Web culture is nice culture
Was at a session where ASAE & The Center's chief technology officer, Reggie Henry, was one of the copresenters. When the topic turned to websites that solicited feedback in the form of ratings or reviews, Reggie made the comment that it's human nature for feedback to be more negative than positive.
I don't agree with Reggie. I don't think people are going to jump on an association who enables ratings and reviews and use the function to blister the association's products and services. In fact, I think the predominant culture is the opposite. Most folks will say nothing, but the ones motivated to say something online generally like to be positive and, at the least, provide constructive criticism.
I was going to say that perhaps Reggie was right in face-to-face situations, but I don't think that's true either. We've all likely been victims of the pile-on, where a small group of members gang up to cause a storm of negativity. But I think the more casual "that session was great" or "the article was useful to me" or "so-and-so was wonderfully helpful on the phone" is far more common. Perhaps the negativity is more memorable? And maybe that's true online, too.
But I don't think the online culture, particularly when we're talking about an association and its members, will be negative.
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Comments
I agree! There is a huge fear in the association community of the "negative comment" and losing control of the conversation (as if we had any to begin with!). But this fear is totally overblown and positive content far outweighs any negative.
Posted by: maddie grant | February 1, 2008 9:46 AM
I'll take it even one step further, Maddie. Not only should that fear not be a reason against adopting such technology, it's a reason to adopt it. The tools are there now for anyone to bash your organization and get noticed. I think it's better to try to move those conversations to tools run by or close to the organization. DON'T CONTROL them, but provide the platform and address them. You don't have to agree. I think it's fine to explain why you disagree, and let your publics be the judge.
Posted by: Scott Briscoe | February 1, 2008 10:13 AM
The web started out as a place where people felt like they could flame from afar and always be anonymous. That was an incorrect assumption, and today they know it. Anyone who wants to build a reputable online persona will play nice. They won't go along to get along, but they'll be civil.
And even anonymous flames are less frequent these days. It is remarkable how online life comes to resemble real life more and more as the years go by and technology gets better. You'd never burst in on someone's conversation at a cocktail party and scream about how much you disagree with what they're saying, insult their mothers, and deride their intelligence. Internet users are discovering that the web's social norms are very similar to those that exist in real life.
Posted by: Ben Martin, CAE | February 1, 2008 10:52 PM