Selecting an Online Community Platform

2010 Patricia Seybold Group / Matthew Lees

Choosing an Online Community Technology PlatformMatthew LeesAnalyst, Consultant – Social Media / Online CommunitiesSenior Contributing Editor, Patricia Seybold Group

May 20, 2010

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It’s Not about Technology

Fah who for-aze! Fah who for-aze!Dah who dor-aze! Dah who dor-aze!

© 2010 TBS, Inc.

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Well, It’s Not Only about Technology

(technology + business + people)

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Technology Helps You…

• Monitor, Measure, and Analyze – people, content, interactions

• Moderate – conversations

• Motivate – brand enthusiasts and influencers

• Scale / Extend Reach

• Integrate – with other technologies and the social Web

• Realize efficiencies and be more productive

Social Web = Blogs + Twitter + Facebook + LinkedIn + YouTube + MySpace + Delicious + Technorati + Bebo + Flickr + …

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Social Media Initiatives Slice Many Ways

Use Case

• Service and Support

• Insight

• Loyalty / Satisfaction

• Awareness / Lead Gen

• Revenue

• (Productivity, KM)

Industry

• Entertainment

• Media and Publishing

• High-Tech / Telecom

• Retail

• Manufacturing

• …

Segment

• B2C

• B2B

• Education/Academia

• Not-for-Profit

• Government

Audience

• Partners

• Customers (users, readers, subscribers)

• Developers

• Partners

• Students

• (Employees)

Business Owner

• Service / Support

• Brand Marketing / PR

• R&D / Product Development

• Product Marketing

• IT

• (HR)

“Start with your

business goals.”

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A Lot of Technology Choices

Branded Communities / Social Networks Social Media Management & Monitoring

Social Media Monitoring

Crowdsourcing / Idea Management Social Networks

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Today’s Focus: Branded Communities

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Evaluation Framework – for Branded Communities

Community Platform

Communication Channels

Collaboration Methods

Engagement Tools

Search

Community Participation

Customization

Personal Profile Management

Member Content Creation

Connection Methods

Layout Options

Moderation and Administration

Member & Group Management

Reporting & Analytics

Moderation

Capabilities within a

Community

Structure

Technology Architecture

Integration

Scalability & Availability

Environments

Installed Base

Product Viability

Target Markets

Pricing

Product Background

Security Product Plans

Internationalization

Customer Base

Company Viability

Company Background

Financials

Content Management

Communication & Collaboration

Systems Management

Reputation Systems

CompetitionSupport for Mobile Devices

Viral Tools

Search Engine Optimization

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1. Community Participation

• Communication Channels– Forums (Web, PDA access), blogs, chat,

messaging

• Collaboration Methods– File sharing, wiki, ideas

• Search– Information search, people search– Basic, advanced, results page, tags

• Reputation Systems– Rating, ranking

Capabilities within a

Community

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2. Capabilities within a Community

• Connection Methods– Registration & Authentication– Standalone, SSO, 3rd-party (Yahoo!, Facebook)

• Customization– Look and feel, signatures, bookmarks, notifications

• Personal Profile Management– Fields, avatars, privacy control

• Member Content Creation– Editor (WYSIWYG), templates, reviews, interactive media

• Viral Tools– Invitations, Send to a Friend/Colleague, widgets

Community Participation

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3. Moderation and Administration

• Comm. and Collab. Systems Management– Configuration and administration

• Member and Group Management– Accounts, access and permissions

• Moderation– Abuse reporting, obscenity filter, edit/delete posts, ban users

• Content Management– Announcements, publishing/syndication, import/integration,

audit trail, advertising

• Engagement Tools– Polls, surveys, email (individual, blasts)

• Layout Options– Look and feel, skins

• Reporting and Analytics– Stock reports, dashboard interface and parameters, export

Moderation and Administration

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4. Technology and Architecture

• Environments– Deployment mode (on-premise, on-demand)– Operating systems, application servers, databases

• Structure– Development language(s): LAMP, Java, .NET

• Integration– SSO, APIs, social Web

• Search Engine Optimization– URLs, META tags, dynamic/static content

• Scalability and Availability– Architecture, data center (uptime, redundancy)

• Security– Role-based, APIs and code snippets, protocols, data center

• Support for Mobile Devices– Devices, app vs. browser

Technology Architecture

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5. Product Viability

• Product Background

• Installed Base

• Target Markets

• Pricing

• Internationalization

• Product Plans

• Competition

Product Viability

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6. Company Viability

• Company Background

• Customer Base

• Financials

Company Viability

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What Vendors Provide

• Platform Features and Functionality

• Hosting (if on-demand/SaaS)

• “Enterprise” Capability– Administrative tools– SLAs– Scalability– Security

• Experience / Best Practices

• Professional Services– Strategy– Technology: integration, customization– Moderation

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Technology Trends

• “Build vs. Buy” isn’t even an argument anymore

• Standard forum/blog/wiki functionality is the starting point

• On-Demand / SaaS / Cloud

• Integration– Social Web

• Sites & Networks: Facebook, Twitter, etc.• Measuring, Monitoring, Moderating

– Internal Systems• SSO, Directory/LDAP• CRM

• Analytics

• Granular permissioning of users and groups

• Increasing appreciation for identity and reputation portability

• Going mobile

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Thank You

Matthew [email protected]://www.customers.com@mlees

© 2010 TBS, Inc.