What's
Inside:
Greetings Online Communizens,
Congratulations! We made it to February of 2009. The sun still rises (in spite of the economic rhumba), and fortunately for us, interest in online communities remains strong. As you will see in the report back from the Unconference East, spirits were high, and so was optimism about community building and social media activities. Times may be tough, and budgets and resources may be shrinking a bit, but by and large, most organizations are investing in the cost-effectiveness and immediacy of online communities in their marketing, research and support efforts.
Now, on to the report!
ps: Are you going to South by Southwest? If so, I would love to connect with you. Please drop me a line.
Bill Johnston, Editor
bjohnston@forumone.com
(follow @billjohnston on Twitter)
A Message From Our Sponsors:
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Online Community Research Network
Join the leading network of over 100 Online Community and Social Media experts and get thousands of dollars worth of detailed and timely research to help you build engagement and growth in your online communities.
Sign-up now and take advantage of our special discount of $200 off of a one year membership!
Go here to sign up (discount applied on registration page)
Online Community Highlights
Online Community Unconference East
The Online Community Unconference East was held last week (2/11) at Baruch College in New York. We had an amazing turnout, with 150 online community professionals representing organizations representing a range of industries from publishing to marketing, technology and more. We had over 40 sessions ranging from enterprise use of Twitter to revisiting community strategy with a holistic approach.
Reporting Back from the Online Community Unconference East 2009 - OC Report
Social Psychology 101 for Community Managers - Phoom!
Community Myth Busting - OCUE2009 Presentation Notes - Impact Interactions
Twitter
Social Networks Converge into the Social Mobile Space
All of the big players are taking their positions in the mobile market. Facebook is actively growing their mobile network users and working with Nokia on a potential partnership that would embed some of Facebook’s features into Nokia’s phones. Meanwhile, MySpace has redesigned their mobile interface, offering their users an experience that more closely resembles the desktop experience. Additionally, MySpace claims that their applications are the first of the social networks to be supported on all smartphone platforms. Google and Yahoo are also working on their own initiatives. Yahoo has redesigned their mobile offerings and will consolidate all of their services under one service called Yahoo Mobile. Google lets you track your friends with location data mapping. By all accounts, it looks like 2009 is the year that mobile social media is going to really take off.
MWC: Yahoo Revamps Mobile Strategy—Again - PCMag.com
Why Facebook’s Future Is Mobile - gigaom
MySpace Unveils Redesigned Mobile Site - MediaPost
Google Enters Mobile Social Networking with “Latitude” - the NEXT web
Facebook in mobile social networking talks with Nokia - Fierce Mobile Content
Twitter's in the Money
At a time when most social networks and social media sites are trying to figure out the best ways to monetize their services and make some cold hard cash, Twitter is sitting pretty – without a business plan. Having just received $35 millions dollars in new funding, Twitter’s current goals are to support the amazing growth of their service – their users have increased 900% in the last year! While Twitter is not under any pressure to generate revenue, they are working on creating new revenue generating products. The real question is what will those products look like? Will they have ads products on their website, sell targeted data from conversations, or perhaps charge brands for commercial use?
Twitter Could 'Go for Years' Without Earning a Dime, Investor Says - Wired
Twitter to begin charging brands for commercial use - Marketing Magazine
Business Models Are Overrated! Twitter Raises Another $35 Million - All Things Digital
Here's How Twitter Gets Rich - The Motley Fool
More Highlights:
The Future Of Newspapers: Online, Interactive Communities - It's All Virtual
So how can NYTimes.com monetize their users beyond display advertising?
Google to tear down social networking walls - canada.com
Google has set out to enable all websites, free of charge, to be imbued with common social networking features as the Internet evolves toward becoming a giant community along the lines of MySpace or Facebook.
One Super Bowl advertiser has found a way to extend the reach of its TV spot to millions more viewers - MediaPost
Pedigree has partnered with DogTime Media to include the ad on the Sparky Media Center, which has already been embedded on over 70 publisher and blog sites with 6 million visitors.
