5 Ways to Cultivate an Active Social Network by Intersection Consulting

First, if you like this image check out more like this by Intersection Consulting on their flickr page.

When people talk about community they think about neighborhoods or communities that are focused around a theme. So in some ways, community is an issue of geography or topic. For example, there is a strong community around fiber arts/crafts that lives at Ravelry.com that has on the order of 400,000 users. The reason many of the people joined this group is to take advantage of the shared knowledge about fiber projects.

With the internet as a gathering place for community, geography is no longer a factor for many and their has also been a blurring of the focus of topic as well. The idea of community is no longer just about one topic. Ravelry, again for example, has many groups that talk about a wide vareity of topics that have nothing to do with fiber projects. You can find people talking about Dr. Who, Obama, McCain, parenting, and even podcasting (not just the fiber related ones either).

Social media tools have begun to create a new type of community. One that extends beyond any specific focus and geography. This is both confusing and frightening.

It is no longer a question of shared theme as it is about contribution to the conversation. For people on twitter and even with blogs in general, each contribution is judged on it’s own as valuable or not, and these contributions are not expected to always relate to a topic you are expecting. With this new community/conversation comes a new understanding of what you share. As some may begin to worry about what they are putting out there,

I think it is also important to know why you are contributing in the first place. For some it’s business and for others, like me, it’s personal. As someone who posts about places I go and people I talk to, I do put conscious thought into my own security, but that is not the only thing that drives me to share information.. it’s just a part of what I am putting out there.

So, it’s a brave new world where contribution and conversation are not analogues with community… In a way it’s a new “Society”…

I ask you, how do you value contribution, what do you think about all of this, is this something new?

Facebook is like a series clubhouse. You invite people in, you get invited to other people’s clubhouses, you share things… like posters of movie stars you idolize. You keep people out that you don’t care for.

Twitter is like a caffeteria. You bring people to your table to listen to what they have to say (follow). Others can bring you to there table to listen to (followers). You don’t have to pay attention to everyone at your table, you can listen in to other table conversations, and you can take people aside into the hallway (DM).

But why?

Why do we choose to do this?

With the advent of Twitter it seems that we are all learning a new way to converse. With only 140 characters and a few explicit ways to manage and direct the conversation flow, I find that is more important than ever to understand how to interact with others.

With this in mind I would like to share one of my core beliefs about the the Twitter conversation.

If Twitter is a conversation in a huge cafeteria where everyone can select the people they want to listen to, then Direct Messaging(DM) is the equivalent of asking someone into the hallway for a moment.

Using this understanding of DM, it would be ok with me to have you DM me about something personal, like your email or phone number. it would be ok to DM me something that might embarass me or you in front of the rest of the group, like asking what a hash tag is or telling me my avatar is super sexy.

It is NOT OK to direct message me generic information. If you DM me to thank me for following I get suspicious. If you DM me about a pyramid scheme or how to get more followers, I stop following all together.

Today I received multiple DMs about a charity that is trying to get people to tweet their specific congressmen about their cause. They created an app that puts out a message with a hash tag about your local politicians. Clever… but it also has an opt out button that asks to DM all your followers.

By sending DM to all your followers you will be setting a bad rep for you and thing you are sending the DM about. Follow me, based on what I have said so far… I have been asked into the hallway multiple times today to ask to join a cult charity. This was ok the first time, but with every new DM I get from a friend about this, I start to get more tired and unfriendly about the cause.

So, am I crazy about what the meaning of DM is? Is this how you see DM? Let me know what you think.

(The img used above by creative commons use is Lunch by adactio )