Those tweets made for amusing reading in some ways. Everyone loves knocking a corporate giant. Changing the logo to show flies buzzing around a turd was amusingly diverting for a moment. Anyone with half a brain knows that such a stunt did not compromise security at PayPal. No PayPal user's credit/debit card details were ever at risk. This was a Twitter hack.

But I must spare a thought for the community manager, the social media bod, whoever was in the chair tonight. That person is the gatekeeper on that Twitter account. They had a shit evening. They may well have had senior staff bellowing at them down the phone as they tried to make good on the problem. Trust me. I’ve been there.

I want to show solidarity with whoever that was. Won’t anyone think of the social media manager?

Q: I’m a recent graduate and I’m doing research for an upcoming job interview. The job role is for an online community specialist. I would really appreciate any interview advice you could give me for this role.

A: I suggest the way to impress is by leading a social media life. Using lots and lots of networks and understanding forums and communities is essential and moving beyond the usual suspects that "everyone" uses makes sense. If I was interviewing you, I’d Google you first to see what you’ve been doing. If I couldn’t find you at all on the web, I’d be miffed.

Here are some suggestions:

Absolutely have a great LinkedIN profile. Get all the bells and whistles going on there and use it as a hub for other things you’re doing online. Start to Twitter to.

Can you get up and running as a blogger? WordPress is easy to get started with and Tumblr is even easier. I don’t think it really matters what you blog about as long as you show your talents off and come across as dynamic and willing to have a go.

Start using some of the less well-known social media and online community sites out there. Live it. Last.fm, for instance, if you’re a muso. Review things on Yelp or Qype. There are squillions to choose from. I think to be convincing as a candidate that being active on 5 sites is a fair minimum.

Also, examine different online communities out there. Don’t concentrate on what’s cool and trendy. Remember that one of the biggest online communities in Britain is moneysavingexpert.com. SocMed people may sneer, but ask yourself what Martin Lewis is doing right. He has an amazing community there.

Also, can you manage a community yourself if you aren't already? LinkedIn allows you to build groups and also sites such as Yahoo help you build your own online community. That would give you practical experience and, I think, make you a stronger candidate. I certainly wouldn't hire someone who hadn't been proactive in taking on an online community in some way. If you take photographs, try Flickr and start a group.

And try and keep abreast on what’s new. There are also loads of brilliant people out there to follow and learn from. As a first start I’d suggest Blaise Grime-Viort’s blog and Twitter stream.

“It is absolutely clear that Raoul Moat was a callous murderer, full stop, end of story. I cannot understand any wave, however small, of public sympathy for this man. There should be sympathy for his victims and the havoc he wreaked in that community. There should be no sympathy for him.”

More interestingly, the British government also subsequently contacted Facebook and asked for the content to be removed. Facebook has declined to remove the comments. That’s right. A Prime Minister isn’t a community manager. Here’s why:

- A community manager doesn’t enforce a view. Disagreement is allowed in every online forum. Actually, it’s encouraged. More than that, dissent and plurality is the point. All comers are welcome. A community manager should encourage diverse views, not damn them. Unsavoury opinions are cool. There's something wrong when a community manager censors an opinion simply because he or she disagrees.

- A community manager doesn’t silence conversations. We marshal them. We sometimes moderate them but we always enable debate. But it’s usually the style and the words that we deal with, rather than the content. Threats of violence are right out. Swear words, in most communities, aren’t permissible. Freedom of speech is, generally, golden. Silence isn’t.

- A community manager isn’t a CEO. A Prime Minister is. He or she has more important things to do than meddle with the online discussions. A CEO should leave the moderation of an online community to people who are experienced. It’s hard for a CEO to see that sometimes, but they do need to learn.

- A community manager is accountable but not elected. They should seek approval by being good at what they do and not for currying favour by what they say.

Tom Watson fighting the good fight.

It’s tempting to concentrate on the process of legislation and note that no law should be passed as quickly and without proper scrutiny as the #DEBill was. But despite that venial sin, it’s the content of the bill that’s cardinal. Again: it was a bad bill. Section 11 to 18 in particular.

I do want to make three observations:

Our lawmakers don’t understand the web: I’m not defending anyone here but it is worth noting that many of our representatives have little experience or knowledge of (even concern for) the web. The bill was announced last autumn but it seems like much of our opposition didn’t emerge until the past few weeks. Big business and interest groups got in there first. I think that we geeks (techies, netizens, ) should have organised sooner. Part of winning the argument was about educating the legislators. Hard work? Yes. Should we have to? No. My experience with the majority of MPs I have met is that education about the internet is sorely needed. Regrettably we don’t have a Commons filled with people like Tom Watson.

