Community Management | Ghost of Midnight

Integral to day-to-day life of community…

Posted on Monday, December 26, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet

Dennis posted the following today on the Cambridge #VT FPF…

When, a couple of years ago, a small group of us got together and submitted Cambridge’s e-Vermont application we didn’t realize how integral Front Porch Forum would become to the day-to-day life of our community.

We’ve had a few controversies but there seems to be a self-correcting mechanism in the common sense of FPF subscribers. “It was on the Forum”, has become a fairly common response in town when asked how someone learned of a new business or community service. The Cambridge Front Porch Forum now reaches into more than half of the households in town and I expect that the number of households served will increase yet again when our long promised 100% broadband coverage becomes a reality by next summer. Our Cambridge FPF membership seems to have reached a critical mass and new members join almost daily even though there has been no organized membership drive, that I know of, since last year’s 4th of July celebration. Word of mouth seems to be working! Congratulations to all Cambridge Forum subscribers for making it a valuable community resource and thanks to our local businesses who utilize the Forum with restraint to offer special value opportunities to our community.

Music to my ears! Thanks for sharing, Dennis. We see the points made above happen again and again in other FPF towns, namely…

People don’t realize how much value FPF will bring… six months into it they are amazed.
After an early effort to prime the pump, word-of-mouth keeps new members walking in the virtual door.
FPF typically has the occasional controversy, but it doesn’t go so far as to poison the conversation and drive people away. I’m glad this appears to be “self-correcting”… we’ve worked hard for years to refine our process with this end in mind.
Universal broadband availability isn’t necessary for FPF to get started and make a big impact, AND with widespread broadband adoption FPF becomes even more valuable to local folks.

UPDATE: From another Cambridge FPF member…

A bunch of people were gathered last night in Jeffersonville, and the subject of FPF came up to great kudos for the work you are doing. In fact, some lamented on behalf of friends who live nearby and do not have FPF.

Did I really just do that? For five years?

Posted on Thursday, October 27, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet

#BTV #VT – I don’t think of myself as a blogger, yet this blog turns five years old today… guess it kinda snuck up on me. Hard to imagine I’ve written 1,150 postings over that time. I started blogging a month or two after launching Front Porch Forum, which now has 30,000 households participating, including half of Burlington.

Thanks to the blog’s many regular readers. Our frequent back-and-forth (mostly off-blog) about the quickly heating up “neighbor conversation” online space is fascinating. Dozens of start-ups are now aiming to help neighbors connect. We’re glad for the company. I invite more of them to contribute to the field by frequently blogging about what they’re learning. Hosting sustainable neighborly online discussions across many neighborhoods is not trivial!

Many of the pundits who focus on adjacent spaces — hyperlocal journalism, social networking, daily deals, etc. — are slowly waking to the staggering potential of online neighborhoods. We’ve seen it first hand in our super successful pilot. Neighbors, local businesses, public officials, nonprofits… they all flock to Front Porch Forum and put it to excellent use.

There’s monster demand across North America for connection to place and neighbors. The opposite — which too many of us experience now — is untenable… living with a neutered sense of community, being surrounded by strangers for years on end, not knowing what’s going on in the neighborhood, not feeling a sense of ownership of your place. Ugh.

Here’s to the next five years!

P.S. What’s with the name Ghost of Midnight?

Do You Value FPF? Become a Supporting Member!

Posted on Monday, October 3, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet

#BTV #VT – We’re working hard to improve and expand Front Porch Forum in 2011-12 and we need your help to make it all happen. Please become a supporting member today and help us reach our goal of raising $30,000 by October 30! Contribute here:

http://frontporchforum.com/supporting-members

Every year, members like you help fuel FPF so that we can continue to help neighbors connect and build community. More than 30,000 local households have joined and shared hundreds of thousands of postings with their neighbors through FPF!

Whether it’s flood recovery efforts, group yard sales, car break-ins, sharing perennials, election debates, block parties, town notices, or other topics, our small band of committed staff work day and night to keep this all going.

If you enjoy and value Front Porch Forum, please become a supporting member today at:

http://frontporchforum.com/supporting-members

Your contribution is critical to keeping FPF going strong — and will be enormously appreciated. We look forward to serving you and your neighbors in the coming year.

