Hot on the heels of the Unconference East, we have the Mobile Communities Unconference coming up March 20th in Palo Alto.

The intention of the Mobile Communities Unconference is to explore the opportunities with building community via mobile devices.

Several factors are driving the importance and relevance of this topic, most notably the fact that the number of mobile handsets in use globally dwarfs the number of personal computers.

The shear number of mobile devices, combined with the increasing sophistication of mobile devices, increasing speed of data flowing on mobile networks, the increasingly robust web experiences available via mobiles, and the explosion in interest around social networking begs the questions:
- what impact will mobile have on pc-bound online community experiences?
- what are the unique opportunities for mobile-only experiences that transcend voice and leverage text and mobile internet access?
- when will the US catch up to the technology leaders in the mobile space, like Korea?

Mobile is such a juicy topic right now. Combine that with an Unconference format, and you have a very interesting day of discussion.

We have a great group of folks coming already. A sample of the partcipating organizations include:

- SolutionSet
- YouTube
- 3jam
- SAP
- FunMobility
- Microsoft
- CollabNet
- Liveworld
- Google
- TechSoup
- VMWARE, INC.
- Gatheringpoint Digital LLC
- Omega Mobile, Inc.
- Yahoo! Inc
- Lithium
- Digital Chocolate
- itsmylife Labs
- Alta Partners
- MobileLife Inc.

Again, we just extended early bird pricing of $145 until the end of day on Friday, 2/29.
To register, go here: http://mcu2008.eventbrite.com/

We had a fantastic OC Unconference East in New York City last Thursday. Over one hundred online community and social media professionals were in attendance, and we had over 40 collaborative sessions. I've captured highlights below. I've also just opened up the Unconference wiki, so you can check out the session notes for yourself.

Organizations in attendance included:
AOL, MTV, Consumers Union (consumer reports), Cyworld, Business Week, Socialtext, IBM, Mzinga, Spinvox, Twing.com, Salon.com, Harvard Business, MediaBistro, KickApps, HP, TV Guide and Zagat.com.

Sessions ( a partial list)
- What is necessary to start a successful social network?
- Social Movements/Communities with a Cause:
- Enterprise And Large Organizations Meets Community
- User Managed Communities: where users make the rules
- Community Building: Resources and Considerations
- Virtual Goods 101
- Social Media Optimization
- Customer/Consumer Communities for Co-Innovation
- Twitter Strategies for the Enterprise
- Culture vs. Community: Intention-based content
- Community Analytics: measuring success & failure
- Social Networks: Likes/dislikes and what you want to know
- Virtual Goods and Virtual World Interactions
- Building Enterprise IT: Colloboration & interface to internal systems (using wikis)
- Open ID & other user-centric identity technologies (Higgins, Infocards, SAML)

You can see pictures from the Unconference here:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=ocue2008&w=all&s=int

Wiki
Again, the wiki is now open to the public for reading. We do restrict the right to edit / post to Unconference attendees.
http://www.socialtext.net/ocue08/

Blog posts about the Unconference

Online Community Unconference East - KickApps Blog
Online Community Unconference 2008 - Updates - Modern Metrix Blog
Live Blogging at ForumOne's Community Unconference 2/21 - Aaron Strout / Mzinga

Next Unconference:
Our next Unconference is the Mobile Communities Unconference March 20 in Palo Alto. If you are interested in exploring the opportunities with community building via mobile devices I would encourage you to come check it out.

Forum One friend Mark Finnern at SAP is hosting another F1 friend Sean O'Driscoll tomorrow for a conversation on Social Media and Online communities.

Not in the Bay Area? No problem, there is a WebEx session. Details follow:


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Social Media and Online Communities: If you could only leverage what your customers know.
We’ve been inundated with a wave of new buzz words…Web 2.0, Social Media, Communities, Social Productivity, Influencers, Marketing 2.0…This session will provide a business explanation of what Social Media is, why it matters to a business and most importantly how to operationalize it in a global business environment. We’ll explore a strategy development model for engaging with Social Media and a framework for establishing a long term approach to ROI. And finally, we’ll look at the Microsoft MVP program as a best practice and framework for tapping into the influencer/enthusiast population to drive word of mouth, brand affinity, product quality and online success.