We need a movement: There is no reason why a varied and huge group such as “concerned webby types” should have an organisation to express a collective voice. But we did need it. Even the Open Rights Group, to name one organisation that did good work, isn’t influential enough, even with best efforts, to make the noise we needed. I’ve seen the sort of campaigns that are conducted to persuade and inform MPs. Organisations protecting water voles have managed more coherent and influential lobbying campaigns than we managed opposing the #DEBill. Whether we like it or not, proper lobbying is influential. Some demos, unfocussed letter-writing and emails and Twitter outrage isn’t lobbying enough. (Especially when your MP probably doesn’t get the web. See point above.)

Slacktivism is just that: Twittering about how you oppose a bill doesn’t necessarily reach the people it should. Affirming on Twitter how you won’t abide by a law isn’t enough either. We need to be better campaigners and sometimes that means we need to be proficient lobbyists via traditional analogue means. I wonder if we managed as many emails and letters to MPs as we managed complaints to the PPC re Jan Moir?

The bogeyman on this occasion was, without doubt, a Labour government forcing through a bad bill on a three line whip. We let one through this time. But let’s get ready for the next one that will inevitably follow.

Past
It’s wrong to characterise what’s commonly called ‘social media’ as something which has emerged in the past 5 years or so and it’s worth remembering that many of the characteristics of social media have been prevalent online almost since inception: forums, chatrooms and newsgroups have a long heritage, the first wiki was born in 1995, the Cluetrain Manifesto and Friends Reunited (the first online social network to find a mass Market in the UK) launched in 1999 and blogging in a recognisable form has existed since the mid-90s. In many ways, the social media values of transparency, conversation and user value are the values of the World Wide Web itself.

Present
So, it’s not really new. Two developments have brought social media to the fore more recently. Firstly, the mass use of sites such as Facebook, Bebo, Myspace and Youtube (to name but a few) represents ‘normalisation’ so using social media tools is no longer niche (that said there is still a great divide between the use of ‘normal’ social media and more advanced services). Secondly, business is definitely taking notice and knows that there’s an opportunity to be grasped and exploited, even if there is some confusion about what that opportunity actually is.

And yet, according to HitWise only 10% of UK traffic is going to social media. Twitter, despite the hype, and massive growth in recent months only takes about 0.67% of the total. Facebook only recently overtook eBay in terms of visitors. Often ignored in the space are the large media organisations, notably the Guardian and the Telegraph. The BBC, in particular, must be the most influential (if not innovative) player with widespread use of blogs, forums, podcasts and UGC. Moreover, through the promotion of these features on air, the Beeb has been a vital educator, introducing millions to social media.

It is tempting to overstate the importance, influence, and revolutionary nature of social media. I believe that social media can be transformational to individuals and organisations and has the power to enhance business, politics and society. However, its influence is less in the technology itself but rather in the ‘mindset shift’ it can enable. Using Facebook or Twitter in itself isn’t enough. The benefits come from embracing the social media values of conversation, transparency, collaboration and providing greater value to users/customers.

The Curse of ‘Cool’
The net industry, pundits and tech journalists are prone to be inward-looking and blinkered, concentrating on niche products, cool and new technology whilst sneering at the commercial success and popularity of other sites. It’s notable that Martin Lewis with his MoneySavingExpert.com community (which has active forums and relies on UGC) is enjoying phenomenal success and yet is virtually ignored by the netocracy despite representing ‘best practice’. Darling of Web 2.0 circuit Dopplr is a miniscule service for frequent business travellers, and whilst beautifully engineered and delightfully designed, it shouldn’t be held in higher esteem than profitable, less cool brands.

Equally, the media and industry are prone to consider social media a vital link to younger audiences when the figures suggest otherwise. Contrary to received wisdom, more than half of the MySpace and Facebook audiences are over 35, and both have more female users than male. There is also a risk of transposing UK/Western trends on the rest of the world. Social media usage in Asia and South America (to name two massive and growing audiences) is completely different to that in Britain or USA.

One of the biggest risks of using social media, specifically as a marketing and communications channel, is the the reason then failure seems motivation. If ‘being cool’ or doing it ‘because we must’ is likely.

Future Growth
Obviously, the social media audience is going to grow in the next few years and the sophistication of the audience is going to increase too (some say that ‘digital natives’ are so savvy that they blank out commercial messages altogether.) The recession will probably see people using the net more as they go out less or try and save money online. However, as many social networks struggle to monetise, it seems likely that businesses promoting themselves online will be squeezed to cough up more. This will mean that honest, inventive marketing will be required if social media is to be a transformational channel.

