What's Inside:
Greetings Online Communimigas y Communimigos,
Social Networks again dominate the news this month, with Facebook taking the lion's share of the headlines. Network openness and portability are starting to get traction as topics in the community of practice. The novelty of participating in the network du jour is wearing off, and most are trying to figure out how to work and play in these new social spaces. On to the Report!
Bill Johnston, OC Report Editor
bjohnston@forumone.com
A Message From Our Sponsors:
SolutionSet
Strategic consulting with custom creative and technology solutions to achieve your organization's Community goals. SolutionSet works with you.
http://www.solutionset.com
Online Community Research Network
The Online Community Research Network is a research-based network of online community pros studying best practices for building and managing communities.
http://www.onlinecommunityresearch.com
Online Community Highlights
The State of Social Networking - Part 2
The conversation about social networking is evolving quickly. One of the most interesting topics that is emerging is around the concept of "locked in" member bases (Facebook), vs more open and accessible experiences (Ning). The demand by consumers for portability of their profile and network is clashing with the desire by most social network hosts to keep members locked in. This will be a key issue to track as the inevitable consolidation starts to happen.
The Chess game of social networking - Marc Canter
Open standards for social networking - CNET
All your widgets are belong to Facebook - Jeremiah Owyang
PeopleAggregator and Open Social Network Systems - Read/WriteWeb
The Data Sharing Summit - Event Site
Online Community Metrics Report Released
The Online Community Metrics survey was completed in March of this year, and published privately to our research network. The report was released to the public on August 4th. The report has many key findings, including:
- Metrics options: a wide-ranging list of new and different metrics which respondents found valuable apart from the norm of page visits and unique visitors.
- Desired metrics: a valuable wish list that has been complied by online community professionals for online community professionals.
- Tools for collecting metrics: a highlighted graph on data collected to see what the best services, tools and techniques are for collecting and analyzing online community data.
- Demonstrating ROI: Quantifying the value of community efforts for management.
- Advice: Top tips accumulated for community managers concerning best practice metrics.
OC Research: Metrics 2007 Report Posted - Online Community Research Network
Marketing to Online Communities
Marketing to online communities continues to be a hot topic. Traditional agencies continue to try and force fit old techniques into a new media, like the banners ads from circa 1999 on Facebook. Marketers and advertisers are flocking to social networks and social media sites to participate in the activity in order to gain understanding. Who is pushing marketing innovation? Internal marketing teams, including PR and brand management.
Would You Let These People Friend You?- Advertising Age
Real World Marketing Through Social Networks - Digital Influence Mapping Project
2011: Net Replaces Papers As Top Ad Medium - WebProNews
Will closed networks hurt themselves or lead to Web 3.0? - Marketing Conversations
More Highlights:
Google News to Allow People in Stories to Add Comments
Google News will allow people featured in news stories to comment on the story. That's one small step in the right direction.
Things That Don't Really Work Offline: Friending and Emoticons
The new AOL Social Media Blog (which is good) posts a somewhat tongue and cheek story about online behavior making an inappropriate transition to the real world.
Online communities a godsend for IT managers
A survey finds that IT Managers live and die by their online communities. 94% go to more than 1 site to solve a specific problem.
Why I gave up on Second Life
Long Tail author and Wired editor Chris Anderson relates a personal story of his experience in the virtual world, and why he chose to leave.
Discussion Groups: The catalyst for developing your community strategy
Your Discussion Groups may contain the DNA for a more mature community strategy.
Online Community Events
Nonprofit Commons Grand Opening
August 14, San Francisco and Second Life
San Francisco Meets the Metaverse: 32 Nonprofits and their supporters will host a grand opening celebration Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. PT/SLT, in their new locations at the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life.
Data Sharing Summit
September 7-8, Richmond, CA
The goal of the Data Sharing Summit is to get a number of the key players, developers and platforms in the social networking, blogging and associated 'social software' platforms together in one room and hash out key issues. Friend of Forum One Kaliya Hamlin is facilitating.
Online Community Summit
October 4-5, Sonoma, CA
The Online Community Summit is an industry-leading, invitation-only event bringing together leaders in online collaboration.
Held each October in Sonoma, California, the Summit draws senior participants from industry (Amazon, AOL, Apple, Cisco, Microsoft, others); leading online community groups (ezboard, MEETUP, Motley Fool); non-commercial organizations (World Bank, PBS, American Academy of Pediatrics); media (BBC, Univision); philanthropy (Packard Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Omidyar Network) and many others.
The goal of the Summit is to allow practitioners from many disciplines -- who would not ordinarily meet -- the opportunity to share current and best experiences regarding online collaboration.
For more information, contact Jim Cashel.
Marketing & Online Communities
November 8, NYC 
The Marketing & Online Communities Conference is an invitation-based event to be held at the Tribeca Grand in New York City on November 8. The conference will bring together thought leaders from the marketing and and online community sectors to discuss marketing challenges – and unprecedented opportunities – in online communities.
Confirmed speakers and participating organizations including senior staff from Edelman, THE HUB / Cool News of the Day, Digit, Yahoo, and AOL.
Please Note: We are actively seeking online community hosts or marketing organizations with exceptional case studies and best practices to share.
For more information, contact Bill Johnston .
OC Expert Interview: Jake McKee
This month's Online Community Expert interview is with Jake McKee of Ant's Eye View. Jake is only a few weeks in to the new practice with Ant's Eye View, so I really appreciated him taking time out for the interview.
Q: You recently opened a new practice. Can you tell us about what prompted you to start AntsEyeView, and what the company intends to deliver?
A: First off, thanks for the invite. I’m a big fan of the Online Community Report blog, so to see my name there is a big deal to me.
Ant’s Eye View is a consulting practice focused on helping organization form honest-to-goodness relationship with their audiences. From Social Media training to community strategy to day to day fan relations, we do absolutely everything in a very small niche. This is a continuation of the work I’ve done for may years for brands like LEGO, Dr Pepper, FX Networks, Woodford Reserve, and others.
Read the full interview with Jake here.
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 with the title and link.
AARP
Director, Member Value Information
Autodesk
Senior Manager, Community Programs
Cinch Health
Online Community Manage
eBay
Associate Manager, Community Input
Optaros
Online Community Manager
PlanetOut.com
Entry level community positions
Small World Labs
User Interface/Graphic Designer
Student PIRGs
Online Community Organizer
Yahoo
Community Manager - Yahoo!
Software Engineer - Yahoo! Local
Lead Front-end Engineer – Yahoo! Local
Senior Software Engineer – Yahoo! Local
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