http://web.services.leveragesoftware.com/rest/service.aspx?method=BlogPosts.GetAll&client=community&format=rss2 37.766529-122.39577 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~3/X4relOucbiY/blog_post_view.aspx Thu, 07 May 2009 16:08:27 GMT Until I was emotionally and physically threatened to write this blog I lived as a community lurker. I should also confess to being a bit of a liar as threats were never actually made, but my preference had really been to live on the community sidelines. I'd simply go in and get what I needed then...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~4/X4relOucbiY" height="1" width="1"/> Kapt'n Kluge's Workshop d7e00234629e4936b6245a2dd8b375d6 623c3cab4d23469b947a38ae6237ba07 tomsouthpark Tom Paolucci BlogPost 3 Until I was emotionally and physically threatened to write this blog I lived as a community lurker. I should also confess to being a bit of a liar as threats were never actually made, but my preference had really been to live on the community sidelines. I'd simply go in and get what I needed then slip away without making any contributions unless absolutely necessary. Like ensuring the continuation of my paycheck, but I digress... Last week I had the pleasure of visiting with a team who is managing a community using the Leverage platform. This team has done an outstanding job designing a great looking customized site and they are also hands-on members of their community. Thanks to their efforts the community has been quite successful with membership representing better than 20% of the potential member pool in less than 3-months. Still, the team shared some concerns. Most members were not adding content and they feared the community was not being used. We checked the latest stats and discovered that over a quarter of their members had accessed the site within the past week and these were primarily return visits. As we continued to explore the statistics we would find that theirs was an active community of lurkers and I could relate to every one of them. A recent poll of their community showed that 30% of respondents were using the community for networking. Obviously these are not very good lurkers if they respond to polls, but using the community for networking does not require that these members add any content. We found that 17% of respondents (What kind of lurkers are these folks anyway?) returned to the community for the exclusive content available only to community members. This 17% didn't necessarily want to be the members adding that content, but they were coming back for what was being added. It was clear that the community was being used by the members, but not quite how the team had expected it to be used. Too often community managers, and I will put myself on this list, use the creation of content to gauge the success of an online community. I am not saying that content isn't important, obviously members will not return to a community if there isn't something new to capture their interest when they come back. However, there are many community members who, like me, will come back, come back often, and just like very good campers leave no trace of these visits. We will tell our friends about our visits and share links or information that we discovered while we were there, but that isn't something that reports are going to capture. Unlike those discovered in the dark back alleys of Film Noir, online community lurkers are not bad community members. We are quietly active and promoting the community, we are just not so good, or perhaps comfortable, with promoting ourselves in the process. Do you have concerns that your community has become a hang-out for lurkers? Check out the following sites and embrace your community members who seem to live in the shadows... The 90-9-1 Principle Online Reviews Second Only to Word of Mouth as Purchase Influencer in US Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute http://community.leveragesoftware.com/blog_post_view.aspx?blogpostid=d7e00234629e4936b6245a2dd8b375d6 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~3/2IyreTL1cqw/blog_post_view.aspx Thu, 07 May 2009 19:54:33 GMT I have 3 kids -- 21-year old daughter, 17-year-old daughter, and 15-year-old son. Of course they’re all on facebook, and so am I (of course!). When I signed up, they thought it was funny and unexpected -- like me knowing by accident who Immortal Technique is -- and all three of them friended me...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~4/2IyreTL1cqw" height="1" width="1"/> A Frolic of His Own 617b4396703949168f105f3d4aba02c6 57bafe8401b54707a54221b63516da3b joshcommunity Josh Landsman BlogPost 2 I have 3 kids -- 21-year old daughter, 17-year-old daughter, and 15-year-old son. Of course they’re all on facebook, and so am I (of course!). When I signed up, they thought it was funny and unexpected -- like me knowing by accident who Immortal Technique is -- and all three of them friended me right away. But within a day or two, my 17-year-old decided it was more weird than funny, and unfriended me. She’s the most mainstream of my kids, but also the most private. My other two have not had a problem with it. We write on each others’ walls, comment on each other posts, and generally have a fine old facebook time. Sure, I use facebook to check up on them. But only once have I been “parental” -- when my son posted something that went beyond normal 15-year-old