Overcoming a cold start
Nick Senzee points to two great posts by Joshua Porter (Part I, Part II) on common problems that can overwhelm a new social web application. If your association has or ever will consider offering online social opportunities for your members—even listservers—both are definitely worth reading.
I’d like to draw your attention to one of the very first points Joshua makes, addressing the “cold start problem” (i.e., we built this great social networking site and no one uses it):
Strong social sites build value one user at a time. If one user finds value, then they’re much more likely to tell others or invite their friends. Strong sites don’t succeed by attracting “markets,” satisfying entire groups of people with a certain feature set. Instead, they succeed on a smaller level, really focusing on individuals and their immediate social network. Then they can branch outward.
Rather than starting that nifty new networking site and opening the door to your whole membership, maybe you should start with one group of early adopters. Bring them in as your partners. Ask their advice. Create something they value. And then have them invite other members to join, individually, personally. And then that second wave can also issue invitations. (This is not to say that it should stay by-invitation-only forever, of course.)
That kind of individual attention takes a lot of time—a big investment for small-staff groups in particular. But when we’re talking about social media, we’re really talking about people connecting with people, and personal attention can be a huge advantage in making that happen.
Think of it this way: Imagine a party with no host in an airplane hanger. There’s some great, fancy food, but it’s cold, it’s huge, and no one is introducing people to one another. Then imagine a party in cosy, warm space, with a friendly, engaging host who takes a newcomer by the hand, brings him or her over to a congenial group, and helps the newcomer join the conversation before greeting another new guest. Which party would you want to go to?
| | Permalink |
Comments
Not to be a contrarian, but. . . .
Being shy and a lover of great, fancy food. I'd probably be at least as happy at the hanger party where i could lurk around the buffet table and in the corner, watching, listening, learning.
I wonder how many people do that here on Acronym? Do we have any statistics on how many people are reading the blog?
Posted by: Wayne Carley | June 29, 2007 1:32 PM
We love contrarians! Seriously, contrarian opinions offered graciously do a lot to move conversations like this one forward.
To answer your question: While the total number of visitors to Acronym in any given month varies (last month it was a little more than 9,000) we seem to have a core group of 2,000-3,000 that visit more regularly. ("More regularly" meaning "more than once a month," not necessarily daily.) And clearly, that many people are not commenting on a regular basis.
Some of that is what you point to in your comment, I think--online vehicles like this one are ideal for listening and learning without being required to speak yourself.
But I wonder: What more could we be doing on Acronym to encourage commenters to bring their thoughts (contrarian and otherwise) to the discussion? If there are ways we can make the blog more welcoming, I'd love to pursue them ...
Posted by: Lisa Junker | June 29, 2007 9:39 PM
I'm really glad I ran into this post - quite by accident, and the timing couldn't be better! I have a board meeting Friday, and we are in the communications plan part of our strategic plan. Like all associations, we have generational issues, and since we represent RN's, time issues and data that shows heavy use of our website and email communicaiton to make connections. This seems an ideal group to blog but I am not convinced we should go there. I can be convinced - just not there yet. We are a small staff association of five people, and I hear you loud and clear about the airplane hanger effect.
I also have some personal experience to add to this in that I started a fun blog several years ago with three of my friends (the 4chixpost - yes, that is where we got the idea) and even though we talk pop culture and purses, it is a comittment of time, and mostly one person does most of the posting. Is it realistic to think that in our association this "host" duty could be done by a dedicated volunteer? That is what it would take, since I am not a nurse.
Nurses are collegial and like to share their stories. Also, to what degree to people lurk less if it is anonymous, rather than everyone knowing who says what, because nursing is a tight community.
We have also talked about Facebook and MySpcae, but don't find them quite as user friendly as the blog templates that are out there at no cost to us from our web hosting service. Thanks for your time, and I appreciate any and all advice!
Posted by: Susan Motley | July 11, 2007 5:22 PM
Thank you for your substantive comment, Susan! You're absolutely right that blogging is a big commitment of time, particularly if you want your blog to be primarily or completely volunteer-written. There are some good examples out there of association blogs that are volunteer-driven, however. The American Library Association has one, as does the International Association of Business Communicators. Of course, those associations are full of people who are fairly comfortable with the written word, which certainly helps.
Perhaps in your membership you might find individuals like yourself who are already blogging? Certainly those would be prime volunteers to help launch a blog, since they're already somewhat comfortable with the format, on a personal if not a professional level. Another idea would be to treat the blog a little like a magazine or newsletter column, and actually schedule individuals to write in particular weeks or months. That way you have a rotation built in and you don't have to worry quite as much about one or two specific people being committed to posting over the long term.
I'd definitely recommend visiting www.associationsocialmedia.com and checking out what other associations are doing with their blogs; it may give you some great ideas for your own organization.
Posted by: Lisa Junker | July 12, 2007 8:30 AM
Thanks for these great resources - a big help, and I will keep you "posted" on our progress!
Susan
Posted by: Susan Motley | July 12, 2007 10:53 AM