I woke up to an amazing article written by Jonathan Trenn, The fallacy of community, and I responded in a comment to a pretty passionate article and a passionate comment string, and here’s what I wrote — and I have expanded the argument below, so it is an expansion:

Gosh, I don’t know what to say here… there are so many different types of communities, many of which can surely be manufactured. What every successful community requires is community leadership. Community leadership can be organic and emergent or they can be hired in the form of online community managers or facilitators. A strong leadership — people who have skin in the game — is more important than a good web application; also, these community leaders are often the main draw to the community and can be the difference between keeping or losing your members when a competitor comes to town.

Here are some types of communities, as pulled from Wikipedia:

• Communities of Action
• Communities of Circumstance
• Communities of Interest
• Communities of Position
• Communities of Practice
• Communities of Purpose

Many of these can be created, in much the same way that one may create a garden. I think the biggest problem with these sort of things — community-creation — is that people do it wrong, and they have been doing it wrong for at least a decade.

Back in the day, when I worked at Caucus Systems, we manufactured communities for businesses — virtual teams, virtual conferences, and whatnot. And it worked quite well, to be sure, and they were powerful and transforming.

What most companies don’t understand is that communities require facilitators and managers. They always have. AOL hired community managers back in 1995 when they created communities, the Well and Caucus and Howard Rheingold’s Brainstorms have paid and unpaid community managers and facilitators.

The mistake that most companies make is that they assume that if they build it, they will come. It is not true. You can create a Wiki, a Message Board, Forums, or a Blog and it doesn’t mean anything at all.

In fact, people will spend all of this time putting together a message board, fill it with conversation-starters, and then open the doors, promote the hell out of it, and still nothing will happen.

What is required to manufacture a community is passionate members — and they can be paid. However, if they’re paid, you need to hire them from a pool of OD experts or a pool of topical experts — or, you can poach them from another community, always the best way.

So, Wordpress and phpBB are not killer apps, the killer apps are the people who start and maintain conversation, the people who re-seed conversation, the people who catalyze conversation, the people who show interest and ask questions, and the people who protect the other members through active moderation.

In fact, I am an expert in this. You can restart an old thread, you can catalyze a conversation, you can break out an off-topic thread to a new topic hope.  It is an art, but it is an art that anyone who knows conversation, who knows facilitation, and who knows people, can do — and it happens all the time “organically” on all of the online boards we’re so in love with.

Hell, get Wordpress, phpBB, or Wikimedia for free — or buy vBulletin for a little money — and put the rest of your budget towards hiring professional Community Managers.

Hell, if it weren’t for Jonathan Trenn on Marketing Conversation, we would be done for on this blog. He’s the glue and he’s the only reason why you are all here.

Saul Wainwright is our biggest evangelist for the Abraham Harrison virtual company, virtual team, and virtual office. Saul and Google, both; however, Saul is a better blogger. Check out what WWD Coffee Break says about Saul’s futurism and take on the quiet revolution we are perpetrating by way of allowing our team members freedom and flexibility:

It’s Not Just a Job, it’s a Movement – If you’re feeling alone and isolated in your web work, cozy up to this blog entry from Saul Wainwright. He reminds us that the trend towards independent contracting and flexible work could potentially shake up all sorts of things we take for granted, from the way retail sales are conducted to the very concept of TV “prime time.” Sure, there are drawbacks too, but it’s nice to be on the forefront of change sometimes.

I finally got to sit down today and peruse my Sunday New York Times Magazine and I discovered an article that is oh so relevant to the lives of all the employees of Abraham Harrison LLC. The article is titled “Home-Office Politics” and talks to how the new workers, those of us that work from home deserve a New Deal!!

There are certainly some policies that penalize those of us that work from home – such as having to contribute the full 15% to Social Security, or the lack of group health insurance policies or other such things. However, in my opinion I can live with these type of constraints when I have the freedom and flexibility to work at hours that are best for me and my family.

The growing influence of home workers will, in my opinion, change many dynamics of our social and political lives as the segment of the American working force that works from home increases. According to a Democratic pollster Mark Penn there are over 4 million Americans working exclusivly from home, which is a 100% increase since 1990, while another 20 million Americans work from home part time.

This is a big number and is growing. Many liberals have said that this movement to “independent contractor” or “self-employed” status is being driven by companies desires to off-load responsibilities – like health insurance, retirement policies and long term responsibilities – a contractor is far easier for a company to get rid of then an employee.

The drive to “indpendent worker” status may very well have been driven by corporate America’s desire to cut costs but I think it will gather momentum as more and more people realize some of the truly positive benefits to this sort of life style. Not to mention how it stands to really redefine the commercial and social landscapes.

Firstly think of the way retail would change if people could go shopping at anytime of day – rather then on Saturday and Sunday or after 5 pm. Hell, I go to the stores at all kinds of random times – I have no solid schedule…

Secondly – would the “prime time” slot loose it’s importance on TV? Heck, if everyone didn’t come home at the same time they may not care to watch TV between 6pm and 8pm.

Thirdly – the environmental benefits as far as I can tell are huge. I barely produce any paper waste (in fact I don’t think Abraham Harrison produces much waste period). None of us commute, none of us have to have office’s using up extra land and extra resources to maintain.