boy crudeness. My feeling was that posting something on facebook is like shouting it loudly in the crowded hallway between classes at school... and I suspect he would never shout this particular gem. He must have felt the same way, because when I commented on it he removed it without a word. This was early on in our facebook friendship, and although I’ve been tempted to a few times, I haven’t stepped in again like that. Does that make me one of those misguided parents who want to be their kids’ friend, not their parent? Maybe. Or maybe on facebook -- given its origins as a network for college students -- I feel a little like an outsider -- an interloper who's unsure of his status or role or welcome. Or maybe I just don’t want to get “unfriended.” Then I wouldn’t be able to check up on my kids at all.... http://community.leveragesoftware.com/blog_post_view.aspx?blogpostid=617b4396703949168f105f3d4aba02c6 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~3/86Q0wOSJbuI/blog_post_view.aspx Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:33:49 GMT I celebrated a birthday last week and something amazing, moving actually, happened that I’ve never experienced in the past – I received about 300 personal birthday wishes. Some came in through personal contact but most through email and facebook. This post isn’t really about me but it’s about the...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~4/86Q0wOSJbuI" height="1" width="1"/> Enterprise ready social networking - Thoughts, Trends, Tips and Tricks from the Field 1ebf894c0c06479d96559a2a7b8dbad6 7e613aff9a6c484dbbae6a18c21cd496 3e4e81a39c0f4d6fb075da6beb93c921 Mike Walsh BlogPost 2 I celebrated a birthday last week and something amazing, moving actually, happened that I’ve never experienced in the past – I received about 300 personal birthday wishes. Some came in through personal contact but most through email and facebook. This post isn’t really about me but it’s about the idea of moving from 40-50 birthday wishes a year ago to more than 300 – how is that possible and what do they mean? I wondered how many of these wishes were sincere. As I replied to each wish I discovered that about 80 were from friends (some very close) – people with whom I actually spend time with; 150 or so from friendly acquaintances – those who are primarily business contacts with whom I have had face-to-face conversations and the remainder from facebook friends, with whom I have never met but have communicated through email and some on the phone. These contacts include customers, partners, vendors, competitors, analysts and other peers. Could these possibly be sincere wishes? I concluded yes. I believe that some virtual friendships begin for selfish reasons but over time turn into true friendships, potentially lightweight, but friendships nonetheless. Allow me to explain the selfish comment. In this new world of social media – connections and credibility are king. This fact drives connections between people. Oftentimes, the individual with lesser or matched credibility will strive to connect with one with greater credibility and hope for reciprocation in an attempt to enhance their own personal brand. For example, I have “friended” Guy Kawasaki , Seth Godin, Marc Benioff , John Battelle , Tim O'Reilly , Evan Williams , and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies – as they accept, my credibility builds. Now, I have to provide value to these individuals or the relationships don’t work. Since the initial requests, I have spent time with each of these individuals, albeit brief in some cases, and mutual value has been created. If and when mutual value is created then the total value of each individual relationship is increased by the connection. I think that this approach is based on concepts that can be explained by Game Theory, and works really well when two parties find Nash Equilibrium. Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics that attempts to mathematically capture behavior in strategic situations, in which an individual's success in making choices depends on the choices of others. While initially developed to analyze competitions in which one individual does better at another's expense ( zero sum games ), it has been expanded to treat a wide class of interactions, which are classified according to several criteria . Today, "game theory is a sort of umbrella or 'unified field' theory for the rational side of social science. In game theory , Nash equilibrium (named after John Forbes Nash , who proposed it) is a solution concept of a game involving two or more players, in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only his or her own strategy unilaterally. If each player has chosen a strategy and no player can benefit by changing his or her strategy while the other players keep theirs unchanged, then the current set of strategy choices and the corresponding payoffs constitute a Nash equilibrium. What does all this mean? I receive many friend requests and accept most for the same reason – I know that we can add real value and credibility to one another and most everyone deserves a shot at that. If we can help each other out then the sum of the two is greater than the parts. So, how do we move from mutually beneficial virtual relationships to friendships? We add time. Over time - days, weeks, months or even years, enough value is provided and personalities shine