crowd pleasers

A scrapbook about communities, storytelling and engagement on news sites

#cmLDN - the first Community Manager London meetup

January 25th 2011 - the first cmLDN meetup for community-minded folk working in and around London hosted by the lovely team at Crayon:

What was it?

A chance for people working with online communities to get together and swap stories, knowledge, advice and support. This time around we had a speaker from Storyful, Markham Nolan, who talked about how he has to build communities in real-time as news stories break and the refined techniques his team uses to establish and monitor sources within those networks. For him, online communities may be both the source of news and the best way to quickly and accurately verify information using the knowledge of the crowd. More from Martin Belam on Markham’s talk here.

Georgie from Crayon, who are hiring their first community manager, made a lightning pitch to ask what makes up a community manager? What are the essential traits regardless of where you work? In a Mr Android fashion, she suggested we make and discuss our own identikit profile next time around.

Who was there?


About 30 of use - a handful of communities people from news organisations; some from charities and the public sector; representatives of online forums and gaming communities; and some involved in the design and building of community platforms. You can get an idea from this cmLDN Twitter list.

Will there be another?

We hope so and thanks to great support from those who attended plans are already afoot.

How can I get involved?

If you want to sign-up for notifications of future meetups, join our group here. If you’d like to take a more active role or have suggestions for venues, speakers or themes, email communityldn [at] gmail.com

Tumblr launches fanmail

Tumblr has just announced it will be introducing fanmail - a way to send messages between Tumblr blogs. The emphasis on fan - and a blogger being more likely to pick up this mail - is where the success in it lies for Read Write Web.

'Why Community Is as Critical as Content' - a call from Mashable

Insight into Mashable’s “community first” work:

Despite a growing willingness of news sites to be more two-way, a look at some big websites like CNN or The New York Times offers almost no indication that the users even exist. In order for a community to form on a website, you can’t just expect them to organize around your content. This is why places like Reddit and Slashdot have such powerful userbases. These sites understand that the community generates content too, and that your community can build on the strength of the ideas and the links that the users come there to share.

Why keep your users hidden and limit their ability to interact? What message are you sending them if interacting with each other — and with you — is multiple clicks away and nearly invisible?

How a Digital First approach guides a journalist’s work

From Steve Buttry:

I’ll address the working, values and thinking of Digital First journalism. I’ll share suggestions for leading a Digital First newsroom and discuss how Digital First succeeds as a business model. Today I’ll start with the actual work (…)

Whatever your job, you need to make high priorities to:

  • Work and think first for digital platforms.
  • Experiment and take risks.
  • Try new tools & techniques.
  • Cover news live.
  • Join, stimulate, curate and lead the community conversation.
  • Engage the community in your coverage.

New York Times gives privileges to trusted readers

The New York Times has overhauled its commenting system online, reports Poynter:

The trusted commenter program is the most significant new feature, in my opinion. Those who join will have to submit and verify real names, a profile photo and hometown by connecting a Facebook account. (Some people object to using Facebook, so other identity verification methods may be supported later, Koren said.)

In exchange they get instant commenting, as well as a higher profile on the site. With a special “trusted” logo attached to their color photo and full name, they stand out visually from the other commenters who usually have an anonymous username and no profile photo.

Google News adds +1s to show friends news you're sharing

Starting today, the Spotlight section will sometimes include articles that your Gmail contacts and people in your Google+ circles have publicly +1’d. You can see their profile pictures and click through to their Google+ profiles, just like on Social Search. And of course you can +1 the stories too, expressing your opinion and optionally sharing with your circles.

Just as Doppler radar scans the skies for indicators of bad weather, Sickweather scans social networks for indicators of illness, allowing you to check for the chance of sickness as easily as you can check for the chance of rain. (via Sickweather)

Just as Doppler radar scans the skies for indicators of bad weather, Sickweather scans social networks for indicators of illness, allowing you to check for the chance of sickness as easily as you can check for the chance of rain. (via Sickweather)