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(in case the other blogs need a friend)
September 16, 2008
Back in Class
I spent a few hours this afternoon in the basement of a giant convention center listening to Joshua Porter talk about designing for community.
Scribbling away in my notebook, I felt like I was in class. I type too loud not to use pen and paper.
Being in NY is always a high speed experience, so I figure it begs some high speed blogging. Or, more accurately, some high speed note transcription and commentary.
-Make sure you model the core features of your community-based website on community interactions that already exist in the offline community.
-In reputation economies, be sure to reward quality first and then quantity. Beware of Harriet Klausners.
-Apparently Yahoo! remains relevant, and not just because of Flickr and delicious, which feels weird to admit.
-Reward high quality users with labels that explain WHY they are high quality. Probably don't need to use as many labels as Yelp does, but throwing a few around is a generally good idea. It attracts attention to the right people for the right reasons. The "gardener" label on ma.gnolia is a great one (and part of a great anti-spam system).
-Reward NEW people. Right away. Don't make it hard for them to get in on the rewards, the labels, the recognition.
-Be careful with lists of highest rated users. Competition can get out of control. Collusion happens. Your community turns into Survivor. And, when the leaders get out in front and hard to reach, people lose interest. Maybe the thing to do is to give competitions time limits. Have a weekly MVP. Or monthly. Or yearly. Don't have a leaderboard. This reminds me of fantasy baseball. Head to head leagues are WAY more fun than rotisserie.
-Be careful with thumbs up thumbs down systems. They tempt competitive users to thumbs down content that they see as threatening to them, stuff that might very well be the most valuable content on the site. Maybe just have a thumbs up. Or a was this helpful question.
-When you make members of your community angry, for whatever reason, before you explain or defend yourself, say you're sorry.
-Encourage people to "tell others what you think." Ask people to offer their "unique experience."
I especially love that last one. Because I think it's true. In a big sense. In life just as much as in web use. Everyone's experiences are unique, and they're all fascinating in their uniqueness. We all have stories. Great stories. Unique stories. Stories no one else can imagine. But we don't always tell them. Maybe we have silly insecurities about lacking uniqueness. Maybe we have trouble communicating. Who knows.
Ok. Pretty speedy. More tomorrow.
Note: Thank you XBOSoft for the invite to The Expo. And for lunch at the only restaurant on 11th Ave in Midtown. Funny to speak Chinese in an Irish Pub filled with construction workers on lunchbreak.
Scribbling away in my notebook, I felt like I was in class. I type too loud not to use pen and paper.
Being in NY is always a high speed experience, so I figure it begs some high speed blogging. Or, more accurately, some high speed note transcription and commentary.
-Make sure you model the core features of your community-based website on community interactions that already exist in the offline community.
-In reputation economies, be sure to reward quality first and then quantity. Beware of Harriet Klausners.
-Apparently Yahoo! remains relevant, and not just because of Flickr and delicious, which feels weird to admit.
-Reward high quality users with labels that explain WHY they are high quality. Probably don't need to use as many labels as Yelp does, but throwing a few around is a generally good idea. It attracts attention to the right people for the right reasons. The "gardener" label on ma.gnolia is a great one (and part of a great anti-spam system).
-Reward NEW people. Right away. Don't make it hard for them to get in on the rewards, the labels, the recognition.
-Be careful with lists of highest rated users. Competition can get out of control. Collusion happens. Your community turns into Survivor. And, when the leaders get out in front and hard to reach, people lose interest. Maybe the thing to do is to give competitions time limits. Have a weekly MVP. Or monthly. Or yearly. Don't have a leaderboard. This reminds me of fantasy baseball. Head to head leagues are WAY more fun than rotisserie.
-Be careful with thumbs up thumbs down systems. They tempt competitive users to thumbs down content that they see as threatening to them, stuff that might very well be the most valuable content on the site. Maybe just have a thumbs up. Or a was this helpful question.
-When you make members of your community angry, for whatever reason, before you explain or defend yourself, say you're sorry.
-Encourage people to "tell others what you think." Ask people to offer their "unique experience."
I especially love that last one. Because I think it's true. In a big sense. In life just as much as in web use. Everyone's experiences are unique, and they're all fascinating in their uniqueness. We all have stories. Great stories. Unique stories. Stories no one else can imagine. But we don't always tell them. Maybe we have silly insecurities about lacking uniqueness. Maybe we have trouble communicating. Who knows.
Ok. Pretty speedy. More tomorrow.
Note: Thank you XBOSoft for the invite to The Expo. And for lunch at the only restaurant on 11th Ave in Midtown. Funny to speak Chinese in an Irish Pub filled with construction workers on lunchbreak.
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August 24, 2008
Small Talk
Stopped in New York City tonight to see an old China friend I hadn't seen in probably a year.
He's a writer. Or, better, he's an adventurer that takes very good notes about what people are thinking.
He talks to everyone. Tries to tease out their stories. Or, when the tease doesn't work, tries surgically removing the stories with blunt, rusty mining tools. Not sure patience is his virtue. Not sure that's a vice, however. Certainly makes for good stories.
We went to a diner on one of Times Square's less flattering edges.
I went upstairs to find the bathroom.
Found a cop first. He had to pee too, apparently.
There was no one else up there. Just un-air-conditioned half darkness.
He commented on the heat.
I acknowledged and asked him if it'd been hot in the city the past few days.
He said no not too bad. It's never that bad for him. He's a night shift kind of guy.
I asked what he thought of the nocturnal lifestyle.
He replied, and I quote:
I live like a vampire. It's nice though. No traffic.
Just as he said the word vampire, an approximately15 year old kid came out of the bathroom, clearly confused and maybe terrified.
I smiled as he walked back into the artificial downstairs cool.
It's possible I wouldn't have talked to that cop if Jon's inquisitive presence hadn't inspired me.
It's also possible that conversations with strangers about the weather are an all around good idea. They certainly are popular. And there must be a reason for that.
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