Your FPF team,
Michael, Nina, Linda, Jamie, Lynn, Gisele, Jeff, Regina, Suzie, and Jan

P.S. We also accept checks, payable to…
Front Porch Forum
PO Box 64781
Burlington, VT 05406-4781
802-540-0069

FPF is not a charity and contributions are not tax deductible. Ad sales to local businesses cover part of our expenses, and your supporting-member contributions help close the gap.

Block by Block: Community News Summit

Posted on Monday, September 19, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet

I’m looking forward to speaking at the Block by Block Community News Summit in Chicago (Sept. 29 – Oct. 1). Sounds like a fantastic gathering of online community news publishers. I’m eager to share what we’ve been learning about community engagement through our work with Front Porch Forum, but I suspect that I’ll learn more from other participants than vice versa. Thanks to the sponsors for bringing this group together.

Natural disasters, neighbors and social networking

Posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet

NPR recently covered Daniel Aldrich’s work… he’s looking at how neighbors help each other during disaster. We watched this on Front Porch Forumthis spring when flood waters ravaged many Vermont communities and people rallied to help those who lived nearby. From NPR…

Aldrich’s findings show that ambulances and firetrucks and government aid are not the principal ways most people survive… a disaster… government interventions cannot bring neighborhoods back, and most emergency responders take far too long to get to the scene. Rather, it is the personal ties among members of a community that determine survival during a disaster, and recovery in its aftermath. When Aldrich visited villages in India hit by the giant 2004 tsunami, he found that villagers who fared best after the disaster weren’t those with the most money, or the most power. They were people who knew lots of other people the most socially connected individuals. In Japan, Aldrich found that firetrucks and ambulances didn’t save the most lives after earthquakes. Neighbors did.

Meanwhile, from Keith Hampton and Pew colleagues…

Do [social networking sites] isolate people and truncate their relationships? Or are there benefits associated with being connected to others in this way?

In their fascinating report, they share several observations from their survey, among them… “In this Pew Internet sample, 79% of American adults said they used the internet and nearly half of adults (47%) say they use at least one of social networking sites.” The adults surveyed are using Facebook mostly to connect with people from their past… high school, college, family. Facebook doesn’t appear to be used much among current neighbors (chart)… less than 2% in this survey. So, can social networking sites be used by neighbors to help each other… during disasters, as well as with more pedestrian issues the rest of the time? Hampton’s earlier work suggests yes (e-neighbors study and a previous Pew study). Portia Krebs of USTelecom (The Broadband Association) reported this past week…

Consider this: 28% of Americans know none of their neighbors by name, and fewer than half of American adults know most or all of their neighbors. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, Americans who go online daily are more likely than non-Internet users to know some of their neighbors’ names ““ and 27% of Internet users said they used digital tools to talk to their neighbors and keep informed about community issues. Front Porch Forum ““ a neighborhood-based network serving small cities and towns ““ gives registered users an opportunity to discuss everything from road repairs to the school budget. According to FPF, half of the residents of Burlington, Vermont subscribe ““ and an astonishing 90% of those users said their local civic engagement increased thanks to this online service.

Facebook works so well to help connect old acquaintances. But it’s not so good at helping neighbors find each other. Perhaps that’s because Facebook is all software and no community management. The role of effective online community management to bring diverse people together online in civil and constructive conversation is critically important. Venture capitalist Fred Wilson weighed in recently on this point…

Modern community building isn’t easy but if there is one thing the Internet has taught me over the past 15 years, large engaged communities are incredible powerful things, both commercially and socially. Building them is important and ultimately very valuable work.

Amen! We’re excited to see the dozens of online neighborhood forums that are bursting with activity on Front Porch Forum and we look forward to expanding to more places in the near future. Check out our new web app.

Note: This post originally appeared on the PBS MediaShift IdeaLab blog.

Adrian Holovaty on who’s winning hyperlocal…

Posted on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet

I think Front Porch Forum is winning. They’ve managed to get 90% of households in a #VT neighborhood to sign up for it, and the community contributions are high quality, useful and interesting.

Beyond that, there are a bunch of great neighborhood blogs in various pockets in the U.S., like West Seattle Blog and Uptown Update here in Chicago.

And finally, I’m biased, but I think EveryBlock is genuinely interesting and useful, especially with our recent community-focused relaunch.

Thanks Adrian! That’s great company for FPF to keep. (See StreetFight for the full interview.) As I’ve said before, EveryBlock’s relaunch is a powerhouse.

