appear to have moved on to other places. This is OK. The
best engagement is rooted in experience and generosity, whether for the short or
the long term.
Communities are an online form of culture and the best ones bring out a natural
energy, passion and joy in people, revolving around ideas rather than sitting at the
feet of one “sage” waiting for pearls of (unquestioned) wisdom to drop out of the
person’s mouth. Brand communities, in particular, should have mindful succession
planning in place, meaning it shouldn’t be all about one individual.
I’ve experienced much of the good (and none of the bad) as described above in
collaborating with the people involved with Paper.li and Small Rivers. It must be
gratifying to provide a valuable assist to thousands of online communities, includ-
ing developing personal relationships with Daily publishers.
Indeed the ability to assist our community in helping them to build
their own is extremely gratifying work. The relationships that are
built along the way are equally as treasured. Thank you for taking
such an active role in the Paper.li community, and for taking time to
share your insights and thoughts with us.
I appreciate that you reached out to me for this interview and hope my thoughts
and ideas prove helpful to other publishers. I welcome any questions or feedback
to explore online curation or public relations further.

8. About Paper.li Business Heroes
Behind every great business
stands an even greater
community.
Our Paper.li Business Heroes’
program recognizes the
extraordinary people within
our community who put their
best selves forward each day
to inspire and guide others in
finding answers to questions
and solutions for to problems.
About Paper.li
Paper.li provides a no-hassle
approach to monitoring topics
and content across the social
web.
Through advanced semantic
analysis we process more than
250 million social media posts
in eight languages daily to
deliver the topic based content
you and your community
wants, so you don’t have to.
Quick. Easy. Paper.li.