{"id":569,"date":"2014-03-20T17:26:43","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T17:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/?p=569"},"modified":"2014-03-20T17:26:43","modified_gmt":"2014-03-20T17:26:43","slug":"community-forums-that-build-human-connections-episode-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/2014\/03\/community-forums-that-build-human-connections-episode-41\/","title":{"rendered":"Community forums that build human connections: Episode 41"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_571\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-571\" style=\"width: 256px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/daryll-swager-twitter.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-571\" alt=\"Daryll Swager\" src=\"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/daryll-swager-twitter.jpg\" width=\"256\" height=\"256\" srcset=\"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/daryll-swager-twitter.jpg 256w, http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/daryll-swager-twitter-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/daryll-swager-twitter-210x210.jpg 210w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-571\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daryll Swager<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This week we talk to an IT Community OG, the founder of the VMware Community, Daryll Swager. We talk about community forums, being customer-centric, and about Twitter forcing brevity as a communication style. Daryll, who by his own admission has no brevity within him whatsoever,\u00a0now leads a customer engagement team at an enterprise software company.<\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_732\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-569-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3\">http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>Why Daryll started the VMware Community site, and why\u00a0he didn&#8217;t like John at first<\/li>\n<li>Forums vs Blogs as participatory platforms<\/li>\n<li>Your intent is shown by the content you produce, and explaining that to marketing managers<\/li>\n<li>Getting geeky with metrics:\u00a0Visitors via social media had about 2.5x time on site and 3x pages viewed.\u00a0Communities are top social referrers to the corporate web site<\/li>\n<li>Daryll&#8217;s Dad&#8217;s rules for starting a community:\u00a01. Customer-friendly employees; 2. Cool technology; 3. Nothing to hide<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t buy technology when you can&#8217;t see their user forums; communities as a health check in the buying process.\u00a0Influence marketing affects the layer below PR and above Support.\u00a0If you hide your forums, customers will go talk trash about you somewhere else<\/li>\n<li>Community culture &#8212; keeping it civil.\u00a0Keeping out the trolls and hard sales spammers.\u00a0Emailing forum threads to executives:\u00a0&#8220;Just read what the people are saying about us&#8221;.\u00a0An actual human responding to a complaint is amazing in its power to defuse the situation<\/li>\n<li>The<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Broken_windows_theory\"> broken window theory<\/a> of community policing.\u00a0Users as forum moderators.\u00a0Your community on other people&#8217;s forums<\/li>\n<li>Twitter as a not-so-good conversation vehicle.\u00a0Going beyond Twitter to get human contact.\u00a0Your community will defend you on other communities.\u00a0It&#8217;s always better to be someone who lives there and is familiar with cultural norms<\/li>\n<li>Consolidation of brand accounts.\u00a0&#8220;&#8230; a series of negotiations with all the account owners and you have to get some top-down support too&#8221;.\u00a0LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter change their rules without warning<\/li>\n<li>Your org chart is showing: <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Conway's_law\">Conway&#8217;s Law<\/a>\u00a0&#8220;organizations which design systems &#8230; are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication<a title=\"Organizational structure\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Organizational_structure\">structures<\/a>\u00a0of these organizations&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Daryll is heartless about new social channels without plans<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Every time I&#8217;m sure somebody proves me wrong&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Community and the last 4 years of push-marketing<\/li>\n<li>Daryll is not a fan of the brevity of Twitter, unlike the Geek Whisperers, but you can reach him at <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/dswager\">@dswager<\/a>\u00a0or <a href=\"http:\/\/onlinesocialsavvy.com\/\">his blog<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The earliest snapshot of the VMware Forums from the Way Back Machine &#8211; Dec 16, 2003:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/vmware-forums.2003.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-large wp-image-572\" alt=\"vmware-forums.2003\" src=\"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/vmware-forums.2003-1024x976.png\" width=\"642\" height=\"611\" srcset=\"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/vmware-forums.2003-1024x976.png 1024w, http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/vmware-forums.2003-300x286.png 300w, http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/vmware-forums.2003-210x200.png 210w, http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/vmware-forums.2003-30x30.png 30w, http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/vmware-forums.2003.png 1213w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_731\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-569-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3\">http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/?powerpress_pinw=569-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week we talk to an IT Community OG, the founder of the VMware Community, Daryll Swager. We talk about community forums, being customer-centric, and about Twitter forcing brevity as a communication style. Daryll, who by his own admission has no brevity within him whatsoever,\u00a0now leads a customer engagement team&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/2014\/03\/community-forums-that-build-human-connections-episode-41\/\">Read All Show Notes<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Community forums that build human connections: Episode 41<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_733\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-569-3\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3?_=3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3\">http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/?powerpress_pinw=569-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/geek_whisperers\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"Daryll-Swager-Communities-Geek-Whisperers-Ep-41.output.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":579,"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions\/579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/geek-whisperers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}