Who sets the tone for community interaction?

Posted on Saturday, February 12, 2011 by Michael • No comments yet

From Kevin Harris… “Here’s a little parable, offered in a blog comment here by Steve DeSanto:”

A man moved to a new town. He asked a local resident whether the people there were friendly or not.

The resident asked the man, “What were people like where you used to live?”

The newcomer scowled and said, “They were really an unfriendly and rude bunch, and I couldn’t wait to get away from that place.”

The resident said, “Well, I’m afraid you’ll find the people here are pretty much the same.”

A week later, another man came to town. He happened to meet the same resident and asked him the same question. The local asked this second newcomer the same question: “What were the people like in the town where you used to live?”

This newcomer smiled and said, “Oh, that town was the friendliest place you could ever imagine.”

The local returned the smile and said, “Well, I’m glad to hear it, I think you’ll find people here are very friendly too.”

With 24,000 local members and much success in our pilot community, Front Porch Forum is not without its critics. We’re always open for constructive feedback. When we hear a complaint about a recent topic or tone, or lack of postings, in a given FPF neighborhood forum, I always check the posting history of the person making the complaint. Typically, they’ve never posted… never contributed to the conversation… just complained offline to the moderators that some how we should police things differently. In response, we encourage these few critics to help set the kind of tone and vibrancy they want by posting frequent and positive items… and to encourage more of the same from their neighbors. Sometimes this works… but other times it feels like the parable above.

Me vs. Us: Can Social Media Prioritize Groups Over Individuals?

Posted on Sunday, January 9, 2011 by Michael • 1 comment

I just revisited a blog post by Dan Schultz titled In Search of a Community That Takes ‘Me’ Out of Social Media. I came to it after a fan of Front Porch Forum pointed out to me why she likes FPF so much… its design puts neighborhood before individual. Many of the giants of social media these days go the opposite way… they’re all about optimizing the experience for the individual. Here’s Dan’s chart…

No more nasty anonymous newspaper comments…

Posted on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

Glad to see this move by the Sun Journal is western Maine…

The obligation to stand behind your words has also been a core principle of journalism and this newspaper for many years.

The Sun Journal does not use unidentified sources in stories. When our readers write a column or letter to the editor for the newspaper they use their real names.

That, we believe, makes them accountable for what they say, plus it adds weight and credibility to their words.

But we have deviated from that principle for the Web, believing for several years that “online” was somehow different than “in print.” Nearly all newspapers have.

While we have known the identity of many people commenting on stories at sunjournal.com, it was difficult or impossible for users to know. As a result, some comments have been factually incorrect, reckless and mean-spirited.

While the technology of the Web is very different, our core principles should remain the same.

Both our website and print newspaper are, in fact, like a town meeting or community gathering.

So, beginning Feb. 1 all online comments at sunjournal.com will be accompanied by the real names of the people commenting. Only registered and verified users will be able to make comments. Anonymous comments will not be allowed.

All commenters, including subscribers and those registered now, will have to re-register under the new system.

Many newspapers, including the Portland Press Herald and the Bangor Daily News, are now taking steps to make Web commenting more responsible and accountable.

But our new system is the most ambitious effort we’ve seen to elevate the level of online discussion.

Plus, most of our current commenters seem to agree. In an online survey, 57 percent said they would prefer that real names accompany online comments.

The Sun Journal’s motto is “Connecting you with your community,” and for more than 160 years this newspaper has knit together Western Maine communities.

The advent of the Web has given us powerful new ways to connect people and allow anyone to become an active part of every discussion.

We know this decision will not please everyone. In time, however, we believe it will result in a better online experience for all.

Feelings lead to action

Posted on Friday, December 10, 2010 by Michael • No comments yet

Richard Millington’s post today got me thinking…

Feelings provoke actions… Focus on making members feel more engaged, not act more engaged.

Many times a day, Front Porch Forum pilot members are moved to be more engaged in FPF… and, more importantly, many are move to be more engaged in their actual/non-virtual neighborhood. This is often brought about by feelings elicited by an FPF posting from a neighbor.

Here are two key references from Millington…

You’ve probably come across the technographics ladder or the socialgraphics engagement pyramid. These categorize members by their actions. Lurkers are at the bottom, creators at the top. Sharing, reading, tagging are in-between.

First, the technographics ladder…