Monthly Archives: April 2010

How to Make Salami or Online Community

I just got back from vacation. Well, technically I am typing this on the plane coming back from vacation. Those who know me, know I am not a fan of vacation. I do what I love and am perfectly happy with the social activities woven into my job. But I had this planned for a long time, so I went through with it. It ended up being a harrowing vacation, filled with stress, a couple of injuries and too much intermittent travel, but I also had some amazing experiences, saw places I had never seen and got to see and spend time with a ton of old friends. So it netted out fine in the long run. :)

One couple that I was lucky enough to spend time with have been living in Florence, Italy for almost a year now. They are both huge advocates of the slow food and eat locally/sustainably movements and one of them is a chef by profession. This is a very big trend in my home city of Chicago too, so we talked a bunch about it.

One point that we spent a bunch of time on was the effect that food had on culture. In Italy, there is a fear that the influence of other cultures is making their children stray from valuing the food culture that the individual regions and communities have had for generations. There is even a community in Tuscany that has outlawed non-Italian ethnic food stores/restaurants from the city center to help curb these feared effects.

The chef recently spent a month working on a rural farm in the mountains on the border of Tuscany and learned that region’s art of artisan sausage making. While chatting about the intricacies of sausage craft might bore some to death, I was fascinated and we talked at length about it, even spending one afternoon visiting the farm where he worked. He explained that each region has special breeds of pigs and cows and special preparation techniques for their sausage – some subtle, some drastically different. Each region values their style and is fiercely proud of it. The chef felt very privileged to be able to study at the saluminera that he did, as our FDA regulations will not allow the same procedures in the states.

You see, we require pasteurizing as part of the process for most of our food, including sausage. I am all about preventing sickness and spread of bad bacteria, but this is one of the cases where our American tendency to go overboard may have had a negative effect. When you pasteurize, you homogenized. You take out the bacteria that could make the meat (or milk, etc) bad. But you also speed up processes that nature (and gifted chefs over the years) have perfected, specifically in curing the meat. The slower process (and not killed bacteria) allows the meat to develop different flavors that just can’t be found through the pasteurizing process. Those subtleties in the different regions can be impossible to replicate.

To bring this to a community professional point of view (you didn’t think I would/could, did you?), I see this same tendency happening in our industry. I am often asked for “best practices” and “templates” that a brand or company can use to implement community into their marketing strategy. To a point, this is totally possible. Those of us who have been doing this for a while can write a privacy policy or moderation manual in our sleep and can spot a COPPA violation in a registration flow within seconds. But more and more often, this leads to the assumption that there is a “one size fits all” solution to community. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Just like salami, it’s the subtleties that make all the difference. In sausage, maybe it’s an extra couple months of aging, or the way they tie the string, or special kind of fennel they use that has been grown in that region for years. In community, it’s the vision of the brand/property, the age of the users, the ethos and spirit of the game/world/community. Treating every online community the same is a sure fire way to lose the possibility of having that magic in your community. And it’s the magic that the members want.

Now I am an American, a midwesterner even. I can enjoy a homogenized summer sausage and store-brand cheddar plate at party as much as the next person. ;) And many cookie-cutter techniques work just fine for basic online communities and can serve their purpose (you see this especially in customer service communities). But those truly special communities, the ones that last and last, or the ones we talk about years after we stop participating, or are still talked about after they close down – chances are, they had a community management vision reminiscent of a small artisanal sausage maker in Tuscany. If you put the same care and integrity into building your community as those tiny sausage makers do, you will reap the same kind of benefits.

And if you are ever in Pisa/Florence area of Italy, take a day trip to Pavana in Sambucca di Pastoia and visit the restaurant, Laciosteria, and butcher shop owned by the Savigni family. It’s a truly inspiring (and delicious) trip.

Managing your Non-Professional Community

A small hunchbacked woman is climbing the stairs of a subway with a huge roller cart full to the brim.  She is taking one step at a time, laboring to pull the cart up, then herself.  It looks as if this could take the rest of the day.  You are behind this woman.  Hopefully, you feel the pull to help her and ask if she needs assistance.  I saw this happen a couple of times this week, even by people who seemed to be in a huge hurry.

Opening doors, giving up the public transit seat to an older person or parent with small children, returning a dropped item to a stranger walking by – Chivalry probably needs to stretch a bit from often underused muscles, but it is certainly not dead.

But what concerns me more is our slow, but steady movement toward living autonomous lives on a macro level.  Sociologists have studied the movement from the “it takes a village” style of family raising to the “nuclear family” style over the past century.  Americans take pride in our ability to do things on our own and our families seem to be moving into that realm as well.  As we are able to move easier now, moving oneself or one’s family to the other side of the country for a job doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.  More and more, we have an unspoken drive to “Do it on our own.”  Individualistic pursuit of progress. Be the best you can be.  Army of one.  All about number 1.

But what we are losing is the power that the collective can do for us. Sure you can go far on your own, but if someone helps you out, you can go further. While we all don’t have to be Leigh Ann from The Blind Side, we can try to change our point of view to be more open to, in not default to, being more altruistic.

