Community Guy – Jake McKee

Books and Magazines! Oh My!

A while back I talked to Fabio Cipriani about my corporate LEGO blog for a book he was writing. It’s out now, and I just got my copy today. Looks like a good book, but since I don’t read anything but English, I can’t really tell!

Also on the "tooting my own horn" front, Forbes this month has my buddy Soren Lund on the cover. Soren was a colleague at LEGO who is in charge of the LEGO Mindstorms project. He’s on the cover in no small part due to the sucess of the Mindstorms User Panel that brought adult fans into the development cycle.

As the head of US public relations for LEGO told me this past weekend – the reason the Mindstorms NXT product launch is getting so much attention isn’t as much about the product itself. The story is about the community involvment and the open approach LEGO has taken with third parties.

Kudos to Soren. He’s certainly earned it.

eModeration hits Marketing Monger Podcast

Our friend Tamara over at eModeration was interviewed by Eric at MarketingMonger.com (Eric’s on a quest to interview 1000 marketing people).

The discussion is an interesting insight into the ins and outs of adding content moderation to your community building efforts.

Developing a solid moderation gameplan for any community is not just a good thing to do, it’s an absolute requirement. Without an appropriate, robust moderation plan, the community is almost destined to fail sooner rather than later. This holds true for brand driven communities as well as user driven communities.
Too many people assume that pre-moderation (moderating all content before it ever appears to the public) is the best solution. After all, if the company looks over the content first, what problems could exist? Separate from the issue of users finding ways to trick your moderators once they discover they’re being moderated, there are some immediate risks:

• Realism: Who wants to hang out in a community where someone is looking over your shoulder like a disapproving parent when there are tons of other community sites around?
• Trust: Inherently, pre-moderation says to your community members "we don’t trust you". That’s not a very good way to build social connection.
• Turnaround time: Will you be staffing the moderation team 24/7? If not, what happens at midnight when users are still uploading content and expecting to see it on the site quickly? Users don’t like to wait minutes, much less hours or days.
• Focus: The nature of pre-moderation draws resources and focus away from tasks like encouraging users to participate, creating methods of drawing users into your community, and keeping content on track through participation rather than directive.
• Scalability: If your community becomes successful, despite the issues above, are you going to build a team of people capable of review content additions in a timely fashion? What can your budget withstand… 5 full-timers? 10? 20?

Easy? Not really. Safer? Well, depends on what you mean when you talk about "safe". Sure, there’s a higher chance that porn might slip through. But there’s also a significantly increased failure possibility too. MySpace users change their profiles on average every 72 hours. Imagine if every single bit of content had to be approved before it was displayed. With 100+ million users now, do you think the turnaround time would be acceptable to that audience? How long before MySpace users get tired of waiting around and take off for some other site where things happen faster?

Certainly post-moderation has it’s issues too. If you’re dealing with kids, pre-moderation becomes much more important. But beyond a specific use case that requires pre-moderation, post-moderation offers many more possibilities.

• Involve your users: Give them tools to easily and quickly notify moderators of problematic content. User flagging can do wonders for keeping the site on par with what your users are comfortable with
• Enlist a volunteer army: In any great community, there are a core group of users who want to make sure the community they love lives on. Ask them to help you with the moderation process. Not only does this help with scalability, it lets them know that the site is as much theirs as yours.
• Spot check: With the right user volunteers and notification methods, you can often rely on spot checking, rather than manually reviewing every piece of content.
• Robust tools: When you are designing your community, don’t wait until the last minute to design the moderation tools. Planning methods of dealing with potential problems at the same time you plan the rest of the project ensures that your site is easily able to handle anything users throw at it. For instance, you decide to tie the way content is rated to the way content is flagged for inappropriateness based on the belief that low-rated, flagged content should be seen by a moderator immediately.

This is a significant issue in the development of any project that directly asks for user input. If you’re not spending time on this issue early and often, your project may well fall flat.

The good news is that with proper planning, it’s not a insurmountable issue.

Y: The Last Man

USA Today blogger Whitney Matheson writes about one of the best books (graphic or otherwise) that I’ve read in a while.