Social Media and Media Agencies
Any organisation working on marketing or branding needs to have an eye on social media. It cannot be ignored but neither should it be hyped or peddled as a panacea. It’s interesting to note that many businesses making successful strides are SMEs or individuals. Stephen Fry is a good example of someone who successfully enhances his personal brand online using not just Twitter but blogging and podcasts. Moo.com and 37 signals use a rack of options to communicate with their very loyal userbases. This is surely because smaller organisations have an authentic and compelling voice.

Some bigger brands have been successful too: Dell provides discounts to Twitter followers. Walkers ‘Do us a flavour’ campaign has successfully integrated social media with traditional offline marketing and a great concept. Innocent Smoothies practice ‘radical’ transparency and amplify their trustworthy, chatty brand online with their blog and Twitter feed. BT communicate directluy with customers via @btcare on Twitter.

There is great value in reaching out to smaller communities where opinion formers and early adopters are found. Equally bigger, focussed communities (MoneySavingExpert springs to mind again) offer a valuable audience. But the tendency is to ‘broadcast’. Work I have done with PR people is instructive. PRs like control, and, even the most decent, have key messages and a script they don’t want people to stray from. Bloggers, for instance, are often perceived as dangerous, unprofessional and untrained: read as ‘harder to control and influence than press journalists’.

The Client Challenge
From work I’ve done with bigger brands, I’d say that there’s lots of keen, but not enough willing. To make social media marketing work, it’s necessary to give up some control and allow people a voice. There is concern about criticism. Bigger organisations are also not built to take part in a conversation. Legal approval, a nod from the Head of Marketing and screening by investor relations does not make it easy to respond. Brands and organisations have to flex a little to make social media forays successful. Part of a media agency’s skillset needs to be persuading and coaxing that change out of clients.

Social Media isn’t a ‘Dark Art’
Within a media agency, the social media offer opportunities that can and should be integrated in campaigns and projects. Indeed, sometimes social media can be the lead channel but treating it with too much reverence, mystery or magic is to overstate its possible impact.

To integrate social media effectively the people within an agency, at all levels, need to be conversant and confident users. It should be normal and every day. Social media should be on the minds of everyone during all stages of the creative process. It shouldn’t be a ‘plug-in’ or a specialism limited to a few individuals. When an agency and its people are successfully consuming and conversing using social media with the same ease as TV, radio and newspapers it can effectively sell the benefits to clients.

Links:
http://weblogs.hitwise.com/robin-goad/2009/02/twitter_enters_top_100_websites.html
http://weblogs.hitwise.com/robin-goad/2008/12/facebook_youtube_christmas_social_networking.html

Make a small grammatical error
It’s late. A glass of wine may have been taken. It could be the middle of the day and you just didn’t proof your comment in the forum properly. You were just in a rush. It doesn’t matter: there are no excuses in the eyes of your members. Be it a typo or a slapdash grammatical error, nothing gets them going more than a mistake. A mistake they can leap on and attack you for. In any case, it will cause a fuss and that’s great for traffic.

Someone will say: “This is typical of the contempt the moderators hold us in.”
Most likely historical comparison: This is how Rome fell. First grammar and then the empire. It’s a slippery slope!

Change something
Every community needs a refresh or a tweak now and then. It could be the colour scheme or the position of a button or two. Or it could be a total overhaul undertaken with the collaboration and consultation of the community itself. It doesn’t really matter: if you change something (anything), people will erupt in outrage. The stats will look great!

Someone will say: "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."
Most likely historical comparison: The rearrangment of the deckchairs on the Titanic.

Break something
It happens. It might be a routine update or a site wide upgrade. It doesn’t really matter. Sometimes something will go wrong and there will be an uprising. Every reassurance and platitude that all is well will be met with suspicion. Everyone will wonder what the conspiracy is.

Someone will say: "They’re up to something. They’re meddling. Mark my words. Something is going on. They’re lying."
Most likely historical comparison: Watergate.

Justifiably ban a popular member
Sometimes it’s totally essential. A much loved, popular and valuable member just crosses the line. Maybe it’s the last straw or it could be a one-off but serious infraction. Everyone will have a view. Fans, friends and even foes will emerge from the woodwork to protest: you can bank on it. The debate will be lively and the metrics very healthy.

Someone will say: "I disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it."
Most likely historical comparison: Nazi Germany.

Initiate a discussion about the moderation rules/code of conduct
It’s time for a refresh and review of the forum rules and obviously you want to consult the community. It’s a can of worms and you just opened it. Expect the airing of ancient grievances, the citing of unfair and incorrect moderation decisions dating back years and a huge suspicion that you’re only interested in stifling debate and silencing criticism. This is a discussion that’s just going to run and run.

