Hi, I'm Victoria! Join my Community Dev Newsletter for insight into games marketing, social, and community management. Get actionable tips, a skill testing question, and a roundup of resources straight to your inbox every month.
Leaders, communities, and sustainability β¨ Community Dev Newsletter #19
Published 8 months agoΒ β’Β 6 min read
Community Dev Newsletter
VICTORIA TRAN
HELLLLOOOOOO!
I'm recovering from PAX West this month so I may take longer to reply to responses to the newsletter. It was so fun meeting some of you and very very very cool to know you read this thing. π
If you're new here, hi! This newsletter has 3 main sections: first I usually chat about some community findings (or go off on a tangent), then we do a community activity together, and then the last bits are links to resources and job opportunities I've seen around the internet. I hope it's helpful to you!
OH BUT before I get into the actual content, here's a picture of a sleepy sea lion from the aquarium:
Essentially: There are three types of community leaders that are integral in turning a community from being purely information-sharing to something more relationship oriented. These leaders sustain the community long term.
Why does this matter? Being more acutely aware of the different "roles" a community needs to become truly connected will help us develop better, more sustainable communities. It helps us identify gaps we may be missing in our own spaces.
This GIF goes so hard and for what?
Findings summary:
This study works off of the networked influence theory: that the actions and behaviours of individuals aren't made in isolation, but as part of a greater network
Research has shown some of the biggest problems in online community management are: user participation, membership rentention, and community sustainability
This study focuses on how different leaders within the community help assuade those issues
So what is a leader? The most talkative person? Nah! Here it's defined as someone who is influential in determinig what activity the community does and how
This is based off on how well an indiviual is connected with others, but also how they navigate information in the network
The study found three types of emerging leadership:
Responsive expert leaders. Knowledge provider. This creates a two-way conversation, but is more about information sharing in the form of Q&As rather than anything else. These leaders are key in the developing stage of a community.
Multiboard connectors. As a space grows, you need information navigators that create more discussion and interaction by helping people find and navigate the volume of information that has naturally appear overtime. This creates cross-communcation between separate groups. These leaders are key in the active stage of a community.
Social bond leaders. With their communication style, are able to lighten up discussions and strengthen relationships between others. They are influential and make things fun. These leaders are key in the sustained stage of a community.
Communities don't rely on the same leader for sustainability - it's more like throughout a community's different stages, the baton of leadership gets passed between these leaders
This turned the communities from being purely information based to becoming relationship oriented.
Don't think of your community as a static entity - it'll need different things at different stages, and being able to identify your community's needs will help it succeed. Even if you might've known this in your heart of hearts, it's always helpful to have some solid research behind it!
Community Activity π
Every month we do a new community activity together. Here's the new one!
The question:
How do you show upper management/the team the impact community has had on a project?
Feel free to email me back with your answer - I always respond to them! My answer will be in the next newsletter.
--------
Previous Community Activity π«
Here was the question from last month.
Question refresher:
Whew, you've had a rough day and everything feels like it's going wrong or annoying you, but you still have to maintain a pleasant attitude to the community. What are your personal strategies for resetting?
This is hard, but after years I've been able to do some solid work in this area! While it's different for everyone, here are some of my tactics:
Stop checking social. I know it's part of our job! But it's okay to not look t it for 30 minutes, an hour, longer, etc. Take thetime you need to reset your brain.
Just WALK. CRY. GTFO. Get up from your desk. Give yourself time to reflect and cool down. Steam forums angering you? Close the tab. Do something else. I know (esp. when things are on fire) a break seems like the worst idea. But you can afford 5 mins. No one will perish.
Find your small comforts. This is very specific to me, but when I'm stressed, I drink mint tea and sit on the floor. The refreshing feel of the mint makes me feel... uh, refreshed. And I just weirdly love sitting on the floor. Find what shakes you out of the mood! (Some people recommend a cold ice cube at the back of your neck!)
Folder of Nice Things. Keep a folder of Nice Things people say about the game or your work. Read it when you feel shitty, even if you don't want to. It's a saviour.
Ask for help. Talk!! To!! Friends!! Especially friends who aren't involved in games. They'll help you realize how... utterly dumb some of the stuff is. And that it's ok to not think about it, sometimes. There is a life outside your job, and games.
Talk to your boss (hopefully they are good.) Tell work where you're struggling the most. This IS your job, but that doesn't mean you can't find ways to make it easier, ask for consulting, or work out strategies for you. (E.g. you get 10 mins to just LEAVE, no questions asked. This is something I employ with my team!)
"Don't take it personally" is not great advice, imo. Yeah we ALL know we shouldn't, but logic VS emotions is different. It's my JOB to have high EQ!! So don't beat yourself up if you do feel sad, angry, or annoyed. It's ok. You're not a bad community manager for feeling feels. What matters is what we do with it!
Community Chatter π¬
Here are the interesting and helpful things I've seen this month.
Someone asked if I could add my newsletters to an RSS feed and I definitely do! I just need to figure out how to do that. (Okay fine admittedly I probably know how to do that because I just Googled it, but I'm lazy and it looks like it requires a lot of steps don't hate meee I'll get to it soon.)
Success through shenanigans with community management.
Hi, I'm Victoria! Join my Community Dev Newsletter for insight into games marketing, social, and community management. Get actionable tips, a skill testing question, and a roundup of resources straight to your inbox every month.
