by Rob Cottingham | Apr 8, 2009 | Online Community, Social Signal
Visit most news sites, and you’ll find some of the web’s most pointless, thoughtless and mean-spirited conversations unfolding in the comment threads. Angry, bitter, hateful people seem drawn to the comment form at the bottom of news stories like flies to a landfill.
That’s been the case now for years, but the industry is finally waking up to it… in fits and starts. Exhibit A: Sunday’s column by Jack Knox of the Victoria Times-Colonist:
[A]t least the letters page insists on accountability, and doesn’t allow anonymous sniping by those who hide behind pseudonyms. At least the letters page, while encouraging a broad range of opinion, demands writers demonstrate at least a passing acquaintance with fact. At least the letters page demands that we add more to the debate than “Bummer.”
…Having swallowed an electronic laxative, the world has become afflicted with digital diarrhea.
Lovely.
The column goes on to level charges familiar to anyone with a copy of the Official Curmudgeon’s List of Complaints about the Internet, 2008 Edition (Now With Facebook and Twitter!): people post whatever comes to mind without thinking about it, blogs are inane, it’s just a stream of drivel… (And at that point the column pretty much vanishes into territory already richly mined by people who haven’t noticed – or would rather not acknowledge – there’s both quality and crap to be found in social media, just like in journalism.)
But Knox isn’t wrong about the low quality of online comments on news sites, even if he does seem to confuse them with social media more generally. They’re often godawful, and his example, drawn from a CBC news story’s comments, is near to my heart. From a post I wrote last year:
Drop by any CBC News story on, say, a crime, and by far the most common comments are people who have nothing to add except anger and demands for vengeance. Oh, and off-the-cuff diagnoses like “he’s clearly a sociopath.”
Where Knox goes wrong is thinking that thoughtlessness necessarily goes hand-in-hand with online comments… and in writing them off as a lost cause. Yes, the culture of user comments on news stories is often poisonous – but that doesn’t put them beyond hope.
Instead of throwing up their hands, several news outlets are rolling up their sleeves and grappling with the challenge.
The Tyee, for example, made a series of changes last year that improved the tone and quality of comments there. And The Globe and Mail‘s community editor, Matthew Ingram, has been very public in sharing his thoughts and ideas on upgrading the conversation on their site. Check out, for example, this blog post on the role of anonymity and accountability.
One big reason sites like The Globe and Mail and The Tyee are making progress? They actually devote resources – not just technological features, but people’s time – to making commenting work. And people, of course, are the crucial ingredient in a successful online community: setting the tone, drawing out positive contributions, redirecting negative behaviour and spurring productive conversation.
That’s not to say either the Globe’s or the Tyee’s community is without its challenges. But diving in and experimenting, innovating and animating is getting them further down the road to healthy conversations than all the complaining in the world.
Which is a point I would have made on the Times-Colonist article… if it allowed comments.
by Rob Cottingham | Apr 6, 2009 | Social Signal
Michael Haggerty of Trellon, a Washington, DC-based Drupal shop, asked LinkedIn Answers:
I need to hire a blogger, someone who can write about open source and issues affecting non-profits. Basically, I need someone who can take ideas from my team and synthesize them into something that sounds right on our blog. Dunno how to find someone for this position, evaluate his / her skills, or set expectations. Would appreciate any advice.
Clarification: There has been a lot of feedback on this topic – to be clear, I have no interest in outsourcing. I want to hire someone to work for me directly, and am really asking what kinds of characteristics to look for when evaluating candidates aside from writing skills.
Here are the chief characteristics I’d look for:
- Do they currently blog in a voice that’s somewhere in the neighbourhood of what you’re looking for? Your preference is people who won’t have to force a different tone to their writing – although they should be flexible enough to take direction.
- Are they crazy-passionate about social missions and open-source… without actually being rabid? You want passion and knowledge, but not someone who gets into reader-alienating rants.
- Have they met regular writing deadlines before? A candidate can be a lovely writer… but if each post takes a week to craft, you probably won’t be getting value for your investment.
- Do they engage with the broader web world? You want someone who doesn’t just create blog posts, but can spur and develop productive conversations – both on your blog and elsewhere.
- Do they know how to promote a blog post? Your ideal blogger doesn’t just write something terrific: they head out into the social media world and drum up interest.
- Do they understand social media beyond blogging? Your best candidate will be as comfortable engaging followers on Twitter and commenting on YouTube videos as they are cranking out high-quality blog posts.
- Do you like and respect them? You’re going to need to have a meeting of the minds… and as intellectual an exercise as that is, it also requires a level of personal rapport. Plus an engaging personality is a must for connecting with your audience.
- Are they outgoing? Their work may well take them away from the keyboard to meetups, one-on-one conversations, phone interviews and video calls as they research blog posts… and even if it doesn’t, you want them to be an effective ambassador for your blog in their day-to-day informal conversations.
- Do they *really* get the non-profit sector and open-source? A lot of people have a vague, arm-waving idea of what non-profits are up to, but don’t understand their culture and unique challenges and strengths. The same goes for open-source.
Re. how to find someone (if you’re still wondering about that), and assuming you’re also doing a traditional candidate search, here are a few thoughts on finding folks through other means as well:
I’d start by doing some personal networking – search LinkedIn for the keyword “nptech”, and you should get a list of non-profit technology practitioners in your network. Let them know what you’re looking for, and ask them for leads.
Next, do a Technorati search on the nptech keyword – through their blog directory in the first instance, so you’re not overwhelmed by search results – and see if you can find promising candidates. You (or an assistant) can sift through the results for bloggers who match the profile you’re looking for.
You can also drop by the Washington, DC Net Tuesday meetup and put feelers out there. Net Tuesdays bring out non-profit tech practitioners, with an emphasis on folks on the social web side of things.
Finally, Beth Kanter is an international treasure, and her blog is a fantastic source of links to non-profit bloggers, as well as all other things non-profit.
by Rob Cottingham | Apr 5, 2009 | Politics, Speechwriting
A good friend is leaving the House of Commons for a run at the B.C. legislature. Here’s her farewell speech from April 2; in it, you’ll find a lot of what made her such a great MP: Ms. Dawn Black (New Westminster—Coquitlam, NDP): Mr. Speaker, this might be... by Rob Cottingham | Apr 5, 2009 | Social Signal
(man reading mobile phone while a woman gives birth) Check it out, honey! Twitter ‘replies’ now include ‘mentions’!
