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They grow up so fast...

When social creations take flight

11 August, 2011
2
by Rob Cottingham

Five years ago this summer, in a boardroom at Vancity, William Azaroff was unveiling a new online community to an audience of Vancouver-area bloggers — a community we had worked with Vancity to conceive, build and launch. Also in attendance (maybe explaining his later affection for computers and gadgets): our one-week-old second child.

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Everything I needed to know about social networking, I learned from my mom

8 May, 2011
4
by Rob Cottingham

When my mother died in early 2004, Friendster was the domain of the young'uns, MySpace was barely out the door and Facebook was still a month from launching.

But for someone who never saw used the word "friend" as a verb in her life, JoAnne Cottingham taught me an awful lot about social networking.

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I'm pretty sure there's a "shift" in there

Remind me - what's the keyboard shortcut for creating a vibrant, dynamic online community?

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Rent-a-crowd 2.0

"Persona management": how automated fake profiles threaten the heart of online community

28 February, 2011
4
by Rob Cottingham

There's a reason social media analysts and practitioners harp so much on authenticity: it's one of the underpinnings of the "social" in "social media".

Online community works because of our relationships with each other; those relationships can only happen when you feel as though you know the person you're dealing with. Not everything or even most things about the person, but something true... and something significant enough to let you build a certain level of trust. Discover the other person has misled you about who they are or about their motives, and trust dies.

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A little book of big ideas

Open Community offers social web approaches for associations (and more!)

2 November, 2010
0
by Rob Cottingham

My friends Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer have just launched Open Community, "a little book of big ideas for associations navigating the social web". (I was fortunate enough to get to do cartoons for the book, which meant I got a sneak peek – and I was impressed with both the scope of their vision and the practical suggestions they have for their readers.)

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Ep. 23: the don't-try-to-build-Facebook episode

Podcast: Strategy for a small organization

4 October, 2010
0
by Rob Cottingham

We're coming up to the fifth anniversary of the Social Signal blog. So it's fitting that this Bedtime with Rob and Alex podcast looks at the heart of what we do: developing strategies for participation.

And this time out, we're looking at strategies for smaller organizations (both in budget and membership). We cover:

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Everything in moderation

A range of flag-for-moderation icons, e.g. a finger pulling down a zipper, labelled 'Overdisclosure'. Caption: 'Flag-for-moderation icons I might actually use.'

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E-victed

(person watching another type on a computer) Whoa! That post is going to get you kicked out of social media!

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Into online community and GoreTex? Do we have the job for you.

Job posting: site animator for TheBigWild.org

17 July, 2009
0
by Rob Cottingham

One of our favourite projects has been The Big Wild, a site where people who love Canada's wilderness can share stories, connect with each other and take action to protect our big wild spaces.

We worked with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Mountain Equipment Coop, the site's founders, to make it more engaging and easier to use, and for the past four months, our own Aaron Pettigrew has served as the site's animator - encouraging contributions, promoting the site and ramping up participation.

Now The Big Wild has reached the stage where it's ready to hire an animator on their own. And for a conservation-minded social media type - someone who feels just as at home wrangling blog posts and Flickr photos as they do sleeping under the stars a day's hike from the nearest human settlement - this just might be your dream job.

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Dare to be weak

When it comes to engagement, social media is the art of the possible

23 June, 2009
8
by Rob Cottingham

I can't believe it!! Your organization isn't on Twitter? You don't have a Facebook page with discussion groups and a wall? You're not on MySpace, Bebo and FriendFeed?! OMFG, that's so weak! What are you thinking?!

Well, maybe you're thinking, "We don't have a large organization, and we have very few resources." Maybe you're thinking, "Some platforms make it easier to manage conversations than others." And maybe you're thinking, "I'm going to put our limited resources and finite attention where they'll do the most good."

You know what? Good for you.

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