through to begin to develop friendships. I have experienced this with Dave Morin , David Armano , Auren Hoffman , Mike Volpe , Jeremiah Owyang , Charlene Li , Aaron Strout , Colin Browning and more than 100 others – you get the point. I have the great fortune to have developed friendships with many of these individuals. We may not hang out often but it sure does feel nice to receive a birthday wish from them. I’m one lucky 35-year-old dude :) . Thanks for the wishes – I sincerely appreciated them. Cheers! Mike = @mwalsh http://community.leveragesoftware.com/blog_post_view.aspx?blogpostid=1ebf894c0c06479d96559a2a7b8dbad6 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~3/3DpxXHtqnN0/blog_post_view.aspx Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:40:39 GMT What motivates people to make decisions that they do - karma, reciprocity, a big heart, selfishness, selflessness, something else? Recently, I drove downtown to drop an item for a vendor. I pulled up to a meter and I needed change to feed the meter. There were no convenient stores nearby so I had to...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~4/3DpxXHtqnN0" height="1" width="1"/> Enterprise ready social networking - Thoughts, Trends, Tips and Tricks from the Field 3eddf76665984cdd8311a79a2363451c 7e613aff9a6c484dbbae6a18c21cd496 3e4e81a39c0f4d6fb075da6beb93c921 Mike Walsh BlogPost 2 What motivates people to make decisions that they do - karma, reciprocity, a big heart, selfishness, selflessness, something else? Recently, I drove downtown to drop an item for a vendor. I pulled up to a meter and I needed change to feed the meter. There were no convenient stores nearby so I had to run into a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown to ask for change. It was lunchtime, so rather than just ask for change I committed to lunch. I gave the cashier a $20 and received 8 quarters but nothing else. She gave me the $20 back and, at the suggestion of the chef/owner, told me that they would settle up with the meal. So - I walked out of the restaurant with $2 of their hard-earned cash. I was a bit surprised that they didn't request to hold anything as collateral but it only 2 bucks. On my way back into the restaurant I noticed that the owner was on the sidewalk so perhaps he was monitoring my actions but why - was it to see whether I would keep my word to return, to see what kind of vehicle I drive, something else or nothing at all? Upon my return, I looked at the menu and noticed that it was prix fix, and it seemed that it would likely take a while to prepare the food. There weren't any items on the menu, rather, a story about why and how they select their items and prepare and serve their food - it was really quite interesting. Given that I thought it would take some time, I notified them and ran to run my errand - again, not leaving any collateral and now they were $2 and a meal in the hole if I didn't return. I returned to an amazing meal of assorted appetizers, spicy garlic mushrooms, abalone, shrimp - everything was incredibly fresh, perfectly cooked and so tasty - I loved the food, the service and the attention to detail. During the meal, I was so impressed that I snapped some photos (obviously) with my iPhone. I finished my meal and a pot of tea. I approached the cashier (also my server) to pay my bill - now at $18 prix fixe, $2 for the meter, tax plus tip - maybe $26 total. So - here's what happened - the owner would NOT let me pay! He said "it's on the house today". I was the only person in the restaurant so it wasn't to impress. Was it because I was the first guest and it was good karma? Was it because he saw me taking photos and thought I was a food critic, or an influential blogger (I'm not), or would impact their rating on Yelp - who knows. Whatever the reason, I really appreciated it, I loved the meal and I highly recommend it as an outstanding authentic Chinese restaurant ! The server actually took a photo of the chef/owner and me but it didn't come out. I highly recommend the restaurant for groups and company outings - I place my culinary reputation on the line here. Enjoy it - thanks Jai Yun - I appreciate your hospitality! http://community.leveragesoftware.com/blog_post_view.aspx?blogpostid=3eddf76665984cdd8311a79a2363451c http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~3/Oh2um8DMDhc/blog_post_view.aspx Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:52:57 GMT I spent most of last week at the National Sales Meeting for one of the top 3 hospitality organizations worldwide and found it interesting once again how rapidly the social networking industry is accelerating and how there is a case for community in nearly every business scenario today. At the...