Eight Ways to Use Video to Boost Your Marketing - ClickZ
Online video is white hot. It's being used in many ways and delivered anywhere your target audience is. Marketers should be device indifferent since users may view your content on mobile devices, computers, and flat-screen televisions.
Tips For Ranking Higher On and With YouTube - WebProNews
Up Close with YouTube Product Manager Matt Liu at SMX.
HOW TO: Attract and Engage Social Media Moms - Mashable
Although many attempts have been made to use Web 2.0 tools to engage mothers, only a few have been successful. The key to success lies in the approach. Here are a few tips to help you attract and engage moms online.
A holistic approach to social media - adotas
Participation on high profile social media sites is only one part of a successful marketing strategy. Companies must also learn to build and integrate communities on their own branded sites.
Online Community Events
Online Community Business Forum
March 19-20, 2009
The Online Community Business Forum is an invitation-based event bringing together business leaders who drive active online communities. Based on the industry-leading Online Community Summit, the Business Forum focuses specifically on online community business models and tactics, what works, and what is on the horizon.
In the 2009 Business Forum, scheduled for March 19-20 in Sonoma, California, we'll have an in depth review of online community business topics such as advertising models; subscriber models; ROI frameworks; new revenue models; and other important topics for the online community executive. We limit attendance at our executive events to allow true discussion during our sessions.
Click here to request an invitation or email me directly at bjohnston@forumone.com.
Early bird pricing has been extended through February 23rd. Register now and save $50.
Mobile Social Media Unconference
April 23, 2009
The Mobile Communities Unconference is a gathering of strategists, community hosts, device manufacturers, service providers, and content developers to discuss the emerging opportunities and challenges that mobile communities present.
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. This fact, 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? And what are the unique opportunities for mobile-only experiences that transcend voice?
Click here to register
Early bird pricing of $145 is available through March 27th.
Online Community Unconference
June 18, 2009
The Online Community Unconference is a gathering of online community practitioners - managers, developers, business people, tool providers, investors - to discuss experiences and strategies in the development and growth of online communities. Those involved in online community development (and social software in general) share many common challenges: community management, tools, marketing, business models, legal issues. As we have found with our past events, the best source of information on all of these challenges is other knowledgeable practitioners.
Click here to register
OC Expert Interview: Dawn Foster, Fast Wonder Consulting
This month's Expert Interview is with Dawn Foster, Online Community & Social Media Consultant at Fast Wonder Consulting in Portland, Oregon.
Dawn Foster is a consultant, community manager, event organizer, blogger, podcaster, technology enthusiast and business professional. She provides consulting services for companies wanting to engage with online communities and has more than 13 years of experience in business and technology with expertise in strategic planning, management, market research, social media, blogging, podcasting, rss, community building, web 2.0, and open source software. Dawn regularly blogs about online communities as the author of the Fast Wonder Blog, and she blogs for GigaOM's WebWorkerDaily. She is a co-founder of Legion of Tech and is an organizer for the Portland BarCamp and Ignite Portland events. She is also the community evangelist for Shizzow, a new Portland start up.
Click here to read the interview.
Know an online community expert with an
interesting story to tell? Or are you one yourself? Email me, and
you may be the next expert interviewee.
Online
Community Jobs
A current list of Online Community job opportunities. If
you would like
to include an open position in the next issue of the newsletter, please
email
me with the title and link to the job description.
Apture
Community Manager
EAA
Online Community Manager
Care2 Inc.
Product Manager for Community
CODEPINK
Online
Community Organizer
Forum One
Interface Engineer
Senior Programmer - Technical Lead
Internet Research Analyst
Leverage Software
Client Services Manager
Lithium
Online Moderator (Part-Time), Remote
Rosetta Stone
Community Manager
the groupery
Online Community / Website Manager
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Community Senior Producer
Walmart
Community Analyst
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