I don’t think ones network of advisors (or community) should be a crutch, though.  They should be a ladder when needed, a seat other times, and a shoulder to hug/cry/laugh other times.  Having a big family, I understand intrinsically how this works.  But for those of you who may have had more of those “aspiring to be nuclear” families or not had this sort of point of reference, here are some of my thoughts on how to inject a bit of community into your offline lives (I figure, I spend all the rest of my time talking about online/work stuff, why not see how my other side thinks) :

  • Shop/eat local/organic when you can.
    This is a hot topic lately, right?  And I am so guilty of chosing the cheaper choice.  But going to your local farmers market or grocer or market/boutique when you can afford the time and cash really does make a difference – in your health and in your community.  Plus, if you have kids (or just want to learn yourself) it’s a potential learning opportunity to learn about new foods, processes, products or services.
  • Volunteer.
    If you have never volunteered, go now and sign up for something.  Disney will even give you a free day at their parks this year. Find an activity that makes you feel happy and then share that with others – Painting old schools/park benches, visiting a nursing home, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, tutoring at a school, planting a garden in a public place – whatever.  Whatever you do, you will find it’s one of the most rewarding things you can do.

    And don’t give up.  If you really aren’t connecting with some activity you have signed up for, don’t get down on volunteering, look for another activity.

  • If you do move, make sure communication channels are established and maintained.
    My family moved across the country when I was little, but my mother made sure that we talked to all of our relatives regularly and went through great pains to have visits with them at least 2 times a year.  Because of that, we are still very close with each generation.  When I moved out and into college across the country, my mother made sure that all my younger siblings came to visit me each year, especially when I wasn’t able to make it back home myself.  I have connected all my family members with video cams now, so we can talk and see each other on video chats when we can.  I have friends in Italy who make Skype dates to chat with friends and siblings. I make sure I update my facebook so my extended family knows what I am doing when I am out of town.

    It’s all difficult, sometimes in the setup and always in the maintaining, but its worth it.  The more you talk with people, the more you are connected (even when it’s digitally), and our current technological communication channels make it easier than ever.  Social Media is not a trend, it’s a new opportunity to connect.  And this doesn’t necessarily have to mean just family.  Friends, coworkers and anyone else you feel close to is what I consider family – and therefore your community.

  • Get to know your neighbors.
    This one’s tough for me as I am an urbanite and have been off and on for most of my life.  I love the anonymity that cities afford.  But lately, in an effort to fight my hermit instinct (I swear, I am one) I have been making myself chat with my neighbors.  It’s a good habit as a friendly human, but there are practical reasons too – they can water your plants and check your mail when you are away or let you know if there have been any unsavory events that you might have missed.  Living in a vacuum is easier, but joining the community has more benefits.
  • It takes a village to raise a child.
    This is a big one for me, especially lately with the figurative baby boom that is happening in my friend and family circles.  Child raising is hard, especially at the beginning.  If noone has ever told you that, I am happy to be the first to tell you.  And with our individualistic culture growing, it’s harder to SAY it’s hard.  We have basically made a culture of parents who aren’t “allowed” to show they are stressed out or need help.  So if know someone with kids and you are able, help them out.  If you are no good with kids, offer company or host a dinner.  If you are ok with kids, offer to babysit or help run errands for them (kids are CONSTANTLY being needed to be picked up from somewhere). You are not only helping out your friend, you are showing the kids that people can and should help each other out

    And if a child is doing something wrong around you, as a member of the community, you should feel entitled and empowered to tell that child to stop it.  10 year olds swearing in public, trying to steal something from a shop or being mean to another child will get a “Hey!” (and usually a bit more) from me, especially if they are unsupervised.  I am not trying to question parenting styles, I am trying to do my small part at helping form our next generations.  Those kids are going to apply for jobs, be able to vote and fight for our country and even have kids of their own, in not so many years.  They should know that there are people looking out for them, for when they are in trouble, as well as when they are causing trouble.  I will keep on keeping on, but it’s more effective if we all do it together.

    My views are not going to coincide with everyone elses.  And that’s good – as then children get more chances to realize that while there are different viewpoints, we are all part of a whole and we are looking out for each other.  But remember, hearing someone judge your parenting is painful and hurtful.  And it’s also rude to judge other people’s kids and parenting, especially harshly. So think before you speak.  Hopefully you are doing that anyway, though.

Now it would be hypocritical to say that I am not a card carrying member of the bootstrapper philosophy myself,.  Oft times, you will hear me say “Head down and keep marching” or “Walk it off.”  Like I said, I am also a reluctant extrovert (I swear!).  I would much rather divert my eyes and grunt a greeting, than get to know my talky neighbors.  But I see the value in working towards a goal of community, so I work past my neuroses.  And someday I will make it to one of those pug meetups my neighbor always tells me about.  Not necessarily because I need to talk about pug habits for 2 hours on a Saturday morning, but because it’s the right thing to do.