1) The document discusses building community in blockchain, noting that while blockchain is a new technology, building community is not new.
2) It notes that in the past, newspapers were the center of community but that blockchain community is now centered around Telegram, which allows for anonymity.
3) It provides tips for building blockchain community, including using moderation tools like bans to remove spam, trolls, and spreaders of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD), and being careful of overhyping upcoming announcements or news.
2. • 20 years in newspaper
journalism
• Miami Herald staff Pulitzer, 1992
• Top female submitter of all time
to Digg.com
• 15th most influential woman in
tech on Twitter (Business
Insider/Peer Index)
• Mommy, wife & Siberian Husky
owner
#wcef
4. Building community isn’t new
It’s not even an old new thing. Or a new old thing. Or a thing
that was once old, but is now new; or a thing that was once
new, but is now old.
You might think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist,
but that’s just peanuts compared to space.
Oh, wait. … wrong talk. (With apologies to Douglas Adams)
#wcef
5. My old industry – newspapers – once were the epicenter of
community. They used to be very conversational and had tons
of little items with all the news of their communities and the
world at large.
#wcef
6. #wcef
A side note: This is my favorite story from this front page of the
El Paso Herald from Oct. 26, 1916.
If you wanted to know what was going on in your community,
you headed to the newspaper.
7. #wcef
The thing is, blockchain IS new, in many ways. And even its
community is new, in some ways.
Blockchain is a new technology,
Photo by Farzad Nazifi on Unsplash
8. #wcef
a new way of paying for things
Photo by Terry Freedman via Flickr Creative Commons
13. (To scale. Sorta) #wcef
Almost everywhere, Facebook is the big kahuna. In my old life,
in journalism, Facebook, combined with SEO, would take up
most of this slide. Maybe with occasional reddit, Twitter &
Slack interludes.
Crypto has those, but to a smaller degree, plus you have
Discord creeping in on Slack’s territory and everyone HAS to
have a blog on Medium, plus an obligatory YouTube channel.
But nothing – nothing – compares to the biggest of them all in
crypto: Telegram.
14. #wcef
More than with any other community, crypto thrives on
anonymity, which is why channels that make it very easy to be
anonymous are so popular.
Photo by Andrew Worley on Unsplash
15. Then you go into your Telegram channel and this is what you
see.
#wcef
16. At the end of the day, this guy is who we’re looking for: The
street evangelist, who shouts your praises because he’s read
the whitepaper backwards and forwards and simply wants
everyone else in the world to know why they need to pay
attention before their eternal soul is damned to hellfire.
Photo by Sean Hickinvia via Flickr Creative Commons
#wcef
17. Don’t be afraid to use the ban hammer. Crypto communities
are rife with spammers, bots and trolls to a degree not seen
since … the 2016 election.
I have never once advocated for banning in community until
Crypto. Because you need to be swift, and strong.
18. The people who start spreading FUD – Fear, Uncertainty, and
Doubt – for no reason need to go, also.
It’s one thing to be asking legitimate questions of the company.
It’s another, entirely, to be spreading FUD and rumors just to be
the troll. You have to give people the chance to ask the
question, but come down on them when they make it clear
they don’t care what the answers are. That FUD begins to infect
other people.
Image via ZeroHedge
#wcef
19. Otherwise, next thing you know, you have an outbreak of
zombie FUD and you might as well just close up that channel,
because it’s going nowhere fast. It’s a lot harder to fix a channel
than to make it right in the first place.
Photo by Mike Mozart, via Flickr Creative Commons
#wcef
21. And, finally, you’ve got to be really careful, however, when
you’re discussing upcoming news. Especially if you’re a
utility token. It’s only a matter of time before ICOs and
crypto are regulated. By someone. Somewhere. Or
everyone. Everywhere.a
REGULATION IS COMING
(cue Darth Vader music)
#wcef
22. But even if regulation is not coming, the best way to tank
your value is to shout about the good news you have
coming – the huge news, the six announcements – and
then those announcements don’t live up to the hype
you’ve created. Your community, oddly enough, will yell at
you for not hyping enough, but in the end, will benefit from
this.
