Crystal's Posts (49)

Sort by
Communities are collections of people, with desires and egos. Instead of worrying about community in terms of technical platform or UX experience, let’s focus on what makes people tick and want to participate in our online communities. Join us September 10th to learn the ins and outs of connecting with your community in a humanized way.
Read more…

Why Ambiverts Make Great Community Managers

Myers-Briggs personality testing has been popular in academia and human resources as a way of discovering how different students and employees learn, work, and rest. In regards to attitude, the test sorts people into two categories: extraverts, who derive energy from outward actions, and introverts, who gather energy from inward pursuits. An ambivert is someone who falls in between those two extremes.
Read more…

Unpopular Communities

I recently read "The Power of Unpopular" by Erika Napoletano, the no holds barred brand strategist who makes a splash in the marketing world with her frank, uncensored advice. While the advice in her book is primarily aimed at brands and companies, I found that much of the wisdom could easily be applied to online community. Here are my favorite takeaways for cultivating an "unpopular" community.
Read more…
How does Whole Foods Markets balance its overall brand social media efforts with those of local markets? Director of Social Media and Digital Marketing Natanya Anderson shares insight on the overarching ideology and regional practices at BlogWell Bay Area.
Read more…
You may know singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles from her recent radio hits (Love Song, King of Anything, Bottle It Up, or newest single, Brave) or from her judging stint on the third season of NBC's The Sing-Off. The members of the SaraBFans Community can tell you about her awesome Twitter interactions, her early college a capella days, and how awesome it is to see her live with a group of your best fan friends. The community's creator, Clément Grellier, took some time to answer our questions about how Sara Bareilles fans have made one of the best fan-run communities on the web.
Read more…
Lectures at home and homework during classroom time? Sounds like the education world turned upside down, right? Over at the Flipped Learning Network, that's just what they're trying to do: bring innovation to education by "turning learning on its head." Utilizing technologies such as screencasting and virtual textbooks, teachers of flipped classes attempt to reach every student like never before. Educators into Flipping their Classrooms gather together at the Flipped Learning Network's Ning Network, Flipped Classroom, where Jerry Overmyer, Mathematics and Science Outreach Coordinator for the Mathematics and Science Teaching Institute at the University of Northern Colorado, oversees the community of over thirteen thousand members. Jerry took some time to talk to us about Flipped Classroom and how to manage such a large community.
Read more…
Community moderation is not just about removing the "bad stuff" in your community; it's about removing barriers to participation and facilitating motivation for members to interact with the rest of the community. By setting moderation objectives, you can more effectively mold your community's culture, resolve conflicts, and steer the community.
Read more…
A writer, lecturer at Stanford University and frequent speaker, Nir Eyal's specialty is educating companies and consumers on habits and behaviors that help and hinder their lives, both online and off. In talking about what traits apps need to "hook" users, much of his information was directly relevant to building communities that keep members coming back .
Read more…

What Does A Community Manager Look Like?

The Community Roundtable surveys professional community managers annually to develop their State of Community Management reports. The 2013 SOCM was released in mid-June and contains valuable insights about the community management industry and its workforce. I found the information about today's average community manager to be one of the most interesting parts.
Read more…
Reading Julia Child's memoir, I found myself thinking that I could really learn a lot from her - and not just as a cook. Her life experience is amazing and her writing is full of tidbits that can be used as life lessons. I found that some of her philosophies can even be lessons for community managers.
Read more…
Carnegie Hall has developed the Carnegie Hall Musical Exchange, a place for young musicians to connect with peers, share performances and compositions globally, and join creative projects led by professional artists from Carnegie Hall in a free online community. This community offers budding musicians new ways to learn and grow as an artist, establishing a dialogue with peers who share a passion for music and the desire to learn about cultures from around the world.
Read more…
JunoWallet caught our eye recently with the huge amount of activity it drove to its site after just a few weeks on Ning. What started as a simple app for consolidating all your gift cards (and leaving your plastic behind) has blossomed into a community of people interacting and taking actions that get rewarded with credits for gift cards and other prizes. We spoke with Kyle Leonard, JunoWallet Community Manager on what the JunoWallet community is like and how they got started.
Read more…
Our friends at Music for Relief have been working to raise funds and help victims of natural disasters all over the world since 2005. To support recovery efforts for the families affected by the recent Moore, Oklahoma tornado, they've teamed up with Linkin Park to give one lucky supporter the chance the win a trip to LA to hang with Linkin Park in the studio.
Read more…