Page 55 - Social Media Marketing

Club Membership Brings Expectations 33

In the preceding discussion of relationships and interactions and their importance in ■ ╇ T he N ew Role : S ocial I nteractions
the development of a strong sense of shared purpose within a community, left aside
was the question of how the social norms or rules of etiquette are established and
maintained within a community. Cyberbullying, flame wars, and the general bashing of
newbies clearly work at cross-purposes with most any online community development
effort. In the design of any social interaction—be it as simple as posting on Twitter or
as complex as driving innovation in an expert community—the policies that define and
govern the conduct of participants are of utmost importance.

To maintain order and a defined sense of decorum, the practices of moderation
along with the implementation of policies—also known as Terms of Use—are funda-
mentally important. While there are entire texts on these topics, there are some core
concepts that should be part of any community effort within a social business pro-
gram. Effective moderation—the guiding of participants and conversations within the
bounds set by the Terms of Use—is likewise key to the successful implementation of a
community or collaborative workspace.

Typically, the Terms of Use will provide for the following, each of which contrib-
utes directly to the overall health of a collaborative community:

• Expectation of participation, perhaps managed through a reputation system that
rewards more frequent and higher quality contributions

• Ensuring that participants stay on topic within any specific discussion, so that
the discussion remains valuable to the larger community, and so that the topics
covered are easily found again at a later date

• Curtailing any form of bullying, use of hate speech, posting of spam, and simi-
lar that are obviously counter-productive within a typical business (or related)
community

Beyond these core practices, the function of moderation is to watch for issues
that surface or problems that require some sort of escalation. At a basic level, modera-
tion enforces the Terms of Service by warning members about inappropriate posting,
language, or behavior. Moderation provides a sense of comfort for newer members
who may be unfamiliar with more subtle rules or expectations that exist within the
community. Moderation practices, Terms of Use (governing external communities—
for example, a customer or supplier community), and social computing policies
(governing internal use of social technology—for example, by company employees)
together provide an organizational safeguard when implementing social media and
social technology programs. Understanding who can participate, what is and isn’t
appropriate for social channels, disclosure practices, and more are all part of an effec-
tive social computing and community moderation policy.