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~4/Oh2um8DMDhc" height="1" width="1"/> That's What She Said 8876e6a483ab43ff9fa529559c5d4a33 609def0c3fb540e3a7f15daa122b19a4 9eb756b7e2754199b4cd42277a4433fa Kate Swanson BlogPost 1 I spent most of last week at the National Sales Meeting for one of the top 3 hospitality organizations worldwide and found it interesting once again how rapidly the social networking industry is accelerating and how there is a case for community in nearly every business scenario today. At the conference, I was speaking to the team about the value around social networking for their clients. The purpose here was to position their sales team as more consultative sales people – no longer do they want to sell just a product, which many believe has become a commodity where you end up fighting the “lowest price” battle all day. Instead, how can you truly add value to your client these days by understanding their goals and their pain points? How can you go from being viewed as “just a vendor” to a trusted strategic partner? How can you position your organization to provide such value that it doesn’t matter how much your product actually costs (well, within reason) because your client is absolutely terrified to do business without you? How do you prevent the below from ever happening again? In 2009, it’s clear that companies are fighting for a bigger slice of a smaller pie, and they have to do this by combining forces with other organizations to form strong strategic partnerships. Not partnerships that look nice on the "Partner" tab on a website; not loosely-affiliated partnerships that add a sliver of credibility in a few cases here and there; partnerships that help you actually win more deals. It was interesting (and exciting!) to see how a company and an industry that are self-proclaimed “late adopters” to technology could totally see the value in our solution and in social networking in general. In a sales process that is traditionally boxed in by the lowest possible price and feature offerings that are nearly identical with every brand, companies like this one are placing themselves ahead of the game as they recognize the strategic advantage the idea of social networking can bring to help them close more business in an uncertain economy. http://community.leveragesoftware.com/blog_post_view.aspx?blogpostid=8876e6a483ab43ff9fa529559c5d4a33 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~3/I-0_DbCP7Rc/blog_post_view.aspx Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:30:15 GMT Last fall I attended a social media conference and one of the presentations has stuck with me for the past few months. Here’s the short intro: the speaker was a kid – and by “kid” I mean a 22-year old – and he was talking about the new “Generation Me.” These are today's young people, those who take...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~4/I-0_DbCP7Rc" height="1" width="1"/> That's What She Said b848f22c70a847669cbb503ba944651a 609def0c3fb540e3a7f15daa122b19a4 9eb756b7e2754199b4cd42277a4433fa Kate Swanson BlogPost 1 Last fall I attended a social media conference and one of the presentations has stuck with me for the past few months. Here’s the short intro: the speaker was a kid – and by “kid” I mean a 22-year old – and he was talking about the new “Generation Me.” These are today's young people, those who take it for granted that the self comes first. There are a lot of factors that contribute to this, but because this was discussed at a social media conference, we focused on…you guessed it…technology and especially the social media components that lend to these narcissistic personality traits of today’s young people. (To you GenMe-ers out there…I have nothing but love for you…don’t hate on that last comment! ☺) Let’s set the stage for a time before GenMe: think about the independent bookstore down the street. Or Tower Records. Or the neighborhood video store. (All of which don’t exist anymore.) You had to either do your research beforehand or spend an awful long time browsing to find what you want. Now think Amazon. Netflix. iTunes. Those sites don’t make you actually search for anything. Based on one click, you’re thrown into a world of “if you liked this you might like that”, “see what your peers are saying”, a “created just for you” section, “lists made by your friends”, etc. And Generation Me has pretty much grown up with the latter, so you can’t blame them when they’re accused of being narcissistic or self-absorbed. Here’s one of my favorite examples of a non-Generation-Me-er: a few years ago, we gave my mom an iPod for her birthday. I explained to mom that we’ll download songs and then we can transfer them to the iPod. She understood. Simple enough, right? Not so fast… Me: OK, Mom. We'll get some songs on iTunes and then we’ll drop them onto the iPod. So...do you have any songs in mind to start with? Mom: Well I don’t know. Show me the list. Me: The list? What list? Mom: The list of the songs. Me: The list of ALL the songs? Mom: Yes. Me: You want the list of ALL the songs EVER made? (smirking) Mom: Yes. Why is that funny? And then began the explanation of (the beauty of) iTunes. Today, everything comes to us – the internet knows us and it knows us well and it wants to sell us lots of things it knows we’ll like. Generation Me has been conditioned to expect to find information not on their own, but from others and from technology knowing who they are. Because they’re important. And this is, in my opinion, why social networking has become so prevalent in the last few years. This is how this generation collaborates and shares. Here’s MY page. Here are MY pictures. Here are MY friends. Here is MY status update… So what’s my point? This stuff is here to stay. GenMe-ers just spent their last four years in college collaborating on class projects through wikis, reading and commenting on their professors’ blogs, sharing socially with their friends on Facebook and Tweeting their life away. Now they’ve entered the workforce are conditioned to interact in the same way. GenMe-ers don’t use