Building Community in Blockchain
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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.
Building Community in Blockchain
- 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
- 3. #wcef The aforementioned Siberian husky.
- 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
- 9. #wcef , of recording knowledge,
- 10. #wcef of meeting people, Photo by Larm Rmah on Unsplash
- 11. #wcef of making money $$$$$. Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash
- 12. #wcef Building community for crypto is a little different than for the rest of the world.
- 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
- 20. Don’t be afraid to say, buh-bye! #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
Editor's Notes
- #3: Photo courtesy of Social Media Week
- #4: The aforementioned Siberian husky.
- #6: 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.
- #7: 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.
- #8: 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
- #9: a new way of paying for things Photo by Terry Freedman via Flickr Creative Commons
- #10: , of recording knowledge,
- #11: of meeting people, Photo by Larm Rmah on Unsplash
- #12: of making money $$$$$. Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash
- #13: Building community for crypto is a little different than for the rest of the world.
- #14: 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.
- #15: 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
- #16: Then you go into your Telegram channel and this is what you see.
- #17: 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
- #18: 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.
- #19: 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
- #20: 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
- #22: 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)
- #23: 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
- #24: And with that, I’ll leave you this to help you get started.