Community Divas

This is a podcast about communities. Coming from different backgrounds, our mutual interest is community building. We wanted to share our unique perspectives. Each week we interview people known for their leadership roles in developing different communities followed by a discussion of online tools and their role in community building.

Welcome to our third episode!Run time: 18:14Community Divas on iTunesIn this episode- We interview The Smartest Man in the World, Saul Colt- Our discussion about community building and online tools continues with some thoughts from Mark Blevis.Saul Colt is the handsome Head of Magic at FreshBooks, and the brilliant mind that helped with the successful launch of Zipcar into Canada.  Saul's personal blog is Saul Colt: Smartest Man in the World!00:01 Intro by Jay Moonah00:10 Eden Spodek and Connie Crosby00:15 Summary of today's episode00:26 Introducing interview with Saul Colt00:45 Interview with Saul Colt00:51 Saul gives us his definition of community01:08 The hard-hitting question off the top: how does the FreshBooks company connect through communities?02:48 What does Freshbooks do to inject fun into its community?03:27 Saul talks about Roadburn04:49 and about Sunburn07:38 Why do they bring customers together?09:08 What communities do they participate in? For example, SXSW and Podcamp [Freshbooks on the SXSW Panel Picker - voting has closed, but you can still leave comments.]10:46 How do they reach out to customers beyond North America?11:57 Saul reminisces about his first online communities12:43 Online communities and value13:31 Eden wraps up the interview13:55 Responding to a comment from listener Mark Blevis, which he then fleshed out on his blog in the August 29th post "Technology is not community."17:23 Eden wrappin' up the show.Our cool theme music "Get Out of My Face" is by Jay's band Uncle Seth and is from the Podsafe Music Network. We hope to hear from you! Send your comments to [email protected] or post them on the blog at communitydivas.com. Follow us on Twitter, our Facebook page or our FriendFeed room. Some registration may be required.We are still finding our "sea legs" with the audio quality, folks! We have identified ways to seriously improve things after this week's show.  We appreciate all the great tips you have been sending us.

Welcome to our second episode!Run time: 17:16Community Divas on iTunesIn this episodeWe present Part 2 of our interview with Jay Moonah, a podcaster, marketing strategist, musician and a driving force behind the social media unconference Podcamp Toronto. He blogs and podcasts at MediaDriving.com.Connie gives an update about her Twitter account deactivation.  Eden and Connie then discuss whether it is possible to use too many online community building tools. Tell us what you think!We try another method for recording our discussions. Our conclusion: keep looking for another method. 00:01 Intro by Jay Moonah00:09 Eden Spodek and Connie Crosby introduce themselves00:14 Summary of today's episode00:24 Introducing part 2 of our interview with Jay Moonah00:35 Interview with Jay Moonah continues00:41 Jay talks about how to determine which tools to use for community building around marketing efforts. He mentions some of the demographic research covered in the book Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. He also mentions Facebook, Neville Hobson and FriendFeed.05:11 We ask Jay about what music communities online mean to him, and also how he is trying to distinguish himself from being just "the music guy". He throws in references from "back in the day" when he used CompuServe and dial-up BBSs, not to mention MySpace, Uncle Seth, MP3.com, the McFlies, McFlies on Facebook, and the ever-popular Breakfast Television.08:43 Jay gives us his take on personal brands.10:31 Eden wraps up the interview, but Jay gets in the last word.11:00 Connie gives an update about her Twitter account, and the concern she still has. She recommends if you are on LinkedIn to back up your contacts.12:14 Eden asks what is the optimum number of tools we should use to build a community: one tool, or more than one tool? Community Divas have set up a both a Facebook page and a FriendFeed room, and have discovered two distinct groups gravitating toward each. How can we bring the two together in discussion?  Connie mentions the library industry call-in podcast show Uncontrolled Vocabulary.16:05 Where would you like to see Community Divas, and what is the optimal number of places for a community on the Web?16:27  Eden wraps up the show.Our cool theme music "Get Out of My Face" is by Jay's band Uncle Seth and is from the Podsafe Music Network. We thank Jay Moonah for all his help in getting us started! And we thank everyone who listened to our first episode and encouraged us. We hope to hear from you! Send your comments to [email protected] or post them on the blog at communitydivas.com. Our Facebook page and FriendFeed room are also available; free registration is required for them. Or follow us on Twitter.

Welcome to our first episode! Run time: 22:23Community Divas on iTunesThis is a podcast about communities because, coming from different backgrounds, our mutual interest is community building and we wanted to share our unique perspectives.  Each week we'll be interviewing people who are known for their leadership roles in different communities followed by a discussion of different online tools and their role in community building. In this episodeWe present Part 1 of our interview with Jay Moonah, a podcaster, marketing strategist, musician and a driving force behind the social media unconference Podcamp Toronto. He blogs and podcasts at MediaDriving.com. His bands are Uncle Seth and The McFlies.Connie and Eden discuss Twitter, and Connie's account being deactivated. Eden poses the question: Is Twitter a community? Tell us what you think!00:01 Intro by Jay Moonah00:09 Eden Spodek and Connie Crosby 00:42 Summary of today's episode00:56 Introducing interview with Jay Moonah01:08 Interview with Jay Moonah01:15 Jay gives us his definition of community, and clarifies this by talking about an active community02:06 He is involved with a number of communities, including those in social media spaces that he connects with through Facebook, Twitter, or through his podcast and blog, people in the marketing side, and those in the music communities. He sees overlap between the groups. He is also part of other communities unrelated to these.04:09 The value of online communities depends on how active a group is in working towards its goals and values. For example, meet-ups or people helping one another creates value. 05:35 The value that Podcamp brings to the community. Jay points out that Podcamp is both an event and a community. He sees the real value is in people talking to one another. He also explains that the people organizing and helping to put the event on get even more value from taking part.08:35 Will there be a Podcamp Toronto 2009?12:40 We ask Jay if there is anything that he does to build community around his Media Driving blog and podcast.  He says his podcast mostly lets him talk to himself in his car. Are we surprised? ;-)16:59 Eden asks Connie about her Twitter account being deactivated. Eden was one of the first to notice the account was gone. 19:51 We discuss whether Twitter is a community. 21:35 Wrap-upOur cool theme music "Get Out of My Face" is by Jay's band Uncle Seth and is from the Podsafe Music Network.We thank Jay Moonah for all his help in getting us started! And to everyone who has encouraged us. We hope to hear from you! Send your comments to [email protected] or post them on the blog at communitydivas.com.