ISSUE 6: NUMBERS MEAN NOTHING – NETWORKING MAKES MEMBERS STICK

It’s official: personal invitation brings lurkers out of the closet!

My last post, ‘Heroes or hoverers’ (06 September), produced over 20 comments from hitherto silent lurkers. Why did they declare their presence? In most cases, because of personal invitation via email or Facebook. 

It’s a tried and tested model of public relations success: there’s nothing like personal invitation for evoking interest and engagement in a potential respondent.  It works every time, especially on social media, explains MELISSA GALT, Australian born motivational speaker and designer, at

http://melissagalt.com/its-not-about-numbers-get-over-it/

And the next step? Once members are engaged, we need to encourage their activity. How do we create ‘sticky' members – those who keep coming back? See

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-create-your-own-social-networking-community/

Among other things, the socialmediaaexaminer site foregrounds the importance of strong leadership. This is as vital to a virtual community as it is to a ‘real’ community. 

More about 'sticky' members Thank you to the many commenters on my own blog who have highlighted other essential producers of ‘stickiness’. As you’ve  said, social media users will come back to a site if it offers them the chance to:

  *   communicate creatively (25 Aug post-Rox) 

  *   engage (06 Sep post – http://vzrethinks.wordpress.com; 31 Aug post - http://academondownunder.wordpress.com/)   *    listen (ozmediaphiledotcom)   

  *    connect  (22 Aug post-Sally Morgan)  

  *    collaborate with others with niche interests (25 Aug post –Donny; 02 Sep post-Naomi)  

  *    talk the same ‘language’ (25 Aug post-Aiza)   

  *    be acknowledged (23 Aug post)

What makes YOU return to the same social media site again and again?

Please comment–name the site, and your reason for being sticky!

ISSUE 5—Heroes or hoverers? A place for all in online communities

The lead up to the Australian general election on 7 September has seen frenzied social media activity by major political leaders. Both  main contenders for the leadership, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbot, through their active social media presence have acknowledged the importance of social media for community engagement.

Who has been more successful? Kevin Rudd, with his longer term social media presence, has attracted more followers. Sustained presence and interaction are important for building and maintaining a community of followers. The Sydney Morning Herald explores this issue at  http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/smallbiz-marketing/election-showcases-power-of-social-media-20130815-2rxkn.html#ixzz2eAnNfxbV

In the US, President Obama’s success with his social media campaign is seen as a function of with his long—3.5 year—social media presence in contrast with candidate Romney's much shorter one.  

The politicians are all demonstrating active leadership on online communities. But what of the other end of the scale–the not visibly active, seemingly dormant ‘lurkers’ referred to in this blog by commenter Rox?

Can we count those peripheral participants as part of the community?

Communication experts agree that lurkers are important. According to Kate Crawford of the University of Sydney, lurkers ‘contribute a mode of receptiveness that encourages others to make public contributions’.

It’s clear from the work of both Crawford and Australia’s Listening Project that, like real-world communities, online communities have their active leaders and their inactive, peripheral participants. All play significant roles.

Here is a multimedia metaphor for the interaction between online followers and online leaders—a large-group rendition of the Cup Song. (Don’t know about the Cup Song? This is a viral YouTube-activity that was unleashed with the release of the movie Pitch Perfect.)

This rendition highlights the importance of the leader for keeping a community together–the leader sets the rhythm for interaction, maintains the momentum, and creates a platform for powerful collaboration. But without her followers, there would only be silence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFtfk0bZVRM

Want to know more?