I’m not sure why I’ve been putting off writing about Y: The Last Man. Since March, this series of books has been my No. 1 obsession.

The premise is simple and provocative: What if a mysterious disease instantly killed every man on Earth … except one? As a result, all world leaders would be women. Armies would be 100% female. Of course, all criminals would be women, too — and once word gets out about the living man, some will go to any lengths to track him down.

Here’s a PDF of the first few pages to get you started.

I’ve been a huge fan of the series since issue 3 (going back and picking up issues 1 and 2, of course). Interestingly, even though I have every individual issue, I still go buy the collected volumes. Why? It seems like such a waste.

There’s a couple of reasons – reading 10 issues all at once in one flowing form is a different experience than waiting obsessively to get each new issue when it comes out. Brian K. Vaughn, the uber-talented writer does a fantastic job of leaving you with a cliff hanger at the end of each installment, but also moves the story along so you don’t feel strung out like many TV shows do.

The experience is worth it, but it’s dependent on a solid foundation of content. Vaughn is a sharp, witty writer who doesn’t insult the audience by spelling things out. More than once I’ve looked up a cultural reference after finishing the book. The artwork is also compelling, as is the overall concept, and pacing.

Great experiences are great because they come with the entire package. LEGO built loyalty well beyond other brands because they have great involvement with consumers, a value system that they (mostly) communicate effectively, and because the product is rock solid. Not surprisingly, when the product quality suffered, the rest of the equation could only prop it up for so long.

The Power of One

As I blogged about previously, the BrickFest 2006 event this past weekend was fantastic. But of all the great things I saw and heard, there was one story that stuck out more than any other.

During the big Saturday night keynote question & answer session, an Asian woman came up to the microphone. She gave some background about how the Asian market is underserved by much of the community efforts LEGO has undertaken, limited and expensive product availablity, and a few other issues. She wasn’t complaining, she was asking what she could do. See, she had gone to the local LEGO office to offer to lend a hand and was turned away cold. (Don’t forget, this wasn’t an offer of help from just one person, it was an offer from someone representing the local community) That’s right – she was offering to provide a community of Citizen Marketers willing to take instructions from the brand they loved in order to help them grow bigger. And they were turned away cold.

Standing in front of 500 people, including the  head of LEGO community development and the company CEO, she wasn’t complaining. She was setting up the background of her real question: "….so what can I do to get through to the Singapore sales office?" She wanted to help out enough that even a black eye wouldn’t turn her away. At least not without a little more effort.

But this was only the first half of a two-part, misty eyed story.

The CEO of a multi-billion dollar company immediately answers: "I’m actually going to be in Singapore next week. Would you be able to join me when I meet with that office so we can work it out?" The audience went wild. By the end of the event, they had arranged a meeting time. The CEO, the leadership of LEGO Singapore, and a fan.

The effect was much larger than simply helping this one woman. Or even the local Singapore adult fans. There were several hundred people from around the world with communication capabilities like few other communities. The takeaway was simple: "Every one of you is important to the company, all the way to the top". The network effect will easily spread this message to the tens of thousands of LEGO fans worldwide.

Still think that the mass marketing is the only way to access large audiences?

BrickFest: what an event!

I’m back from a great weekend at BrickFest in D.C. and am only a little caught up on my rest. I think I probably slept about 5 hours a night for the last 5 days. The venue was fantastic, the displays were incredible, the people were fun, and the visiting with my former LEGO colleagues was great.

The highlight of the event had to be the keynote address by my former boss, Tormod Askildsen. The amount of projects that have come to maturity since last year’s BrickFest is stunning. I’ve never felt so proud to be a part of a team that did (and is doing) such great work. Here’s just a few of the highlights from the event:

• The announcement that the new Mindstorms NXT robotics system will allow third party sensors to be used. Not only that, certain third party sensors will be sold through official LEGO channels.
• The announcement of a train set that is based solely on fan designs. The box will contain parts and instructions enough to create 30 different models. Each of these (plus the other 50 that weren’t chosen to be in the box) will be posted for individual purchase on LEGO Factory.
• Out of more than 400 attendees, 30 were LEGO employees.
• At last year’s BrickFest, a LEGO Creative Director met a LEGO fan and shortly after offered him an internship as a LEGO designer in Denmark.  He’s still there, and the best part is he’s blogging the experience.
• Open, non-NDA meetings between various LEGO people (including upper management) and the LEGO fans. These meetings allowed employees and fans to air open issues (positive and negative both, but all constructive).