email. They certainly don’t check voicemails (try to call them – their voicemail boxes are always full). Social networking is no longer a nice-to-have-when-you-have-a-few-extra-dollars-in-your-budget. It’s absolutely EXPECTED. Charlene Li said it well in Groundswell – “social networking is like air – it’s everywhere. Those that don’t embrace it will lose their competitive edge.” http://community.leveragesoftware.com/blog_post_view.aspx?blogpostid=b848f22c70a847669cbb503ba944651a http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~3/P4FQvYvGgWQ/blog_post_view.aspx Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:58:40 GMT I have just learned about a very creative group of community members who came up with a clever solution to creating their own targeted polls. This team wanted the option to pose questions to a small audience and they wanted to keep the results within the private group that they had already created....<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~4/P4FQvYvGgWQ" height="1" width="1"/> Kapt'n Kluge's Workshop 164f149eaac84338a20ee9ed2c41cb1c 623c3cab4d23469b947a38ae6237ba07 tomsouthpark Tom Paolucci BlogPost 1 I have just learned about a very creative group of community members who came up with a clever solution to creating their own targeted polls. This team wanted the option to pose questions to a small audience and they wanted to keep the results within the private group that they had already created. The current polling feature did not provide the option of keeping a poll private nor did it allow community members to post new polls on the fly. So how did they make the lemonade? Their solution: Team members create a new discussion in which the Topic serves as the poll question and the Message serves as the first poll answer option. To this discussion post they add additional Response posts which act as the other available poll answer options. Members are instructed to simply click on the Thumbs Up for the answer they wish to select for the poll. Click on the image on the right to see this example full size. I expect that this very simple solution could be helpful for many other communities so why don't you give it a try or reach out to me if you have any questions. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post the team that created this solution currently shares a private group and they have asked that I not disclose their identity in this forum. Of course, should they elect to proudly display their Kapt'n Kludge Award they might just be letting the cat out of the bag... Has your team come up with some creative ways to work within their community? We would love to hear all about them. Please share those ideas with others in the What Works? group here in Leverage Labs. http://community.leveragesoftware.com/blog_post_view.aspx?blogpostid=164f149eaac84338a20ee9ed2c41cb1c http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~3/08oOOq1oWQo/blog_post_view.aspx Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:29:16 GMT 1. Knowledge is messy. 2. Knowledge is self-organizing. 3. Knowledge seeks community. 4. Knowledge travels on language. 5. Knowledge is slippery. 6. Looser is probably better. 7. Knowledge keeps changing. 8. Knowledge does not grow forever -- something eventually dies or is lost. 9. No one is really...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~4/08oOOq1oWQo" height="1" width="1"/> Fresh From the Labs b6911bef9a8e4dfb9a74b9bb74f4471b 0368ad757d0c4fd3891403462924dd3b joetechno Joe Kleinschmidt BlogPost 1 1. Knowledge is messy. 2. Knowledge is self-organizing. 3. Knowledge seeks community. 4. Knowledge travels on language. 5. Knowledge is slippery. 6. Looser is probably better. 7. Knowledge keeps changing. 8. Knowledge does not grow forever -- something eventually dies or is lost. 9. No one is really in charge. 10. You cannot impose rules and systems. 11. There is no silver bullet. 12. How you define the knowledge problem determines what and how you try to manage. I recently stumbled across the above excerpt from a book by Verna Allee entitled The Knowledge Evolution: Expanding Organizational Intelligence. The book was published in 1997, and yet twelve years later, these ideas seem as valuable as ever. http://community.leveragesoftware.com/blog_post_view.aspx?blogpostid=b6911bef9a8e4dfb9a74b9bb74f4471b http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~3/ujOYDJ-RBT0/blog_post_view.aspx Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:49:34 GMT This past weekend I had the privilege of attending Social Web FooCamp at O’Reilly Headquarters in Sebastopol, California. It was an amazing weekend full of passionate people and powerful discussion around social networking, the social graph, and technologies for data portability. Special thanks to...