Citizen Agency » Clients http://citizenagency.com Citizen Agency, LLC is an Internet consultancy that specializes in developing community-centric strategies around product research, design, development and marketing. Sun, 20 Jun 2010 03:24:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 How do you measure the health of a community? http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/29/how-do-you-measure-the-health-of-a-community/ http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/29/how-do-you-measure-the-health-of-a-community/#comments Sun, 29 Oct 2006 22:23:51 +0000 Tara Hunt http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/29/how-do-you-measure-the-health-of-a-community/

[Juan23 on Flickr: Hellooooo Nurse]

With all of the talk lately about the Ze Frank / Rocketboom numbers, I thought it would be helpful for us to jump in and talk about some of the stuff that we’ve been thinking about.

You see, we deal with this issue regularly. We work with more qualitative (ie. anecdotal) data than we do with quantitative (ie. raw data). When it comes to community measurements, you can’t always think in terms of volume (ie. numbers of signups or page views). Nor can you always think in terms of density (ie. numbers of downloads or, in the case of Devnets, mashups, etc.).

There are always oodles of factors that affect the size or the shape of a community. Some communities abhor size. Some need large volumes to operate. We’ve witnessed communities of 20 to 20 million that could all be deemed very healthy.

But other than to go on ‘gut feeling’, what do we have to measure the health of one community against another. Or…more importantly for us…the growing health of a community? We want to see that what kind of advice we are giving is working and learn from it – adjusting so that we can truly help our clients and our clients’ clients connect.

Jeneane makes a great point when she talks about likability. Robert’s point about engagement is very valid. Both of these factors, plus many others, start to inform us how we are doing when it comes to serving our communities. We figure a good mix of quantitative and qualitative data – weighted just right – will start to inform us. But we can’t forget ‘gut instincts’, either. I have studied stats since that horrifically boring university class, nearly 9 years ago. I remember looking at a textbook example of some trend and thinking, “But that doesn’t account for human emotions. We could change our minds in a second.” Sure enough, every day people baffle the economists and go in directions that could never be predicted. Look at MySpace. Bah, look at Cabbage Patch Kids so many years ago. Tickle Me Elmo? Try to explain the phenomena all you want with scientific theories, but I remember falling in love with Cabbage Patch Kids for absolutely irrational reasons, then falling in love with Tickle Me Elmo for entirely different irrational reasons.

And wild ‘successes’ aren’t the only story, either. What about those phenomena that thrive on rarity and secretiveness… communities driven by their obscurity and closed doors? ‘Buzz’ and press would kill them. We advise almost all of our clients to open up, but there are a few we think will do better doing the exact opposite.

So, what works for one community, won’t work for another – not to mention the individual needs within that community. Everybody has a different motivation for being there. How can you tell if you are satisfying all of those needs? And how do you satisfy all of those needs without getting to the point that you lose your own identity? Or worse…lose everyone to a watered down message?

So, we started thinking about this in a music equalizer metaphor. Take a look at these default settings in iTunes for the various genres of music:

ELECTRONIC

Graphic Equalizer

POP

Graphic Equalizer

JAZZ

Graphic Equalizer

Every song within those categories has a different ideal point on that equalizer to sound just right as well. It isn’t one measurement or adjustment (inputs and outputs) that determines the perfect sound. Some speakers will handle the sound differently. Whether it is an MP3 or a CD or a Cassette Tape or a Record will also make a difference. Oh…and of course the space you are playing the music in. I used to have a stereo that you could pick a pre-set for the ‘room’ of a house you are in: dining room, bedroom, party room, kitchen, bathroom, etc.