Sean O’Driscoll is a recognized industry leader on social media and founder of CGT Consulting, an independent consultancy focused on applying social media and influencer programs to driving business strategy and long term results. CGT was founded to bridge the enthusiasm for social media and communities to real world business objectives that drive value across the innovation, sales & marketing and customer service & support functions.

Prior to founding CGT, Sean was a 15 year veteran at Microsoft Corporation. In his most recent capacity as General Manager, Community Support Services, Sean was responsible for developing social media and community-based support models and leading the worldwide MVP program. The MVP program was designed to award and recognize amazing individuals in technical communities around the globe who share a passion for technology and the spirit of community. Sean continues to support Microsoft as a strategic advisor on customer communities, Word of Mouth and Influencer program strategy.

Please register today to attend this dynamic presentation! If you're located in Palo Alto, please show your support for the presenter and join us in the SAP Co-Innovation Lab. For those located in our satellite offices, the online meeting details are below.

WebEx:
https://sap.webex.com/sap/j.php?ED=91409712&UID=45623552
Meeting number: 741 648 207
Meeting password: sapsalon

Audio Conference:
US & Canada: 866-331-0889
International: 803-477-2002
Participant Code: 899684

We are just 2 days away from the Online Community Unconference East in NYC. We still have about 5 open seats for those or you in the NYC area. You can register at: http://www.ocue.eventbrite.com

There is a really diverse mix of organizations coming, including: BlogHer Inc., Mediabistro, CMP, HP, Gartner, Autodesk, AOL, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Consumers Union, Zagat, TV Guide, allfacebook.com, Business Week, and Cyworld.

So, how does this work?
The premise of our Unconference series is that the best source of information on the topic of online communities is the community of folks building and managing online communities. The Unconference format provides a venue for folks to lead discussions about topics they are most passionate and knowledgeable about. At the end of the day, attendees walk away with new ideas, perspectives, and a long list of new professional connections.

One of the most amazing parts of the day at our Unconferences is the topic selection process. We are fortunate to have Kaliya Hamlin guiding us through the process again in New York.

The topic selection process starts the Unconference, when any attendee who wishes can come forward, announce a topic, and claim one of the 45-50 open slots on the grid.


Within 35-40 minutes the grid fills up with topics and the first session kicks off. It's really inspiring to hear all of the topics that are suggested, and to see so many great ideas come together on the grid.

If you would like to see an example of the great content that comes out of an Unconference, please check out the Online Community Unconference 07 wiki. I would encourage you to spend some time looking through the session notes as there is a lot of great content.

Again - we have about 5 seats still available for the Unconference in NYC this Thursday, 2/21. If you would like a seat, register here.

This month's Online Community Expert interview is with Robin Harper, VP Marketing and Community Development for Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life. Like many of you, I have experimented with Second Life over the last couple of years and have been left wanting something a bit more engaging. I gave Second Life a second look when I heard that Linden had added voice chat, and after seeing orgs like TechSoup (see Susan Tenby's interview from December) getting real value out of in world meetings. I reached out to Robin, and she was kind enough to spend some time with me answering questions from the perspective of a"second look at Second Life".

Q: Could you start with some basic stats about Second Life?

A: There were 921,554 unique people logged-in to Second Life last month (January 2008), who spent over 28 million hours. 45% of that use was women, 55% men. The world now consists of 16,816 regions, for a total size of 426 square miles (San Francisco is 49 square miles). There were nearly 18 million L$transactions among Residents, with average daily volume on the LindeX currency exchange of US$265,528. The top five countries (by use) with populations in Second Life are the United States, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom and France. For more information, please see http://secondlife.com/whatis/economy_stats.php.


Q: There was a tremendous amount of media coverage about Second Life in late 06 and early 07, which seemed to result in a bit of a backlash after a few high profile marketing experiments (American Apparel) ended badly. How did the attention effect your thinking about product direction and the core value of Second Life?

A: There are always up and down cycles in the media, and as Second Life went through an enormous growth phase, the press responded very positively to the wide range of social and entrepreneurial activity. Eventually they were bound to focus on one or two projects that were less than successful. The important thing to keep in mind is that sometimes a lack of success has as more to do with the project design than with Second Life, and that sometimes projects end because they're finished, not because they failed.

