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If you’re looking for a book about building and sustaining online communities, check out “Managing Online Forums” by Patrick O’Keefe.  I just finished reading it, and was suitably impressed [disclosure: he sent me a review copy].

The book talks throughout about forums in a generic way; it’s not tied to any one tool or software system, though there are several sidebits about phpBB.  And much of his advice applies to more general community building—around a successful blog, for example, or a popular Facebook group.

One interesting idea that O’Keefe wrote, was that you can be very successful hiring a community builder who is not actually interested in the topic of your community, but who has the people and tech skills, and the time, to foster conversation.  Musing on that, i realize that in some ways, you’d end up with a more unbiased, less distracted moderator.  And that’s a plus.

If I had one criticism, though, it’s that the book doesn’t spend enough time on the positive aspects of community, and instead focuses on avoiding pitfalls (disgruntled users, trolls, how to ban IPs, etc.)  I liked his ideas about promoting interactivity and participation, and wish there had been more of them.

Overheard

“Oh boy! Another great opportunity for personal growth!”

...who said it?

“I’m not bitter about what happened to me as a child, and my mother was instrumental in keeping me from being so. ... She taught me to be grateful for my life regardless of what that entailed, and that’s directly related to the image of Christ on the cross and the example of sacrifice that he gave us. What she taught me is that the deliverance God offers you from pain is not no pain—it’s that the pain is actually a gift. What’s the option? God doesn’t really give you another choice.”

...who said it?

After over a decade of user testing, it is clear that the way we search the web is similar to the way we would search our home for valuables as it was burning to the ground. Frantically.

...who said it?

“We must shift the focus of companies back to the customer and away from shareholder value ... The shift necessitates a fundamental change in our prevailing theory of the firm… The current theory holds that the singular goal of the corporation should be shareholder value maximization. Instead, companies should place customers at the center of the firm and focus on delighting them, while earning an acceptable return for shareholders.”

...who said it?

“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.”

...who said it?

Comments

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Mr. Smith,

Thank you so much for taking the time to review the book. I really appreciate it and I'm glad that you liked it!

Thanks again,

Patrick

 

Posted by Patrick
  at 4:38 am on Sep. 11, 2008

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