Blog Posts About: commmunity

Patrick and I go way back in web terms, but met for the first time this year at SXSW. We've always connected around managing online communities - something we were both doing back in 2000 or so.  That was when Patrick was teenager.  Since that time he's grown his iFroggy Network of community sites and gone through just about everything you can imagine in terms of managing discussion boards.

Patrick recently put these experiences into a new book called Managing Online Forums - "everything you need to know to create and run successful community discussion boards."  

I think the timing for this book is great.  With so much emphasis on Social Media, a lot of people are jumping into the fray and discovering that managing people in a community setting isn't easy.  I think Patrick's done a great job of getting to the real, practical issues and questions that arise and how to deal with them responsibly. You can find out more at ManagingOnlineForums.com.

Congrats on getting the book out Patrick! Nice work! 

I introduced myself to a friendly woman with a British accent at the CommunityNext conference in Palo Alto and learned that she was from a company call “Moo�? that makes mini business cards. She quickly produced a white box of cards and since that time, I have fallen in love with Moo and their little cards. Here’s why.

Moo is a good idea
Business cards are so popular and useful, but often so cookie-cutter lame. I can't get over how many people hand me a card and then apologize for making it at home the day before.

Moo has created a demand for a new kind of card that is about 1/3 the size of a normal card and offers the possibility that cards can relate more than data. Moo cards can start conversation.

Size isn’t the only difference. Moo has a relationship with Flickr, the photo sharing service and you can choose to put your very own photos on the back of your Moo cards. You can have 100 completely unique cards for about $20. Here are the backs of a handful Sachi's Moo cards. She used 40 different photos:

Moo is good technology
Moo service with Flickr is elegant and usable. It’s also a great example of an API in action. If you’re not familiar with an API, it means that web site (A) let’s web site (B) use it’s functionality. In this case, Flickr has made it possible for me, a Flickr member, to see my Flickr photos from my sets and tags on the Moo web site. This enables me to select my photos from Flickr using the Moo interface. It works like this...

You go through the photos and select the ones you want to use. You can choose up to 100.

Then You select the placement of the photo for the cards. You can do vertical or horizontal orientation.

Then you add details for the other side. This can include the photo's info (date taken, name, etc.) and free text fields.

Moo is fun and personal

Like Flickr, Feedburner and others like them, Moo communicates in a personal, funny and engaging way.

When you finish the order process you see:

And when the cards arrive you see a card tucked into the package that says:

It doesn't cost anything to communicate like a person.

Moo is a quality product.
Sachi just got her cards today and mine are on the way soon. We’re both excited about being able to hand out the cards with photos on the back that represent a story. That’s what cards should do – create conversation or tell a story. Moo does that. Go get some.

I've decided to say goodbye by telling you about all the things I would have written about in 2006, since I won't be around (where I'm going). Here goes...

Web 2.0: This blog has been free from much of the Web 2.0 hype as I've wrapped my mind around this new world of the Web. In 2006, I would have been clear about my version of Web 2.0 and accepted it as a descriptor of the next generation of the Web. My basic tenet of Web 2.0 would have been the lowering of barriers- that the new class of tools and ideas are finally giving geeky power to non-geeks, something long overdue.

Social Design: I would have continued to push Social Design as a profession. With so much emphasis on social websites, there need to be more people focused on understanding community technology/concepts and designing sites that enable people to connect and collaborate in new and more effective ways.

Blogs: I would have continued to chronicle how blogs are changing business and the face of what we consider an online community.

Online Community: I would have challenged what I've previously referred to as "traditional online communities", which means the message board-based communities on the Web. 2006 would have been a time to look at the short-comings of message boards and the conflicting social pressures that make resources like blogs and wikis valuable community tools.

Folksonomies - I would have continued to be an advocate for the use of tags as a better way to organize content, particularly for community websites.

New Community Management: I would have become a voice in promoting the new methods of managing online communities. I would have called this "Power to the People" and it would have focused on bottom-up community management where the aggregation of tiny community member actions can be used to make a community more compelling and smooth running. Actions are such things ratings, tags, votes, views, flagged posts, etc.

Gadgetry: I would have been focused on mobile devices and all the exciting products and services that will change the way we think about the web and community. Mobile blogging would have been a big focus.

Simplicity: I would have become a more vocal advocate for simplicity and "less is more". I would have built on the 37 Signals ideas and urged social designers to focus on doing 2-3 things really well and not try to be everything to everyone.

RSS: I would have continued to figure out the best ways to maximize RSS reading from my personal perspective. At some point, I would have written a guide to getting started with RSS reading to go along with the "RSS in Plain English" post.

OPML: I would have been an advocate for OPML, at least to the extent that I understand it's capabilities. I would have watched the use of OPML in packaging RSS feeds for easy sharing. I would have also chronicled the new services that will offer to package the best RSS feeds in OPMLs for specific niches. I would have written "OPML in Plain English".

Seattle - I would have continued to document the growth of Seattle as one of the global centers of Web innovation and growth.

Companies - I would have become more evangelistic about the companies that I believe "get it". A few of examples include local folks at The Robot Co-op and Judy's Book and Bryght in Vancouver, who hosts Drupal sites.

Community Platforms - I would have become even more vocal about open source and specifically the Drupal platform, which is poised to become a best-of-class application for community websites.

Plain English Descriptions: I would have continued to provide descriptions of technologies like RSS and Wikis in a language that non-technical people can understand.

And so, this is goodbye for many, many months. Thanks so much for reading over the last 2.5 years, your participation and support has been absolutely wonderful and encouraging. Weblogs do work.

Please keep the fire burning for me and follow our travels on the website that will be our home more than any other place in 2006: The World is not Flat (TwinF).