On Obama vs Romney social media use, see http://www.policymic.com/articles/10072/why-obama-is-dominating-mitt-romney-on-facebook-twitter-and-pinterest )

See Kate Crawford’s  article,  ‘ Disciplines of listening in social media’ at

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.law.harvard.edu/files/Crawford%20Continuum%20following%20you_0.pdf

For The Listening Project: http://www.thelisteningproject.net/

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ISSUE 4 – continued – more about CONVERSATION AND COLLABORATION

Poetry collaboration

This exchange of text poems began as a message to a closed LinkedIn group, the group of students with whom I am completing my Master’s Degree in Communication Management. In the course of writing this blog, I learnt of the possibility of social media to allow for ongoing conversation – surely the first step to community. See Issue 3, posted 25 August, where I  interviewed a textpoet.

So I decided to try texting.

[1st post, on LinkedIn]

AVRIL:

Be creative! send me a textpoem on [mobile number]. Here's an example:

Tap in symbols, and it starts

 /characters to open hearts

/speak to me in prose or rhyme

/and let's connect thru space & time

The result? A response from 3 class members via texting; with one, a lively dialogue has emerged. Read and enjoy.

AIZA:

Although our tutes are not the same

I still will deign to play your game

Of poetry in SMS,

Does this suffice? I did my best!

AVRIL:

Love it!

now tell me all about your blog;

does progress lag, or does it jog?

Is this semester going well?

I’m confident that you’ll excel!

AIZA: 

My blog, alas!

Progress is slow,

This comes to me as quite a blow.

AVRIL:

Take courage, friend!

Why don’t we try

To comment on each other’s blog

From now until semester’s end?

In other words, a dialogue.

In matters not whichever class

We both are in; we still will pass

And let s maintain this conversation

For a full collaboration!

AIZA:

 I do agree with your proposal;

 My service is at your disposal!

AVRIL:

so later on I’ ll check your site

Look out for comments late tonight!

AIZA:

 your kindness is appreciated,

But, er, my blog’s not yet updated!

AVRIL:

No problem. And I need a break

Issue 4: CONVERSATION AND COLLABORATION, NOT JUST COMMENT?

Writer/journalist Stephanie Wood recently published a compelling feature article on loneliness. In addition to addressing  the deep seated experience of emotional and physical isolation, she  challenges the notion that social media can help to alleviate loneliness. See http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/all-the-lonely-people-20130826-2skkz.html.

It would appear, indeed, that  social media platforms can invite mere comment rather than engagement – or even just envy as we appraised others’ seemingly more enriched lives.  

We’ve all heard  about the potential of Facebook to cause loneliness. But a study intent on proving this actually found the opposite. See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/facebook-loneliness_n_3839003.html

Aiza has commented on this blog that social media shows evidence of ‘the Existence of certain protocols and rules of use which can only be learned and internalised through constant exposure and use’.  

By virtue of this definition, we can envision proficient social media users as those who are true community members – they have adopted the language, use the protocols for engaging in dialogue, and are engaged in regular interchange.

And other commenters have shown how constant exposure and the next step- response – have enhanced feelings of belonging:

Sally Morgan: ‘social media can help us feel like we belong and decrease feelings of isolation’. 

Denise: 'the bottom line for me is that I see Facebook as a very positive medium and a fabulous vehicle to connect with other like-minded human beings and make friends.'

According to Spanish scholar Jose Luis Orihuela, in an article in Comunicação e Sociedade (translated into English!)

 ‘The blogosphere is community and conversation’.  

Please continue the conversation- let me know what you think about the question,

Can social media build community?

Want to know more from these commentators?

Denise: http://greyisok.blogspot.co.uk/

Jose Luis Orihuela: Email: jlori@unav.es; Blog: http://ecuaderno.com/.

Aiza Rus: http://vitamincplus.wordpress.com/author/aizauts/

Sally Morgan: https://plus.google.com/107611860416207398724/posts

ISSUE 3 ALTERNATIVE DISCOURSE? A NEW LANGUAGE COMMUNITY?

The comment from poet Shelley Tracey got me thinking:

can creative communities form through the medium of social media?
Accordingly, I interviewed Shelley via Facebook Chat.
Here is a transcript.

What do you think?
Can social media  create a new language, a new discourse, a new language community?