Category Archives: Online Community

Instagram != Flickr + Snapseed

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The question has been lingering in the back of my mind for a while now, “Am I really getting anything out of Instagram?”

When I first joined, Instagram solved a problem — it was a fast, fun, and unique way to share photographs across a number of services. Anything I shot while mobile had the opportunity to be instantly shared to Twitter or Facebook, backed up to Flickr, and have the appeal of applied filters (something I'd been accomplishing via Photoshop and CameraBag respectively). I immediately dubbed it “the app Flickr should've built” after my first upload, but then retracted that assessment when I got a closer look at the cost in quality/resolution on the Instagram side.

Last year in February I ran a comparison of Instagram and Picplz and likened the two companies to the battle that was emerging between Facebook and Flickr over photosharing dominance. It's funny how that turned out, Instagram later sold to Facebook for piles of cash, and Picplz shut down. In many ways, Picplz launched an app similar to the existing Flickr product, with a few standouts — filters and the ability to toggle applied filters on/off post-publishing.

A lot has changed since then. I never gave up on Flickr being the place my photos are stored, however the community activity has waned a bit. The good news is, Yahoo! appears to be putting more wood behind the Flickr arrow in the new Marissa Mayer regime. The 2.0 app is a revelation — not perfect, but a damn solid step in the right direction. If you can do it on the Flickr site, you can do it in the app…and it's snappy as all hell. Filters have been added, although that's not the important piece of the puzzle. What matters is that the community infrastructure is still intact. The wood isn't completely rotted, it's just a little more vacant these days. That's not a bad thing.

I've been playing around with the new app in combination with Snapseed (full disclosure: I work for Google and they own Nik Software), and I find the pairing to be quite ideal. I have been favoriting photos, commenting, and uploading on the go since the launch of the app, and slowly others appear to be resurfacing as well.

So what solution does Instagram serve now? Nothing. Are there people there? Sure. I just don't know that I need to be there too. I'm increasingly more wary of the direction they will be heading in the future, so why stress about it? I have all the control I need on Flickr, and the Pro membership isn't unreasonable to ask for in trade-off.

Here is what I plan to upload as my final post on Instagram:

I'm not sure if I'll completely remove my account and all of my photos, but I will slowly delete photos of my kids and my home over time. I have them backed up elsewhere, so I don't see a need to keep them there considering the loose soil of the Instagram/Facebook TOS. For what it's worth, I've taken a hard line against uploading to Facebook as well. I guess this is the natural evolution of things, and I've decided to keep my eggs in the Flickr basket for now.

The Vancouver Canucks 7th Man? Their Twitter Fanbase.

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It’s been said that the Sharks’ 7th man on the ice has been their fan base. Anyone in attendance at the Shark Tank during a crucial game can attest, the aural onslaught can be quite intimidating.

Vancouver has a 7th man as well, only it’s not as rooted at a single location as the Sharks is. It’s mobile, and it uses social media to organize. Oh, and did I mention that it is fully endorsed by Vancouver’s official Twitter account?

Here’s how it works, Vancouver fans organize themselves at tweetups where they watch the game and tweet using various hashtags like #nowayjose and #windaturd. Anecdotally, I’ve noted that during the first two post-season series the Sharks fans have been pretty noisy on Twitter using hashtags like #gosharks and #sjsharks. These have been entertaining to watch, and if you set up a search query that includes the opposing team’s preferred hashtags it provides a nice stream of back channeled discussion during games.

This isn’t the case with Canucks hashtags. When added to San Jose search queries these tweets absolutely flood the streams and snuff out any Sharks tweets posted.

That’s right, the Canucks 7th man is their fanbase on Twitter.

Add to this the insult that was the silent Shark Tank during Game 4 and Vancouver’s tendency to dominate the third period and suddenly the Canuck hashtags take on a whole new light.

So what say you @sanjosesharks? Why not organize fans around a group of hashtags? Encourage viewing parties in San Jose, and motivate fans to do their part?