We continue to believe that Second Life offers the best and most flexible platform for development of 3D, immersive experiences. To help ensure the success of large scale projects we are working closely with the over 300 companies that have grown up in Second Life and are now providing consulting and content development services to their corporate and educational customers. We're helping them define best practices for successful projects, and making sure they have access to the tools and support they need.


Q: Is there a place for in world marketing of real world brands?

A: We've seen many well-recognized brands engage in successful projects within Second Life. Scion and Intel, Adidas, Reebok, Pontiac, Reuters... the list goes on. One of our Residents made a video about it: http://youtube.com/watch?v=tEGHJuCbGdo. I think the thing to remember is that the most successful projects are those whose creators realize that this is not a medium in the traditional sense -- it's not about reach and frequency, or impressions. The value of marketing within Second Life comes from having the opportunity to involve potential and current customers in an experience that they can help to design. From this you can learn an awful lot about their perceptions of your brand and products that is far richer than any focus group.


Q: Who do you consider the key audiences for Second Life, and what are the key points of value for these audiences?

A: Second Life has become a development platform which attracts a wide range of people with an unlimited number of ideas. In the consumer arena there are people from around the world who are starting businesses ranging from the unexpected (magic wands!) to the more traditional (apparel and home furnishings). For them Second Life offers new opportunities for entrepreneurship relative to the real world -- the difference being that their customer base is global and their costs are comparatively low. On the social side people attend concerts and the theatre, throw parties, go skiing and ice skating. The benefits of online community are well-known to the readers of this newsletter -- a removal of geographic constraints and an opportunity to make new friends you'd otherwise never meet. And you don't have to pay for lift tickets.

In addition to the consumer aspect of Second Life, corporations are finding it a place to hold meetings with global employees and customers, to build prototypes, to create showrooms. Educators simulate everything from 3D molecular structure to game design. The value lies in the simulation and design capabilities coupled with the ability to bring together groups of people from nearly anywhere in the world.

Q: What are the new features or services that get the folks at Linden excited? What is on the horizon?

A: We're in the process of building new search features into the Second Life world, making it easier to find things to do or the essentials of virtual life, from shoes to French lessons. We think the simple fact of web-based indexing will make Second Life more accessible to a broader base of users. On the graphics side our new Windlight technology is opening up capabilities for environmental effects that are simply beautiful. Second Life Residents have been experimenting with atmospheric enhancement to add mood to their builds and are showing off the results on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=windlight&w=all.

We see nothing but potential on the horizon as the world continues to grow and diversify. Of course there are challenges brought on by the intersection of real world and virtual, but in the end we believe there is a net gain in the creation of new economic and social value.

Our Online Community Research Network (http://www.onlinecommunityresearch.com) initiated the The Marketing & Online Community research study in June of 2007. The study explored the current state of marketing to online communities, from the perspective of both the online community host, as well as from the perspective of the marketer.

The research participants included large software companies, large community destination sites, niche community sites, platform providers and interactive marketing and advertising firms.

We discovered early on in the research process that while community hosts and practitioners were willing to share their experiences, most marketers were not. At the beginning of the research I conducted several in-person interviews, it became clear that most marketing and advertising agencies have not met with great success in their community marketing efforts, and are unwilling to talk about their experiences. What limited success marketers have had is generally viewed as proprietary knowledge within the agency, and is closely guarded.

I've included excerpts from the report below. To download the full report, please go here (short registration required).


What are the biggest challenges you face working with third-party marketers?
It is clear from the survey responses that most online community hosts are still negotiating the relationship with third-party marketers, their messages, and their methodologies.

The main challenges in working with third-party marketers included:

• Third-party marketers want to control content/context in which their ad will be shown.
• Difficulty matching ads with content
• Overhead associated with helping marketer understand community culture
• The lack of a pre-screened third-party ad network
• Marketers seem to have no affinity with community / company brand
• Advertiser push invasive or unusual advertising to get results
• Difficult to determine fair rate and cost basis

What general advice would you give a colleague that was considering incorporating marketing and advertising into their community?

Respondents shared valuable advice about incorporating marketing and advertising activities into communities, from their direct experiences.