And…no matter how ‘great’ you make it sound…the recipient’s enjoyment of the music itself also depends greatly on their ‘taste’. I heart old R&B, Funk and Old Skool and cannot understand for the life of me why Chris can’t get into it. He can’t understand why I can’t get into alternative rock.
So, seeing that music is a nearly perfect metaphor for the way we approach community – gives us some solid measurements while allowing for endless variations – we are in the process of developing adjustable equalizers on three distinct levels that interact (as discussed as well at BarCampBerlin):

  1. ENVIRONMENT – total inputs. You can’t adjust these. Things like: politics, trends, competitive environment, language, reputation, timing,  etc. TimeCabbage Patch Kids today are just not as cool. Garbage Patch Kids, however…I like to use the example of one of the best marketing books ever published, Gonzo Marketing…launched days before 9/11. Think it got much airplay?
  2. PRODUCT – more inputs. Stuff like: features, user experience, design, platform, interoperability, language, sociality, documentation, complexity, etc. The product does not exist outside of its context, like the Environment and the Community.
  3. COMMUNITY – transparency, mood, communications, relationships, reputation (the part you can work on), trust, etc. The mix of the ‘gut’, the qualitative and the quantitative. This is the most complex system of measurement and the most delicate. We thought about calling this part ‘communications’ or ‘marketing’ or the like, because the overall goal is to measure the health of communities…but this is more the ‘little c’ community portion.

We’d love your feedback on the work we are doing and plan to start to publish more as we actually get moving on it (one of the issues has been time – between the new office, the client load and all of the events, we’ve been too swamped to work on this). When the office is set up, we plan to have evening get togethers (with wine) to discuss stuff like this.

]]> http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/29/how-do-you-measure-the-health-of-a-community/feed/ 9 Carlos is an internet rockstar! http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/19/carlos-is-an-internet-rockstar/ http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/19/carlos-is-an-internet-rockstar/#comments Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:00:22 +0000 Tara Hunt http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/19/carlos-is-an-internet-rockstar/ Picture 10

I’m a wee bit late on reporting this story…we missed it when we were in Europe and I’m finally catching up!

I just got the chance to watch Carlos demo his upcoming release of Scrapblog on Podtech. It looks fantastic!

Scrapblog is another awesome client who implements quickly and designs beautifully. They’ve created a really delightful product. We’re proud to be working with them
Okay…so, um, Carlos? Release it already! :)

]]> http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/19/carlos-is-an-internet-rockstar/feed/ 2 I [heart] my mini ma.rker http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/12/i-heart-my-mini-marker/ http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/12/i-heart-my-mini-marker/#comments Thu, 12 Oct 2006 22:23:32 +0000 Tara Hunt http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/12/i-heart-my-mini-marker/ I [heart] my mini

What is it about mini versions of things that just make them so lovable?

Our fabulous client, Ma.gnolia – which I know we go on about, but they just make us so darned proud (a 3-person 4-person team that implements fast and correctly and really, really gives a darn about community) – just released their mini ma.rker, a faster, cuter version of their bookmarklet.

I know I’m ridiculous, but there is something I just adore about smaller versions of stuff. We had dinner with our friends at Goowy last night and they told us their biggest hit was their minis, too. People love them. When we were in France, we were delighted by all of the mini cars on the road.

Maybe it is because we, in North America, live in a culture where things just tend to get bigger and bigger? Cars, buildings, malls, signs, portions, etc. When something comes out that is smaller, but packs a big punch (like an iPod Nano or a Mini Cooper), people pay attention.

Thinking Small seems to be a recurring twist in our biggering and biggering economy these days. A trend that I’m all for, really, and not just because it’s cute, but because, in some ways, it seems to be rooted in a philosophy of sharing, rather than competing for the space we have been given.

What small things do you love? Anyone else notice this trend?

]]> http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/10/12/i-heart-my-mini-marker/feed/ 2 Make something worth talking about http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/09/19/make-something-worth-talking-about/ http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/09/19/make-something-worth-talking-about/#comments Tue, 19 Sep 2006 06:22:13 +0000 Tara Hunt http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/09/19/make-something-worth-talking-about/ Kate* writes:

So, our real job as marketers is to ensure that we’ve made something worth talking about. And so begins the dance between product management and product marketing (steps I’m learning to do). Marketers need to understand our products more than ever, but more importantly, we need to understand our customer and what they need.

That is why Citizen Agency works on 3 angles of community building:

  1. PRODUCT (the only thing we can control)
  2. ENVIRONMENT (we can’t control it, but we can be aware of it)
  3. COMMUNITY (once again, not to be controlled, but be part of and understand – like Kate says, “…we need to understand our customer and what they need.”)

