The Virtual Gardener
The place where I explore online community cultivation, propagation and harvesting techniques.
I've been working as head of consultancy at Sift for the last four years. The business supports all organisations looking to respond to a Web 2.0 world and truly engage with their audience - and has been doing so for the past 10 years.
This blog originally started out as a comment on a conference I attended about online communities. I'm now using it as a thought-bin for related stuff. Any gaps in posting doesn't mean I've stopped thinking ...
Conference day 2: Naked conversations - How blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers
Shel Israel has traveled to five continents and 32 countries over the last year, talking with people who are passionate about social media as part of a global survey for SAP. The 96 interviews covered enterprise (including Michael Dell), entrepreneurs, academics, NGOs, social activists, youth and citizen journalists.
His interviewees have included a blogger, Laurel Papworth, who watches how Saudi women on social networks; an Egyptian human rights activist, Wael Abbas, who risks his life to chronicle police brutality in his country; and a Chinese entrepreneur, Isaac Mao, whose every online moved is monitored by the authorities.
His general findings:
1. Youth is the killer app
2. Youth is driving adoption over the geeks
3. Communities have universal appeal - it’s what we do - we’re hot wired
4. The most generous have the most influence (Shel’s emphasis)
5. Culture matters (here, here says Tony Hsieh of Zappos) - both corporate and language
6. Control belongs to the community
His business findings:
1. Adoption is faster than you think (from 11 blogs in Fortune 500 in 2005 to hundreds today)
2. Resistance is found in the middle - middle management need motivation. (Put another way from our experience, the bottom always gets it. If the head does as well then things can happen. If the head doesn’t get it then things will not get far.)
3. Small bands of evangelists make a big/disproportionate difference
4. Engagement behind the firewall is accelerating
5. Measurement is a key issue