Someone will say: "Whatever happened to free speech? We’re being censored!"
Most likely historical comparison: Nazi Germany/Stalinist Russia.

Announce you’re closing the forum
Nothing gets your usage numbers going through the roof more than announcing you’re going to close the forum. For months, your community might have been like a deserted wild, western town with tumbleweed blowing across the high street… but mention that you’re taking it away and… WHOOSH… every member you haven’t seen for years is back expressing their concern and mentioning the First Amendment.

Someone will say: “You want to silence us! We shall not be moved.”
Most likely historical comparison: Nazi Germany/Stalinist Russia/Communist China.

Image Credit: National Library NZ on The Commons.

How 31 Year Olds Consume Media
By Dan Wilson (31 years and 8 months)

Radio
We listen to the radio a lot and increasingly we’ve started enjoying Wake up to Wogan. Terry’s dry wit is a great start to the day. Moving Jo Whiley to the weekends seems like a shame. Singles we bought in our teens are increasingly being billed as oldies. We miss John Peel.

Television
We watch much more television than we confess to and constantly complain that TV isn’t as good as it used to be. Nowadays it’s all cooking, antiques and property shows. Programmes about making money from buying and selling houses have become less satisfactory since we fell into negative equity. iPlayer means we can catch up with Celebrity Masterchef at our convenience. Interactive TV means things like calling Noel Edmonds on Swapshop, writing to Jim’ll Fix it and shouting at the panel on Question Time.

Newspapers
You can’t beat a sunday morning with a coffee and the quality papers. You can’t do that on a Nintendo! Otherwise, Metro or other freesheets that you pick up on the way to work.

Music
We’re angry about music because the industry has fleeced us time and time again. We’ve bought music on vinyl, tape, CD and downloaded it too. And yet Paul Mcartney still hasn’t stopped complaining about how we’re ripping him off. We have no idea what DRM is but we suspect it’s a pretty good university second only to Oxford and Cambridge.

Devices
We remember when having a telephone meant that mum used her special phone voice and said our own telephone number when she picked up the receiver. Calling after 6pm was cheaper and calling abroad was prohibitively expensive. We used to phone up other people’s houses and just hope they were in. Yes, really.

We’ve had decent mobiles for a decade and more. Our first fone was seriously cool and seriously expensive. Every handset since has been smaller, cheaper and more reliable. This has taught us a lot about life. We’re still teaching our parents how to text. Blackberrys are great because you can check your work email on the way home. Apple iPhones are great because you can check your work email on the way home and feel superior to someone who’s still using a Blackberry.

Internet
31 years olds are adept at using the internet. Many people look at pornography.

Friends Reunited introduced us to social media and reconnected us with everyone we ever lost touch with from school. We spent a decade regretting our early enthusiasm but remain satisfied with the knowledge that the school cool kid who once taunted us now works in Tescos and has three kids by three different partners (the oldest child is 12!). We deserted Friends Reunited when our mum and teachers joined but there’s still someone we had a crush on in year 9 (just after it stopped being the fifth form) that we keep an eye out for. Just in case.

MySpace is a mystery. It looks like a teenage bedroom wall covered in posters and magazine cuttings. We hate it because the Guardian says it’s owned by Rupert Murdoch. We know it’s very important for new bands (such as The Arctic Monkeys) hoping to make the charts but since they cancelled Top of the Pops we don’t see much point in the charts. We understand that MySpace is all to do with downloads. Downloads are just like singles. But free. Downloads killed Woolworths. Pick and Mix was better than MySpace.

Facebook is for baby photos, wedding photos and party photos. People who put up baby photos get most of their adult interaction via Facebook. Women who put up wedding photos look forward to the day when they can put up baby photos of their own. Married men are jealous of their single mates going to the pub a great deal more than they do. People who post party photos keep a close eye on the relationship status and are keenly aware that their profile picture makes them look better than in real life. Everyone plays a lot of Scrabble.

Twitter is great. It takes us moments to lie about what we’ve been doing. We seem more interesting, erudite and connected on Twitter than we really are in real life. A train delay is a great tweet and everyone wants to know about a trip to a farmers’ market. Here’s hoping no one asks us out for a mountain bike ride after last weekend’s tweets. We made it up.

Email gets checked every hour and our inboxes overflow with unread messages. But we still remember the romance of snail mail. We sent love letters in the post and got presents from granny. E-cards are a cop out. But we make snail mail better by using the internet to buy preprinted address labels, and we make our own Christmas cards from pictures we take on our DLRs.

