Comments on: Are dead communities the sign of a dying industry?

By: John Lynner Peterson

John Lynner Peterson — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:36:49 +0000

Good story is central to building good community! Online or next door – start by telling your story or better yet, asking your neighbor about THEIR story!

http://johnlynnerpeterson.com/gallery/6050053_S...

Change HAPPENS! We have other models to help tell stories using the mantra – Produce Once, Publish EVERYWHERE!

http://johnlynnerpeterson.com/gallery/8478134_m...

Good stories inspire action!

By: Jake McKee

Jake McKee — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:50:44 +0000

I think you're both right and wrong about brands. Certainly there brands that people adore (Apple, Nike, etc.), and there are brands people hate, and there are even brands people respect but don't pay much attention to.

But blogs, and really any official social channel run by the brand can also be about things like crisis management (by having the channel in place BEFORE the crisis), etc.

Your core point is absolutely correct that the best case scenario is to see brands skip their own tools and go into the existing social channels first. I advocate that philosophy and strategy on a daily basis.

But I also know that as we get deeper into the social space, more brands who don't immediately get on board with that philosophy but want to play in the space can do some fun, helpful, even quality social activities on their own official channels.

All about the full picture and a long term strategy.

By: tomob

tomob — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:33:41 +0000

Dead communities - like dead blogs - are just a sign of one thing. Low cost of entry. Easy to get started, much harder to do anything useful - like add value.

In the community space, people go where people are - so that there are many entrants and only a few winners.

Most brands would be MUCH better off figuring out what (existing) communities they could contribute to and support rather than going off and building their own communities. As a rule, people just don't care about brands that much. (There are exceptions.)

More here: http://tinyurl.com/cyv4ns

TO'B

By: socialnerdia

socialnerdia — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:31:03 +0000

Those are some great thoughts Jake. The analogy of the relationship is great. I agree with your views on what makes certain things "robust" on the web.

And this... "When my cable company is responding to my rants on Twitter, I start asking why my favorite shoe company (Nike) isn’t doing the same"

is brilliantly true.

Maybe the fact that cable/telecom/service companies have such a bad rep for customer service has allowed them to quickly take charge with social media. Maybe in the future these will be the companies that we will admire instead of mock.

Great thoughts.

Greetings from socialnerdia(dot)com