The best way not to get in trouble is not to hype too much.
Fact is, if you hype too much, you only harm yourselves.
At some point, the hype can’t keep up with the value, and
it will all come crashing down around you. We’ve seen
multiple cryptocurrencies lose a ton of value overnight
after the community didn’t feel the news was equivalent to
the hype.
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
#wcef
23. And with that, I’ll leave you this to help you get started.
#wcef
My old industry – newspapers – once were the epicenter of community. They used to be very conversational and had tons of little items with all the news of their communities and the world at large.
A side note: This is my favorite story from this front page of the El Paso Herald from Oct. 26, 1916.
If you wanted to know what was going on in your community, you headed to the newspaper.
The thing is, blockchain IS new, in many ways. And even its community is new, in some ways.
Blockchain is a new technology,
Photo by Farzad Nazifi on Unsplash
a new way of paying for things
Photo by Terry Freedman via Flickr Creative Commons
, of recording knowledge,
of meeting people,
Photo by Larm Rmah on Unsplash
of making money $$$$$.
Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash
Building community for crypto is a little different than for the rest of the world.
Almost everywhere, Facebook is the big kahuna. In my old life, in journalism, Facebook, combined with SEO, would take up most of this slide. Maybe with occasional reddit, Twitter & Slack interludes.
Crypto has those, but to a smaller degree, plus you have Discord creeping in on Slack’s territory and everyone HAS to have a blog on Medium, plus an obligatory YouTube channel. But nothing – nothing – compares to the biggest of them all in crypto: Telegram.
More than with any other community, crypto thrives on anonymity, which is why channels that make it very easy to be anonymous are so popular.
Photo by Andrew Worley on Unsplash
Then you go into your Telegram channel and this is what you see.
At the end of the day, this guy is who we’re looking for: The street evangelist, who shouts your praises because he’s read the whitepaper backwards and forwards and simply wants everyone else in the world to know why they need to pay attention before their eternal soul is damned to hellfire.
Photo by Sean Hickinvia via Flickr Creative Commons
Don’t be afraid to use the ban hammer. Crypto communities are rife with spammers, bots and trolls to a degree not seen since … the 2016 election.
I have never once advocated for banning in community until Crypto. Because you need to be swift, and strong.
The people who start spreading FUD – Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt – for no reason need to go, also.
It’s one thing to be asking legitimate questions of the company. It’s another, entirely, to be spreading FUD and rumors just to be the troll. You have to give people the chance to ask the question, but come down on them when they make it clear they don’t care what the answers are. That FUD begins to infect other people.
Image via ZeroHedge
Otherwise, next thing you know, you have an outbreak of zombie FUD and you might as well just close up that channel, because it’s going nowhere fast. It’s a lot harder to fix a channel than to make it right in the first place.
Photo by Mike Mozart, via Flickr Creative Commons
And, finally, you’ve got to be really careful, however, when you’re discussing upcoming news. Especially if you’re a utility token. It’s only a matter of time before ICOs and crypto are regulated. By someone. Somewhere. Or everyone. Everywhere.a
REGULATION IS COMING
(cue Darth Vader music)
But even if regulation is not coming, the best way to tank your value is to shout about the good news you have coming – the huge news, the six announcements – and then those announcements don’t live up to the hype you’ve created. Your community, oddly enough, will yell at you for not hyping enough, but in the end, will benefit from this.
The best way not to get in trouble is not to hype too much. Fact is, if you hype too much, you only harm yourselves. At some point, the hype can’t keep up with the value, and it will all come crashing down around you. We’ve seen multiple cryptocurrencies lose a ton of value overnight after the community didn’t feel the news was equivalent to the hype.
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
And with that, I’ll leave you this to help you get started.