Recommendations included:

• When introducing marketing messages into your community, be very cautious and attentive to your member reactions, and open to their feedback
• Understand your audiences needs and sensitivities to advertising messages
• Establishing a good relationship with the agency account manager is key
• Establish creative and messaging guidelines for marketing to ensure appropriateness
• Make sure ads are appropriate and add value to community
• Be clear about policies and ensure that policies are available to and understood by community
• Involve the audience. Surveying members to determine which brands / types of messages they would
• Ensuring the right mix of content to ads
• Test and refine based on marketing effectiveness and feedback

Again, to download the full report, please go here (short registration required).

We are about a week away from the The Online Community Unconference East. We have a fantastic group of folks coming, including
allfacebook.com, Alliance to Save Energy, AOL, Business Week Digital, Changing The Present, Consumers Union, Cyworld, EchoDitto, Family Justice, Inc, Gartner, Grandparents.com, IBM, Mercy Corps, Patricia Seybold Group, Showtime Networks Inc, Socialtext, Texas Instruments, TV Guide Online and Zagat.com.

We have about 15 tickets remaining, and we expect to sell out this week. To register, go to http://ocueast.eventbrite.com.

We are holding a handful of "scholarship" tickets for those that are still in school, or those whose budgets are tight. Please email me directly to inquire about one of these tickets.

The Wall Street Journal published an article today on adverting and social media titled "Social Sites Don't Deliver Big Ad Gains".

The article offer a pretty good overview of the current state of online advertising with the backdrop of Microsoft's hostile takeover bid of Yahoo.

As Microsoft Corp. makes a $44.6 billion bet on Internet advertising with its unsolicited offer for Yahoo Inc., there are signs that some of the biggest new places where consumers are flocking on the Web -- social networking and video-sharing sites -- are yielding advertising revenue slower than some Internet companies had hoped.

Here is the thing: ADVERTISERS ARE STILL TRYING TO USE THE SAME WEB 1.0 ADS FOR THESE SITES. I doesn't surprise me at all that social networks are slow to take on advertising, and that those that do are finding "crude" tools like adwords more effective than simply shoving the same dated banner ads down community member's throats.

The secret sauce for success (I believe) lies in adhering to general good community building techniques.

- Know your member (consumer)
- Offer them something of value
- Craft the offer in a human voice
- Be transparent about your intentions
- Be respectful of the member (privacy, needs, wishes, intelligence)
- Accept feedback
- Have thick skin
- Continue to innovate (i.e. try, try again)

We have some early examples of attempts at innovation, including Facebook's beacon, but there are still miles to go in this race.

Online Community Manager

Do you live and breathe the blogosphere and practically live on the Net? Do you have a track record of creating and growing online communities? Do you have a talent for engaging and retaining readers online? Do you excel in communications and technology?
Knight Foundation seeks an Online Community Manager to be based in our Miami, Florida office, reporting to the Vice President of Communications.

Play a key role in creating a vibrant online discussion community for Knight Foundation and shape it into the premier digital presence focused on journalism excellence, communities and systemic, transformational change. Help establish the foundation as the leading provocateur for community transformation in the digital age. This position serves as Knight’s eyes, ears and - in cooperation with other Knight staff - voice in the blogosphere. You will attract, facilitate and moderate user-generated content on all foundation web sites. Your goal will be to increase awareness about the foundation’s mission among bloggers and build and sustain engagement of Knight’s online community.

You will discover, edit and craft cutting edge, thought-provoking content on transformational change in communities and journalism. You’ll be responsible for convening online discussions and social networking activities that increase visibility for and support the foundation’s mission. You will play a leading role in the experimental foundation presence on virtual online communities. You’ll be the foundation’s point person for the needs, opportunities, trends and current digital, web and electronic media issues in the communications and philanthropy fields.

Knowledge of journalism and communications, especially digital media is essential. You should have excellent writing skills and passion about social innovation, journalism and entrepreneurship. You should be a social network builder; be energetic, positive, and able to create an online presence with a recognizable tone and style; be viewed as a thought leader in the blogosphere. You must have an understanding of current web, computer and multimedia systems, techniques and processes at a level that gives you proficiency in creating and managing Web 2.0 content.

A bachelor’s degree in a related field and a minimum of two years of directly related work experience is required.


To apply, please send your resume, salary history and links to examples of your work to: careers@knightfdn.org.

For more on the Knight Brothers' foundation and transformational change,
go to http://www.knightfdn.org/

Knight Foundation is an equal opportunity employer.