Community Guy – Jake McKee

Link Roundup

Posting’s been slow lately, I know. Crazy busy. I’m still trying to keep up with my community reading though, and here’s a few random links I’ve found interesting.

BusinessWeek – The Power of Us

I’m a few weeks behind on posting about this, but several months back i was interviewed by BusinessWeek for an article that came out in a recent issue. The article, The Power of Us, was pretty good. Best part was the group of fans that I’d hooked up with the reporter on this story who were featured as the first page photo of the article. Sure, there were a few liberties taken with my quotes, but overall it covers the basic premise of what the Participation Culture is all about.



Here’s a quote from my part:

Blogging for Beginners

Check out this great (and short) review of how to business blog.

1. Make Introductions.

A good host connects guests. Albrycht recommends spending 30 to 60 minutes a day scanning feeds from your favorite blogs. Maintain a blogroll, linking readers to blogs you recommend, and use the trackback function on most blog publishing programs to notify other bloggers by email when you cite them. Chances are, those grateful peers will return the favor.

2. Be authentic.

Perhaps you are authentically reserved, or authentically dull. That’s okay: Being yourself, in any case, plays best. If you can’t write passionately, consider "blinking" — Lark’s term for snippets of commentary that alert readers to interesting articles or discussions. But storytelling is a better way to get readers interested in your ideas — and in your product.

3. Dress business casual.

An informal style (and grammatical imperfection) works well in blogs. But don’t go too casual: Stay away from topics you wouldn’t share with your mother — or without a nondisclosure agreement. Yahoo’s blogging policy is a good one: "Be respectful of your colleagues, get your facts straight, provide context to your argument, and engage in private feedback."

4. Don’t scrimp.

Nothing brings a party to a halt like running out of food or booze. Likewise, one reason blogs fail is a failure to dedicate the resources necessary to keep the conversation going. "Blogs are incredibly low cost," Lark says. But "they require a time commitment." Adds Albrycht: "Blogging has to be part of someone’s job description. You have to have a maintenance plan."

5. Have a contingency plan.

If the party gets out of hand — your company hits a crisis, say — you should be ready. General Motors’ Bob Lutz ignited blog readers’ ire when he avoided discussing the struggling automaker’s strategy. "Could you be a little more vague on your game plan?" one customer wrote. Confronting a problem directly can earn your company some needed trust.

That’s it?

You have to be kidding me….

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that it’s proposing the penalty because the airline missed the deadline to perform inspections and tests on a variety of systems and components.

For example, Independence Air failed to do heavy maintenance and inspections that were required on a regional jet, and then flew the plane for 455 more flights before performing the work.

All the flights cited by the FAA were normal and passengers weren’t affected in any way, the airline said in a statement.

Independence Air also said the problems resulted when it upgraded its record-keeping system and found errors in the way it scheduled its maintenance checks. The airline said it voluntarily disclosed the problems to the FAA, and both the agency and the airline say they’ve been corrected.

"We have been working closely with the FAA since that time and have long ago resolved these issues and their underlying cause," the statement said.

What bothers me is the cavalier attitude shown by the company here. And to check their Web site, the only thing I can find in their press room about anything related to maintainence was their May release about how the FAA had presented them with an award for their maintainence award.

Low-fare airline Independence Air (NASDAQ/NM: FLYi) is proud to announce that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has again honored the company’s maintenance team with the Diamond Award, the highest award in the FAA’s Aviation Technician Training Program. The presentation was made during a ceremony at Independence Air headquarters near Washington Dulles International Airport. Independence Air and its parent company have received the Diamond Award every year since 1997.

Perhaps there really is more to the story here. But without some amount of honesty shown here by the company, it’s hard to buy any of their spin.

See, this is why I never fly discount airlines.

Blogging a Book?

Maybe I’m just having a bad day, but shouldn’t a book blog (a blog that supports the writing of a physical book), include mostly a discussion of the content of the book? Apparently not.

Be Friendly

This article, apparently, got quite a bit of play around the blogosphere recently. I missed it originally, but am glad I found it now. Good stuff.

Worth a read.

JibJab Open Audition

Remember JibJab, those wacky dudes that came up with the incredibly funny This Land 2004 election animation?



They’ve opened up an open casting call for their next animation.

So you want to star in the next JibJab? We hope so! We’ve been working around the clock to build a brand spankin’ new website that will allow you to be an integral part of making the next JibJab.

How? In the past, when we needed faces for our characters, we called our friends and family and invited them to send us their photos (click here to see our friends and family in past JibJabs). Now, thanks to the power of the Interweb, we’re going to invite you to be in our movies too. When we launch our new site later this summer we’ll be casting for over 100 characters. You’ll be able to scan the list of “casting calls” and upload your photo for any role you want to play.

Rule: Don’t forget the ego

Enthusiast communities are, for the most part, driven largely by ego. PR experts post in PR forums or blogs because they like to share what they know. It feeds their ego to show off a bit, or perhaps to help other people and get that kind pat on the back from someone they’ve helped.



Enthusiasts communities are based on emotion. Nearly everyone online isn’t required (by law, job description, or anything else) to be online reading and writing blogs, or posting comments on blogs, forums, wikis, etc. They’re doing it because they get a kick out of it. It’s either a dedicated hobby, or a hobby-like interest.



When you interact with an enthusiast community, it’s often hard not to slid into "professional mode". We’re not used to having to cater to other people’s ego on the scale we have to with online community in the rest of our work day. One of the reasons that I think old school marketing and PR people find it so hard to get this interaction right is because they’re not use to having a more personal relationship with those people associated with "work". There’s an expectation that since the business person is at work, the community member(s) should be too.



Look at PR people, for instance. Until lately, the only people they’ve had to work with are colleagues (internal professionals) and journalists and other media contacts (external professionals). Now along comes a community member who’s never worked with a PR group or as a journalist, and before you know it, both parties are missing each other’s desires and mindset entirely.



Of course, entering into a community and expecting that they’ll act like contractors or clients is a recipe for disaster.



Treat community members like friends, not co-workers. Stroke their egos, show them your own human side,  tell them their projects are great (because most likely they are anyway). A pat on the back "buys" you more in the online community than $100,000 worth of merchandise ever will. Remembering their names every time you meet them will get you further than anything else.

Blogger’s Mission

You know he’s right…

Rule: Drop the Defensive

Rule: Drop the Defensive



Being on the front lines of community interaction, whether through a community development team, fan relations team, or public relations team can quickly lead to feelings of personal attacks. As the representatives of a company, we often feel like people are bashing us personally when in reality they’re bashing the big, cold, impersonal company that we work for.



Engaging in an ongoing, two-way dialogue is a crucial step in forming a better relationship with the community. But be careful when you’re giving answers that you’re not taking a defensive positioning. It’s easy to do, and it’s something to be watched constantly. Nothing will upset a community more than you, as their liaison into the company acting like you’re not somewhat neutral in the discussion.



Certainly you should have limits, and should make them clear upfront and repeatedly. I use the phrase "I can’t discuss unreleased products" so much that it’s now a running joke in the community that I start every answer with that statement whether it applies or not out of habit.



And certainly you can push back when the discussion is based around facts or assumptions that are simply not correct. But don’t get all upset about it when you do -  don’t make this personal. The fans aren’t mad at you, Mr. Community Liaison. They’re upset at the issue or at the company as one big entity.