On transparency: Let them see the lines

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OK Go’s latest video, the second they’ve produced for their song “This Too Shall Pass” sparked this post. My wife was catching up on the goings on around the web this morning at breakfast, and despite having been sent the video 100 times I’d yet to actually watch it. Mind you, I’ve followed the backstory and was totally aware of the motivations behind the move by the band. I’d just neglected to actually sit down and watch the damn thing. It’s good, and I’ve embedded below for those who, like me, were somehow living under a rock all week.

The driving force behind this post was to discuss the band’s deft use of transparency to create viral videos, promote their work, and singlehandedly become a household name through the use of social media and the Interwebs. I’ll get to all of that, because it’s fun. But first, a primer.

Media companies typically wrestle with issues of transparency, and to say that they “don’t get it” is an understatement. There are exceptions to every rule, but most of these exceptions extend from businesses and brands whose core business is closely linked to their consumers and customer support. Before we dive into this, let’s take a look at some of the brands that have successfully jumped onto the transparency wagon in positive and impacting ways.

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Community Speak Up! The importance of transparency [hosted by Google]

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#communityspeakup

It’s time, once again, for another Community Speak Up! This time around we’re lucky to have the good folks at Google hosting.

I’m particularly excited about this, because based on some of recent happenings in the online community and social media space I’ve been itching to discuss the role transparency plays in helping build a community. No tool is more helpful in establishing credibility for those working with communities then open communication, but this powerful tool hardly comes without its share of complexities. Knowing when to communicate, how to communicate, and most importantly what to communicate are all keys to establishing an impacting and transparent dialogue with both internal teams and external members of your community.

We’ll discuss all of this, and more, at Google HQ on Tuesday. I really hope to see you there!

We’ll be trying something differing for this speak up, instead of meeting during the day, we’ll convene at 5pm and wrap up by 6:30pm, at which point our Google hosts have arranged for a treat to all attendees: Dinner at Google HQ!

If you wish to join in, please RSVP on Facebook or Upcoming. And, if you haven’t already, please make sure to join our Facebook group — Community Speak Up! One more thing, please invite a friend or two!

Directions

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Some primer for the first Community Speak Up

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My early dalliances with online communities were not job related. I’ve participated in online forums, groups, and blogged in some capacity for far too many years to count. There is nothing particularly unique about this tidbit, except that the roles I typically opted to take on within these communities were clear indicators in hindsight.

These roles typically involved mediation, moderation, organization, and guidance. But when I think about these things, I’m reminded that these aspects extend well beyond online interactions for me.

Growing up, I was the kid on the block that plotted out complex daily story lines for the other kids growing up in my neighborhood. One example: I created a map, with points of interest around the neighborhood. We grew up in a court, so we had a nice amount of space, including front yards, backyards, etc. to play around with. I aged and buried the map in an open space, then I planted clues that led to the discovery of the map. Each point of interest offered either a reward, or another clue. For a solid week that map drove many backyard adventures, spurned arguments, resolved disputes, produced puzzles to solve, and centered on discovery and participation. As the game progressed, I changed my plans to cater to the needs of those involved, and finally planted prizes to be discovered at each point of interest on the map.

I was, to put a label on it, an obsessive geek.

I could dig deeper into examples, but I think you get the point. In college I became a Resident Advisor, and eventually an Asst. Resident Director. There is something about the mix of entertainment, participation, and problem solving that allures me to these types of roles.

All of this is Community Management related.

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“Don’t tread on me” [TMBG, online community, and entitlement]

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this Labor Day weekend comprised of a long road trip out to Visalia for a family gathering. road trips = music, and since my daughter has been on such a They Might Be Giants kick lately i decided to spool up anything from the self-titled pink album all the way through their latest release, Here Comes Science. (incidentally, if you haven’t listened to the new album yet, it’s excellent).

at some point along the way home we were knee deep into John Henry when I Should Be Allowed To Think popped on. inadvertently, i thought of work — specifically how the song relates to online community entitlement issues.

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