Roundtable on Communities of Purpose (6) - Site Terms

Part Six in our roundtable discussion series on Communities of Purpose.  This time: Terms of Use.

eModeration: What are the best ways to lay out the terms of the site to make it clear to all members what the site is trying to achieve?


Ashley Cooksley: Any site will have a Terms and Conditions area that will contain the site rules, but are unlikely to be user-friendly or written in layman’s terms. We always recommend that the person who manages your community works with the legal team (or whoever wrote the Terms and Conditions) to create a House Rules or Community Rules page. These will contain a summary of the issues that you want your members to adhere to while in your community. These rules should be written with your target audience in mind. For example, a children’s site should have short, clear House Rules that a child would understand. Instead of saying “harassment or abusive language is not tolerated”, consider saying “making fun of or being mean to others is against the rules”.

These House Rules should be promoted heavily and clearly throughout the community on pages such as Registration (along with Terms and Conditions), Terms and Conditions, within the top and bottom bar navigation, Help page, Report Abuse page, and throughout your community products such as forums, chat and blogs.

Leah Williams: Although the purpose of the site is pretty clear, we have a landing page (http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/community/) which explains what the forum is for and why people might want to join. We also put it at the top of our community guidelines, which means we can refer back to it if we feel that discussions are inappropriate for the purpose of the site.

Patrick o’Keefe: I look to community guidelines for this. Community guidelines, for me, are a vision statement. They talk about who you are and who you want to be.

My guidelines not only detail what you can and cannot do, but in doing so, they also illustrate who we are in plain language. For example, on one community aimed at martial artists, it is made clear that we’re a respectful, friendly community where anyone is welcome, as long as they participate in line with the guidelines.

Once in a while, you get someone who feels like they need to be able to use vulgar terms or say that this art or that art is stupid. And then I have to tell them that that isn’t what we’re about and that they may need to look elsewhere. Your guidelines, your publicly available vision statement, allow you to say such a thing with confidence. They always give you something to point to, that everyone has access to.

You can tie your guidelines in with an about page or a mission statement page. The type of page or area isn’t the issue, that’s just verbiage. The key is that you make your goals clean in a public area and that you make sure that those goals are vigorously pursued.

Alison Michalk: We follow a ‘stage of life’ navigation. Our research has shown that a majority of members come to the site whilst thinking about conceiving, so the top forums are conception and it progresses. We do have some of our most popular and contentious forums ‘hidden’ at the bottom of the forum as they can be confrontational for new members.

Blaise Grimes-Viort: I create a page outlining the site or community's mission statement in friendly language, and link to it from the Terms & Conditions page and Community Guidelines pages. I then try to spread little reminders throughout the tools, particularly on the content submission sections, to encourage members to follow these aims when contributing.

Our thanks go to the community managers that we spoke to and who took the time to share their experiences with us and contriubuted to our White Paper on the subject:

Leah Williams, Community and Social Media Manager at Breast Cancer Care; Patrick O’Keefe, owner of iFroggy Network and author of "Managing Online Forums"; Alison Michalk, Director of Quiip and ex-community manager for Essential Baby at Fairfax Digital Australia; Blaise Grimes-Viort,recently appointed Head of Social Media and engagement at WebJam, and Hearst Digital and Vanessa DiMauro, CEO of LeaderNetworks.

Look out for Part 6) in this series: What are the best ways to lay out the terms of the site to make it clear to all members what the site is trying to achieve?

And our previous posts ....
Part 1) How do you engage with a community, as opposed to just informing a community?
Part 2) What is the value of that community once someone has reached their goal?
Part 3) How do you make an information-based site relevant to newbies as well as to those who’ve been using the site for a long time?
Part 4) How do you encourage experienced members to help out new members?
Part 5) How do you keep members motivated (for example in a weight loss site)?

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Facebook makes major changes to Pages

Apologies that all my posts seem to be about Facebook lately, but this one really needs flagging up. In yet another sweeping change, Facebook has announced that it will, as of this week, be removing the handy sidebar boxes from all profiles.  The "Boxes" tab, boxes on profiles and Pages, and application info sections will be going away. Additionally, all profile and Page tabs will be resized automatically to 520 pixels wide beginning the week of August 23. What does this tab width change mean? If you’ve created a custom tab, you need to change the width to 520 pixels. With all the FBML custom tabs brands are employing, this change affects more pages than you might think.