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~4/ujOYDJ-RBT0" height="1" width="1"/> Confessions of an Online Community Manager 613ffc45bb78481babc0860ec72e2605 633a7c3437b045cba03d3f1d307cdc47 80b1a4e0199e450d90f3ff93658033a1 Amber Rae Lambke BlogPost 1 This past weekend I had the privilege of attending Social Web FooCamp at O’Reilly Headquarters in Sebastopol, California. It was an amazing weekend full of passionate people and powerful discussion around social networking, the social graph, and technologies for data portability. Special thanks to Dave Morin, David Recordon, Scott Kveton and the O'Reilly team for planning and hosting such an fantastic event. Here are a few photos from the event, thanks to John McCrea . While specific conversations at FooCamp are under "frieNDA," one topic that really resonated with me was government and the social web. The need for open, transparent and participatory government is becoming increasingly important to tearing down barriers between the government and its citizens. One government agency who understands the value of open gov is The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT). In January, they launched one of the nation’s first government-sponsored online communities, branded “ K-TOC ,” (Kansas Transportation Online Community) as a major element in the Department's exploration of the social web and new technology as instruments of public outreach. Since launch, Kansas Transportation Secretary Deb Miller has joined and is actively blogging . I love that she's using this as a vehicle to share her policy thinking. Another small but exciting step toward citizen-centric gov 2.0. Click here to learn more about KTOC's success. http://community.leveragesoftware.com/blog_post_view.aspx?blogpostid=613ffc45bb78481babc0860ec72e2605 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~3/g4Wgm6TOcAE/blog_post_view.aspx Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:10:18 GMT I've never been fond of clowns and didn’t understand their popularity as a kid. I am talking about the traditional circus/ Bozo kinds of clowns. I’ve always thought they were a little creepy and I never understood why anyone would want one at their birthday party. The movie Poltergeist certainly...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/leveragesoftware/blog/~4/g4Wgm6TOcAE" height="1" width="1"/> Kapt'n Kluge's Workshop 41f7288c0fd4436397acec05af35a03d 623c3cab4d23469b947a38ae6237ba07 tomsouthpark Tom Paolucci BlogPost 1 I've never been fond of clowns and didn’t understand their popularity as a kid. I am talking about the traditional circus/ Bozo kinds of clowns. I’ve always thought they were a little creepy and I never understood why anyone would want one at their birthday party. The movie Poltergeist certainly didn't help matters. That changed one day when I happened upon the Puppet Terrors website and found Bunky, pictured below. This is a clown that is supposed to be creepy. Look at him - he’s a pierced tongue, green haired, crazed terrorist. Yet for some reason, this was a clown I kind of liked. In fact, he now sits here in his little box; another fixture in my office. Like clowns, I didn't understand all the hype around wikis. As development progressed on our integrated wiki the office was all a buzz about how great wikis were and what a terrific addition they would make to every community. Now I like Wikipedia as much as the next guy, but how many online encyclopedias did the web need. I was having lunch with Joe, our CTO, when I let him know that I didn't understand the recent wiki excitement in the office: Setting: Brickhouse Restaurant Joe: So, you’ve used a wiki, right? Tom: Sure, I use Wikipedia all the time. Joe: Any others? Tom: Ummm, no. Joe: Have you ever updated the information in Wikipedia? Tom: Ummm, no. Joe: So you’re telling me that you’ve accessed a wiki but you’ve never really used a wiki. Yes, I am ashamed to admit that I was wiki-ignorant. The only wiki I had ever used was Wikipedia. Since it seemed that every other wiki I ran into ended in “pedia” I just believed they were all the same. Joe immediately started my intervention with a simple definition. While I don’t remember his exact words, the following, found on Wikipedia no less, is pretty close. A wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis are used in business to provide intranet and knowledge management systems. Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work." Wiki is a Hawaiian word for fast. (Since that meeting with Joe I’ve also heard Wiki defined as an acronym for "What I Know Is" but Wikipedia notes that that this is actually a backronym .) After the definition Joe shared several specific examples of the different ways he had used wikis to collaborate on projects and he let me know that our development team was regularly sharing product information on a wiki. He said I needed to start using a wiki to really understand all that a wiki has to offer. It was then that I was recruited for testing our newest feature. That afternoon I was on our test servers actually using the wiki to report on my testing of that very same wiki. It seemed like every day that followed I was thinking of new ways that wikis could be used within our community sites. Before long I was also gushing to clients about how exciting this new feature could be for their members. I was appreciating the Wonderful World of Wikis. Today, our clients are using their community wikis in ways I didn’t imagine during my testing. Many use it to collect member feedback on their products and services, others to present community guidelines, a few have co-workers sharing tips and the latest business information. One client even used their wiki before they launched as a project tracking tool during the implementation of their community. While Bunky is still the only clown I really like, I must say that my wiki appreciation continues to grow every day... http://community.leveragesoftware.com/blog_post_view.aspx?blogpostid=41f7288c0fd4436397acec05af35a03d