| Please register to receive the benefits of our network-wide features. |
Register (free) |
Log In
|
| Please register to receive the benefits of our network-wide features. |
Register (free) |
Log In
|
On-line communities built on social software let people connect, share, create and communicate. How different are these virtual gatherings from collaboration in the real-world? Can users be trusted? This thoughtful panel delivers company perspectives on successful community building through mail, messaging, blogs, wikis and telephony. The panelists find the web is transformative in some ways, but still often parallels real life; success lies in harnessing the positive creativity of the majority while moderating the harmful tendencies of a few.
Are we entering a new, participatory era on the web, or simply recreating old patterns in new places? The blossoming of collaboration, content generation and participatory experiences began early on and continues to evolve today, as represented by the panelists from AOL, Skype, Craigslist, Wikia and Six Apart. In all these venues, users are best thought of as regular people who assemble in large and small groups for various reasons. Group dynamics follow some familiar patterns of leadership, hierarchy, activity and passivity.
Although trends vary depending on the platform, the panelists and audience debate the idea that most people are good and can be trusted, and villains can generally be dealt with by community policing and reputation management. Sometimes the best approach is for companies to build the platform and then get out of the way, letting users work things out for themselves. Still, issues of security and fraud are a continuing challenge.
Craig Newmark is a customer service rep and founder of Craigslist. Founded in 1995, Craigslist is a non-commercial community service with classifieds and discussion forums. Craigslist focuses on helping people with basic needs, starting with housing and jobs, with a pervasive culture of trust. He has approximately thirty years of experience as a software engineer (including 17 years at IBM), and is also involved with a number of community efforts, particularly involving mideast peace and new forms of media. Craig has been featured in the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Business Week, Time Magazine, and Esquire Magazine.
Saul Klein is the Vice President of Marketing at Skype and a Founding Partner of The Accelerator Group (TAG). Skype, with over 54 million members worldwide, is a leading Internet communications company, offering free calls to anyone with an Internet connection. Established in 2000 by Saul and his previous colleagues, TAG provides strategic consulting services, operational expertise, and access to capital for various businesses. Recent investments include, Pleasurecards, Spotrunner, Paperdoll Heaven and Mind Candy. Prior to Skype, he was Co-Founder & CEO of Video Island, Europe's #1 online DVD rental services. Saul has also held senior positions at Microsoft, Firefly Network, and Ogilvy & Mather. He serves on the board of directors of bridges.org and writes a regular column on New Media for The Guardian.
Tina Sharkey is Senior Vice President at AOL LLC where she oversees the Instant Messaging and Social Media groups. In 2004, Tina and her partners at Time, Inc. received the Timer Warner Chairman's Award for Collaboration. Earlier in her career, Tina was co-founder of iVillage, Group President of Sesame Workshop's, and Vice President at Q2. Tina also helped launch popular brands while at Frankfurt Balkind, where she managed corporate brand strategies for Time Warner, QVC and Sony.
Mena Trott is co-founder and president of Six Apart, the company behind The Movable Type publishing platform, TypePad weblogging service and, after an acquisition in January 2005, LiveJournal, an online community organized around personal journals. Named one of Fast Company's "Fast 50 for 2004" and PC Magazine's "People of the Year" for 2004, Mena has been involved in the weblogging space since she began publishing to her own weblog, dollarshort.org, in early 2001. She speaks regularly at industry conferences -- having appeared at Supernova, AdTech, DEMO 2004 and The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital." Mena can be found writing about weblogging and Six Apart at Mena's Corner.She lives in San Francisco with her husband and co-founder of Six Apart, Ben Trott.
Gil Penchina is currently CEO of Wikia, a community site built on open-source software that allows anyone to contribute to guides on diverse subjects. Wikia operates under the GFDL Free content license and is positioned to become the first sustainable business built around the vision of free content. Prior to Wikia, Mr. Penchina was an 8 year veteran of eBay where he led many international ventures in Europe and Asia, built partnerships with leading companies, and ran worldwide mergers and acquisitions. An active angel investor, he has investments or advisory roles with: Linkedin, Flock, Wink, Vamoose, Become, Feedster, Koders, Voicestar, Reify and Betzip. Gil holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business.
Resources:
This free podcast is from our Supernova series.
For The Conversations Network:
Play