I get a little frustrated when clients say to me, “So, when do we start marketing?” when we’ve spent weeks going over the product and haven’t seen much change and gathering feedback and relaying it.

I can create a ‘Marketing Plan’, yes…but it is a waste of time if #1, #2 and #3 are being ignored.

One of our clients who is excellent at understanding #1, 2 and 3 is Ma.gnolia. In fact, I said to Larry, “Let’s work on a marketing plan,” and he said to me, “I don’t think we are quite ready.” Wow. Today, I said to him, “We really appreciate how quickly you implement our suggestions,” to which he replied, “Why would I pay you to consult us, if we weren’t going to listen.” Double wow. (Chris is actually working on a summary of all of the awesome things Ma.gnolia has implemented in a short 2 month period – they have a 3 person team that is in two different locations and are the most fabulous example of agile we’ve seen)
Really, we have some pretty darned great clients. ;)

Still, our bias aside, that is the number one thing we teach our clients and the number one hardest lesson to learn. Why? Because “making something worth talking about” is hard. It is hard to conceptualize. It is hard to predict. And it is really hard to implement.

Even so, we have a few ways to help make it easier that we work on with our clients:

  1. Be part of the community you serve. Really. If you aren’t, you are very likely to miss your mark. The question isn’t why you would do this, it is why not?
  2. Talk to the people who use your service today. If you are live and have a community forming, definitely listen up. People are more than happy to provide feedback if asked (by a human…not a script or a popup). Even better…we were chatting with the folks at Compumentor this morning and they were saying that they do feedback surveys constantly…and what they found was that what people say and what they do is very different. For instance, their consituents say they aren’t interested in Web 2.0 as a topic, but tend to download mostly Web 2.0 articles. So listen with your stats and with your participation as well.
  3. If you are thinking about serving a specific community, do your homework. Talk to people. Participate. Find out what real needs are. See if you can recruit some friends from that community to give you feedback into early versions of what you are working on.
  4. If you are doing all of the above and people aren’t talking about it, go back to steps 1, 2 and 3. And when I say, ‘talking about it’ (and I’m sure Kate would agree), I mean actually using your service, finding it useful, loving it, recommending it to their friends, etc. If there is one thing we’ve seen during ‘Web 2.0′ is the echo chamber talking about certain products…which doesn’t convert into regular users. What does that mean? Well, um, implementation is 9/10ths of the law. Something can sound really cool, but it turns out it totally isn’t.
  5. If you are getting pickup somewhere unexpected, move there. Another thing it can mean is that, well, the market is all wrong. I was actually talking to Keith Teare at Edgeio the other night who told me that Edgeio was booming with over 1.2 million listings! Huh? I asked, I haven’t seen it on any blogs. That’s when Keith floored me, “You are right! We had our market totally wrong! We were going for bloggers, but then we saw that realtors, recruiters and merchants – without blogs – were picking it up in droves.” And you know what? They switched their focus and strategy. Brilliant.

The first three are homework…the last two are about paving cowpaths. It isn’t simple and it isn’t a “5 steps to success” process (although I number things to make it palitable). It is tough work and you have to listen and learn along the way.

So, yes. Make something worth talking about and make it for someone who wants it. Thanks for the tip, Kate!

[*I finally got to meet Kate at FoWA...sorry we didn't get to chat longer!]

]]> http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/09/19/make-something-worth-talking-about/feed/ 0 Spent the day with some Aussies http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/08/15/spent-the-day-with-some-aussies/ http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/08/15/spent-the-day-with-some-aussies/#comments Tue, 15 Aug 2006 04:07:17 +0000 Tara Hunt http://citizenagency.com/blog/2006/08/15/spent-the-day-with-some-aussies/ Had a vigorous brainstorming day with the brilliant team of one of our fabulous clients, Tangler, today. What were we brainstorming? Well, we were trying to decide exactly where to pinpoint the entrypoint to a long journey ahead. :)

I know. I know. Secretive sounding. But we are excited about this smart team and where they are going. We need to introduce them to some of our other brilliant clients, too. (which we’ll be talking about here shortly) We believe that the key to building the future resides in collaborating. Y’know…that non-zero-sum game I keep blabbing about.
Stay tuned…

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