Gaming
Monopoly, Cluedo and Scrabble at Christmas. Will consider getting a Wii when Chucky Egg and Pong are available.

Mathew Robson
We have no idea why a lad who should be wanking, drinking Merrydown cider in a graveyard and listening to Radiohead is writing plausible memos for an evil merchant bank. At his age we hated Thatcher and thought that a Labour government would make everything better. We did our work experience at the local B&Q. We still listen to the Levellers when we’ve drunk too much carbon-neutral wine from artisan vineyards in Dorset.

Pew Internet provide this fascinating graph charting how various activities have changed online over the past few years. Rather boringly, I think the most interesting perspective is simply that people are using the net more and accessing email. But you may well disagree.

One of my usual rants regards how irritatingly inward looking net folk are. I totally agree with Blackbeard Blog's idea that plenty of offline experiences can inform online activity, especially when you're a community manager. One of my favourite sources of community wisdom is a builder.

If someone is threatening to kill themselves in your forum, you should send them an email. That's the advice of this piece from Managing Communities called "Dealing with Suicide On Your Online Community or Forums: How You Can Help and Protect Everyone". This article should have been called: "Washing your hands of all responsibility and pleasing your legal director when faced with suicide." It's practical, considered, cold and inhuman. If I had followed this advice in the past, I'd still be eating myself up about not going with my gut. I'd also have a dead community member haunting me.

I like this diagram from Next Engine, even if it doesn't explain everything and is grandly described as How Communities Really Behave. But the sentiment is right... you're not in control.

Teens don't like Twitter. And that's a very useful reminder that when it comes to online communities it can be a case of horses for courses. Matthew Robson, the 15 year old intern at Morgan Stanley provided interesting reading. But I wouldn't base a business strategy on his note.

Imagine this: people make social judgements about the emails they receive. It's an obvious observation with real importance for marketers and worth reading.

This article examines the mistakes that many business owners make when they embark on building a new website. It's good food for thought.

I found this Mashable article about whether your company should have a social media strategy absorbing.

This Next Web article makes sensible points about choosing a good domain name.

According to Hitwise, online retailers are getting more traffic from social networks than paid search. Useful reading but I'm unsure whether the numbers are simply just good PR rather than usual business advice.

An old favourite. Do you remember what your and other websites looked like way back when? See how far you've come. I adore the Wayback Machine.

We know some people from your company. They're pretty cool online. Do you have any more like that you're hiding? Can they come out and play?

The internet should make businesses and corporations more open, more communicative and transparent. But in the 10 years of the Cluetrain Manifesto we haven’t seen a great transformation. Sure, we have business blogs opening the lid, Twitter gives us insight into what businesses are doing, but the vast majority of this communication is broadcast. Marketing messages, positive spin and highly-controlled outward bound marketing are the disappointing norm. There are some wonderful examples of where the conversation is real. But play? We’re no closer to play than ten years ago.

Companies are paranoid about what is said about them and what they say. eBay, for instance, might Twitter its quarterly results but only after it has posted a disclaimer from the legal team. Customer support reps and agents from all types of companies are still required to stick rigidly to a script. They don’t have much latitude of discretion. Off-the-cuff participation online is still rare.

The culture within a company is only one aspect of the challenge that makes proper, open communication between employees and customers possible online. Trust, cleverness and a willingness to empower are vital. Good people, cool people, who can flourish with that trust are essential. But the company culture isn’t the only factor.

The old media represents a barrier. In the testosterone-fuelled world of the old media even a lack of levity (play?) can be perceived as a lack of respect to customers. “I don’t know” is a sign of ignorance and failure. An honest, well-meant comment could be picked up and fright the market. Corporations are control freaks. Of course they’re petrified.

But we the customers are the major obstacle: we are unforgiving and combative because we’re still being let down. I’ve represented several companies online, specifically on discussion forums. My words were so tightly scrutinised by customers that they had to be carefully phrased. Memories were long: “you said three years ago... blah, blah, blah.” Questions asked with the intention of entrapment commonplace. Negativity was the norm: “you would say that, wouldn’t you?” The companies’ intentions were good, but the customers were cynical. Whilst the relationship is still broken, even pots of first-class online conversation won’t mend it. Why is this lying bastard lying to me?

Play is only possible when your guard is down. People play when they’re relaxed. There are as many cool people within companies and the tools for unleashing them have never been better or more powerful. But businesses need to traverse the trust gap before naked conversations with employees are possible and engaging. And we customers can contribute too by being a little more charitable. We need to realise that the rep isn’t the CEO, that the customer-facing agent is a human and is most likely trying their best and keen to help. When we customers are doing our bit, we can demand better from businesses. Don’t forget: they’re petrified.