Get the chat archive!

The conversation in this month’s chat focused on these questions:

1. What are the best mechanisms for connecting online & offline communities? from @BonnieKoenig
2. How much communication with your online community is too much? from @ehon
3. our community has a handful of active posters creating most of the content – how do we encourage quieter members to contribute? from @anotheremma

Some of the highlights for me during our chat were the great, real examples shared of conversation starters and how to encourage new community members to engage. Are you looking for some new ideas to get conversation started with your community? Here are just a few of the ideas shared on the chat yesterday:

Kristy Graves @kg: Great one on Matador Travel’s facebook page, madlibs style: People should do more ____ and less _____.

@sueontheweb: Example of conversation starter: I shared one of my thanksgiving traditions with my cmty and asked members to share their traditions.

Claire Sale: I’ve seen some really great conversation starters by my local animal shelter – when the weather is good they ask “how do you get your pet to go out in the rain” and when the weather is good they ask “what is your favorite local place to take your pet out on a long walk” they also don’t hesitate to ask the same question twice (on two rainy days for instance)… not sure I’ve seen that before.

Get the chat archive!

Join the next #CommBuild chat:

• Date: Thursday, February 24th
• Time: 4 pm EST (1 hour)
• Topic: Community Building, of course!
• Location: Launch the chat here (not live until the chat starts)

Read the full transcript here!

Laura Norvig shared the guidelines used for their email listserv:

E-mail discussion lists hosted by the Resource Center are not moderated. Anyone who subscribes may post messages. The lists are supported with federal funding; therefore, messages that appear to be political in nature, partisan, lobbying, or in any way perceived as in violation of the law or against relevant government policy are prohibited. Other inappropriate postings include, but are not limited to, advertising of fee-based services or products, chain letters, jokes, petitions, resumes, and messages from individuals seeking employment. Job announcements are permitted only for positions at AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, and Senior Corps programs; at state commissions; with training and technical assistance providers; and at the Corporation. Announcements of member openings are also permitted. All other job announcements are to be posted elsewhere. Although the e-mail lists are not moderated, they are monitored. Subscribers who post inappropriate messages will be contacted and may be removed from the list if violations continue.

And Claire Sale shared the British Red Cross guidelines:

The British Red Cross values comments both complimentary and critical. However, we will not tolerate the following: aggressive or personal criticism of the blogger, breach of copyright, obscene, defamatory, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive or likewise objectionable comments.

Check out the full transcript as we also shared a lot of ideas around moderating and engaging with negative commenters. What are your best practices or great examples?

Join the January Chat!

For details of the January 20th chat and for full archives of previous chats, visit the CommBuild chat page.