Regarding the profile boxes, a Facebook spokeswoman told AllFacebook.com: “These boxes will be removed, just as they will be from profiles, and so the page owners will need to move that info to the info page or a custom tab.” Why they are doing this, they haven't told us, except this rather gnomic declaration on http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/399: “These updates are designed to simplify navigation for users, reduce complexity for developers, and enable us to build the next generation of tools for growing your business with Facebook.”

These profile boxes were very handy places to keep essential information, such as your House Rules (why there are important) and summary brand info which you wanted to be instantly available to your fanbase as they landed on your page.

It wasn't entirely clear which bits would be left and which removed, so AllFacebook  kindly did some checking back with Facebook moguls, and I'll republish their findings here:

Example 1: On the Coca-Cola fan page, the “House Rules” box on the left-hand panel of the Wall tab will no longer be supported.

Example 2: The privacy policy on the AT&T Facebook page - currently in a box on the left-hand side - will no longer be displayed in its current format.

Example 3: The TOMS Shoes Facebook page will keep the image that says “With every purchase. TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for one”. A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed that this was in a description area rather than a box and would not be going away. She added that Tom’s also had this information on the “Welcome” tab, which was an FBML tab, and would remain. (This last example will also be impacted by Facebook's simultaneous change of panel width to 520px wide)

It's not a popular move, and one that I suspect will take many Page owners unawares, but then, when did that ever stop a Facebook change?

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Facebook's Location Services - A Good Thing?

So.  Here it is.  Amidst some fanfare and trumpeting, Facebook has announced its location services Package, called (fair enough) 'Places', and involves the more or less willing co-operation of the the other big location services.

Firstly, a disclaimer.  I don't do Foursquare or Gowalla or any of the others (although I know and respect some perfectly sane people  who do).  So it could be said that I'm not going to be the most knowledgeable or unbiased reporter.  Heck, I forget to tell my colleagues where I am half the time, so there's no way I'm going to open my life up to so much scrutiny.

Firstly: what are the changes?  If you're accessing Facebook from your smartphone, then you'll be able to check in to locations and alert friends to your presence, and see any of your friends who are nearby (or others who've left their privacy wide open). These are broadcast in status updates (oh God NO!  I hope there's some way to filter them out) and in the 'Places' page for that location.

You can tag friends who are near you, although apparently users will be able to remove themselves after they are tagged (possibly not before their boss/spouse has seen them of course ;-) ) with special privacy controls to protect minors, “Only friends will ever see when a minor checks in, anywhere. That means that even if the minor chooses to change their Places I ‘check-in’ setting to ‘Everyone,’ their check-ins will still only be visible to friends,” explained a Facebook spokesman. Although of course, as many minors are completely non-discriminatory about whom they become friends with, that wouldn't be so effective.  How about not having the service available to under 18's, then, Facebook?  Oh, I forgot. All the under 13's are lying about their age anyway ... *sighs*.

Update 23/09/10: There's a really helpful post in AllFacebook on how to customise your privacy settings - it's not quite as simple as it would first appear (why doesn't that surprise me?).  I strongly suggest you check it out.

US Facebook users need to update their iPhone Facebook app, or visit touch.facebook.com, to get access to the tool. A user then needs to select ‘Places’, tap the ‘Check-In’ button, and then a list of nearby places will come up on the screen. Facebook members then can choose the place which matches their location, and if it is not on the list, they can search for it or add it.

Each location gets it's own newsfeed, where you can see which of your friends has visited the place, even if their visit was months earlier. Even the privacy-phobe in me rather likes that bit, especially if they've uploaded comments, reviews or photos:  “Stories are going to be pinned to a physical location so that in 20 years our children will go to Ocean Beach and their phone will tell them this is the place their parents had their first kiss, and here’s the picture they took afterwards, and here’s what their friends had to say,” Facebook VP Chris Cox said.

But then again ... thinking about it ... I'm not sure I want my kids knowing what I did at the foot of the Sacré Cœur when I was twenty-one.  Thank God Facebook Places wasn't around then.


You can read more at:

• http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/watch-facebooks-location-sharing-announcement-live/#ixzz0x2YN04H4
• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/technology/19facebook.html?_r=1
  http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/watch-facebooks-location-sharing-announcement-live/
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7953403/Facebook-Places-social-network-adds-location-check-ins.html

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Roundtable on Communities of Purpose (5) - Keeping Motivated

We recently wrote a white paper on the issues brands face when managing a ‘community of purpose’: an online community of people with a common, clear, defined goal. In researching that paper, we had some invaluable input from some of the best community managers working in this area. Their insight was so interesting that we hosted a ‘virtual’ round table discussion, to address some of the very specific issues that arise in managing a community of purpose. Each of the community managers we spoke to addressed a specific issue as it related to their own experience.

eModeration: How do you keep members motivated (for example in a weight loss site)? Do you recommend calls to action or milestone achievements along the way, for example? Are there any other ways to boost morale for starters?

