What is the Best Way to Manage a Community?

Jimmy Wales, Founder, Wikipedia

Like the vast majority of its users, I’m a Wikipedia virgin. It’s been a part of my life but only through reference; I’ve never actually engaged with its content.

Until now. I’ve just registered for an account so I can start editing the information.

The first part of becoming an active user of the web’s largest community resource is to establish a common goal. You’re told:

• Please sign your posts on talk pages by typing ~~~~, but don’t sign encyclopedic articles.
• You are welcome to start editing without learning our policies. But please, keep a neutral point of view, cite your sources to make articles verifiable, and please remember we are an encyclopedia. If other people haven’t yet covered a topic, then we probably shouldn’t either.
• We have lots of articles that still need images, Wikipedia:Picture tutorial can show you how to add pictures or become one of our photographers.
• If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask them: Wikipedia:Questions tells you the most appropriate place to post them.
• If you still need help, you can place {{helpme}} at the bottom of your talkpage with a question.

Now I’m on board, I have the freedom to contribute, knowing that it will be moderated and may be removed.  I feel like I know what the site is trying to do, so I don’t mind this moderation.

But I feel free. I can’t believe I have the potential to influence what millions of people read.

What provokes you to engage with Wikipedia?

I don’t feel like I can really interact with this community though. I feel like a moderator, not a participator.

And then I find Jimmy Wales’ page. His information is open to editing and he tells me so much about himself I’m starting to quite like the guy. But where has the user-generated community manager gone on from here? We’ll be interviewing Wikia soon, but until then I’d love to know your thoughts on the Wikipedia experience in the comments box below.

Have you tried to edit a post? Was it approved? How did it feel to know you could be documenting history – and may have your efforts moderated by someone else?

Can You Be A Passive Manager?

If the oversized jeeps are anything to go by, the young Americans who coined the term ‘Community Management’ have been very successful…

…but my blog isn’t a corporate machine. It’s a fluid, creative drop in the ocean that may or may not be discovered by another drop in the ocean. So what does Community Management mean for us?

The jeep drivers say it’s how you build a loyal, commenting community that meets on your site. In practice, Community Management just means we’re entering a conversation.

We can get our message out there with

• links,
• subscriptions,
• comments and
• social media,

but fundamentally we’ve got to be writing something worth conversing about.

So does your ‘management’ stop after providing the initial thought?

Now others are taking it further, we can either watch it happen, or re-engage, commenting into the conversation with our own thoughts.

I’ve been blogging for months now with very little response, but yesterday it got exciting! A social education teacher from across the pond found a post I’d written about my experience of young people becoming disillusioned with politics. I thought I was writing about England, but he found parallels in America.

The internet is organic, unpredictable, and can’t be managed. We don’t have a right to be followed back, liked or commented on. We can only follow, like and comment.

What’s your experience? Start the conversation in the comments box below.