I’m hoping the full keynote will be up on YouTube shortly, and will link it here if I find it. It’s worth watching to see tangible results of what a company can accomplish on the business front when they collaborate with their lead consumers.

BrickFest, here I come!

For the 5th year in a row, I’m heading out today for BrickFest – the largest LEGO fan event in North America. This year is full of changes, including a new organizer, a new venue, and a new event format. Oh, and this is the first time I will be at a LEGO fan event as a LEGO fan rather than an employee. Talk about mind-bending…. Full report on Monday!

Worst domain names

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I thought I’d pass it along anyway. Just in case you’re wondering if your domain name matters much to your branding efforts, here’s 10 answers:

1. A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is
www.whorepresents.com

2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at
www.expertsexchange.com

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
www.penisland.net

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
www.therapistfinder.com

5. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company…
www.powergenitalia.com

6. And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales:
www.molestationnursery.com

7. If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always
www.ipanywhere.com

8. Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church. Their website is
www.cummingfirst.com

9. Then, of course, there’s these brainless art designers, and their whacky website:
www.speedofart.com

10. Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their brochure website at
www.gotahoe.com

Yikes.

New book: Word of Mouth Marketing

My friend Andy Sernovitz, head of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, has a new book coming out soon: Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking. Andy has been kind enough to provide me with a PDF version of the final book content, and I’ll be taking a look this weekend and reporting back here.

Thanks, Andy!

UPDATE: Andy just told me I’m the first one to blog this story. Woo hoo! First!

The Webmaster Jam Session

Dallas is hosting some Web development rockstars for a fun event, The Webmaster Jam Session.

For those in the Dallas area (and those beyond) myself, Andy Budd, James Craig, Garrett Dimon, Derek Featherstone, Ethan Marcotte, Eric Meyer, Cameron Moll, Jared Spool, Bryan Veloso, and other top experts in Web Design, SEO, and Web Marketing will be speaking at the Webmaster Jam Session in Dallas Texas September 22nd and 23rd 2006. It’s not going to get better than this. The Webmaster Jam Session is FREE. Just book a room at the Adam’s Mark Hotel to get in!

• Date: September 22nd thru 23rd, 2006
• Time: 10:00 AM to 6:30 PM Friday, and 11:00 AM to 6:30 PM Saturday
• Location: Adam’s Mark Hotel and Resort (400 North Olive Street, Dallas, TX 75201)
• Admission: Free!

(Actually it’s only free if you book a room at the hotel, otherwise it’s $199)

Stealth Mode is not smart

Stealth Mode.

It’s a term that you often hear associated with either startups or poorly executed consumer interaction strategies. Like when Nvidia tried to "gift" gamers into saying good things about them. Or when an agency tried to sneak bloggers into the blogosphere to talk up Raging Cow milk, check and marching orders in hand.

I found a blog post today from the WinMarkets blog about the LEGO Ambassador program that I built. While this program was invite only, it was by no means stealth. The community at large knew all about it, and could apply to participate. (We had final say on who was invited in)

Nilofer on the WinMarkets blog post says:

I responded in the comments, but I thought I’d elaborate here a bit. While the praise for the LEGO Ambassadors is much appreciated, I was saddened to read those last two sentences.

Ambassador programs (or any type of consumer interaction program) is almost always a bad idea in stealth mode. (There are exceptions, mostly involving top secret projects -  this was the case with the LEGO Mindstorms NXT project)

In a best case scenario, keeping  this hidden from public eye means that you’re missing a huge audience to show the world at large that you’re interested in consumer opinion.

The worst case is that consumers feel like you’re lying to them. It doesn’t matter what your original intentions were, you always come out looking sleazy. Just ask Nvidia.

Entering a new market should be about building an actual, ongoing relationship. What are relationships based on? Trust. How can you build trust when your introduction is based on a lie and/or secrets?