Ashley Cooksley: Providing cheerleaders within a community is a good way to keep members motivated. Basically, this could be your community manager who responds to blog posts and forum posts with words of encouragement. This must be done carefully – giving medical advice or diet suggestions should only be given by someone medically qualified to do so. However, your community manager or experienced members will likely want to see others strive and achieve their goals and will do their best to “cheer them on”.

Well known dieting and fitness sites often award badges for achieving milestones, which can be very motivational. This coupled with words of encouragement and “shout outs” for those achieving their goals will go a long way to keep your members motivated.

Patrick o’Keefe: I would suggest that you be careful to balance this out. It is a good idea to provide tools that allow people to track their progress and set goals. But, at the same time, this can’t be done in a discouraging way, either.

You also have to be careful to ensure that the achievements are not so unverifiable as to be abused for the sake of getting that cool badge or graphic under your name. Otherwise, they become meaningless and in that case, you may as well not have them at all.

Morale can also be boosted by a supporting environment and success stories. Real people with real success can be a powerful motivator.

Alison Michalk: In terms of milestones or achievements, 'tickers' or signatures are an important part in building community identity, and you'll see their use reflected in a range of forums. Our members’ 'tickers' and/or signatures may graph the progress of a pregnancy, a child's age, weight loss, giving up smoking, extended breastfeeding, an IVF journey, multiple pregnancy losses and so on. At a quick glance, another member can see the personal experience and knowledge of a member, and perhaps use this information to assess a person's opinion or advice.

Other status features such as post count, join date, recommendations etc all form an important part of a member’s status and online persona. They further their engagement, keep them motivated as a participant of the community, and - importantly - create identity and a sense of belonging. In many ways they have a tribal component allowing members' to seek out others with a shared outlook.

Over the years we've had a number of members who have said they felt a stronger sense of belonging to our online community than in real life - due to the understanding the community had of their experience. One of these woman was involuntarily childless and it'd had a huge impact on her life that very few friends understood.

Our thanks go to the community managers that we spoke to and who took the time to share their experiences with us:

Leah Williams, Community and Social Media Manager at Breast Cancer Care; Patrick O’Keefe, owner of iFroggy Network and author of "Managing Online Forums"; Alison Michalk, Director of Quiip and ex-community manager for Essential Baby at Fairfax Digital Australia; Blaise Grimes-Viort, recently appointed Head of Social Media and engagement at WebJam,l and Vanessa DiMauro, CEO of LeaderNetworks.

Look out for Part 6) in this series: What are the best ways to lay out the terms of the site to make it clear to all members what the site is trying to achieve?

And our previous posts ....
Part 1) How do you engage with a community, as opposed to just informing a community?
Part 2) What is the value of that community once someone has reached their goal?
Part 3) How do you make an information-based site relevant to newbies as well as to those who’ve been using the site for a long time?
Part 4) How do you encourage experienced members to help out new members?

Read more...

The Giddy Social Whirl...Twitter takes work.

Kate Williams ponders the world of social media, and today discovers that...

...Twitter takes work.


SQUEAL! The Social Whirl is back!

While the Lovely Tia was on her hols I was seconded, as you may or may not have noted, to @eModeration Twitter duty.

Bearing in mind the goodwill which Tia commands in the social media world, and her numerous followers, this felt like a bit of a – you know - well, I don’t want to say ‘it felt like not that hard of a job’, but it felt like not that hard of a job.

So. In my Big To-Do list for last week, I had the following:

1. Decide on flooring for ballroom at Social Towers.
2. Dye peacocks on the far lawn.
3. Tweet snippets of social and tech tittle-tattle as and when.

Turns out that Number 3 was a bit harder than I’d anticipated.

It was glorious fun, and jolly interesting, and all. But it was also Quite Hard, and Very Time-Consuming. There were moments of awkward self-consciousness - when I suddenly found it impossible to predict whether a particular snippet would be of any interest to anyone, in the whole world, ever. But also brilliant revelatory moments, when I interacted with very smart people who knew their stuff, and when I hope I passed along some chunks of social media goodness which might not otherwise have reached its target.

In acknowledgement of which truth, my first link of the season is a reminder of Mashable’s 10 Dos and Don’ts for Brands on Twitter.

Because sometimes the oldies are the goodies, and you never know how hard it is till you try.


A Bientot, Mes Amis! 

Image courtesy of Oversocialized via Flickr

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