So, as this drive towards increasing amounts of people working from home continues, look for a major shift in how our routines are structured and what it does to our society as a whole. Hell, when the labor movement brought us the weekend and an 8 hour day there was no doubt that this changed everything.

Imagine a society where the majority of workers are home – going out at random hours, hanging out with their children and spouses and in general living a much more organic and natural lifestyle.

How bloody exciting is that???

I feel like a true trend setter now. I don’t think I will ever be able to go back to working in an office!!!

In an article onBusinessWeek.com titled Ebay’s Skype Bubble Bursts the author talks to the failure and major shuffles at Skype over the past week.

It looks like Skype just ain’t doing what Ebay thought it would do – grow, make losts of money and seamlessly and synergistically meld with PayPal and the Ebay auction site. It looks as if this is not happening and that the competition is stiff out there – you got google, msn, yahoo etc all offering their own free versions of phone calls.

And their saddest piece of news was that the SkypeOut minutes were remaining flat. In other words people are not flocking to Skype as a way of making call from computer to a normal phone number. This is not hard to believe – the quality still doesn’t rival your regular phone.

Sometimes I think we have gone backwards on our telephone quality – copper lines give such nice clean sound, then next comes cell phones, followed by proper VOIP systems, and then at the bottom are the free online VOIP systems. I still like picking up my regular land line and making a call.

I guess this is what happens when everything gets shook up by new technologies – we get flooded with mediocrity; best thing to do is wait for the good fish to float to the surface!!

Well, I did feel bad for the two co-founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis and several of the other early investors who expected to get $1.7 billion if everything had gone as projected, instead they are looking at having to share only half a billion dollars. What a bummer!!!

So, we wait and see what Ebay does. Maybe some of these companies (like google with youtube) will start shedding some of these assets at bargain basement prices. Could soon be a good time to go shopping. Haa, Haa!!

Happy phone calls!!

It is one of those inevitable conversations you have with your buddies – “how is work?” or “where you working at these days?”

First I try to explain what it is that we do, which most people have no idea about. Which, well, in itself surprises me. Hell, doesn’t everyone know about blogs, and SNS, and conversational marketing and ….well I guess not.

The part that everyone does relate to, and gets rather jealous of is how AHLLC is run. That we are a completely web based company, with no headquarters, no “permanent” location, no dress code and best of all no commute. Oh, wait, and there is the side of flexible hours and schedules – how could I forget!!! Heck, who can’t love all of that. And let me tell you everyone wants my job. Ain’t happening dudes – find your own!!!

AHLLC : On a slightly more serious note (and I am sure I could find all kinds of stats on these issues, but I’ll spare you that now) there are many levels to the benefits of this company; environmentally, personally, and from a business efficacy standpoint.

First and foremost is the smaller environmental footprint that a company like this makes. None of us have to ever climb in a car and drive to an office. Cutting out the need for a car in some instances and greatly reducing our carbon footprint.

Second: we have no need for an office and all the resources that go into, building, maintaining and utilizing such a place. Once again reducing our environmental needs and impact

Third: we have flexibility built into the system. Life does not have to become a box regulated by drive times and office hours. We are able to deal with life (for me this is huge as I am a new father and want to see my baby as much as I can) and all its erraticness. And be available to clients on a far more fluid basis – this of course has the downside of no clear “I am on duty” vs. “I am off duty”.

Fourth: we can pull from the global labor pool. This is one of the more “economically” interesting aspects for a virtual company. Especially in today’s labor market where there is an increasing shortage of skilled labor. This enables us to tap labor pools irrespective of the geographic location of the individual. I know that for me this rocks as I like to live part in the USA and part in SA. It also allows us to be far more culturally diverse as an organization giving us a unique perspective on many of our clients and campaigns. It gives AHLLC a perspective that, I think, appeals to many clients especially in the incredibly culturally diverse world of the web.

I could make a far more “scientific” study of all of these benefits – heck maybe I will down the line – but the point is that AHLLC rocks and makes the work experience a whole lot different. Much more like college – you gotta have self-discipline, you gotta be on top of things, and you gotta be independent, motivated and produce. The one big difference is this is for REAL.

In the end I believe AHLLC offers environmental and social benefits far beyond the average “green” firm. Gaining advantages that few other companies are able to obtain in such a short amount of time, and without any major cost to the company. AbrahamHarrison in the end, totally ROCKS!!!

Abraham Harrison LLC, where I work, is promoting not only a cutting-edge work environment, but an environmentally-friendly work place as well. The simple fact is that the workers at AHLLC are not commuting every day. To understand the savings afforded by thousands of people working from their homes, you need to first understand the reduction in commute time. Consider this:

• The average one-way commute distance per trip is approximately 19.5 miles (or 39 miles round trip)
• The average number of round trip commutes of about 1000 workers per year, assuming 50 work weeks, is 250.
• By eliminating the need for say 1,000 people to commute, there is an actual reduction in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) of 9,750,000 miles. In other words, almost 10 million miles not traveled.

Now, Abraham Harrison does not employ 1000 people (well at least not yet..stay tuned), but you can get the picture from the figures. The amount of gas that is not being burned into the environment is just another aspect that helps preserve our world.

If more workplaces could make the move to managing their employees from their homes/alternate workplaces, imagine the wear it would take off the environment. Companies also need to understand that this will not hurt their productivity. For example, it’s been proven that home-based workers have been achieving faster call resolution, higher conversions and larger sales orders than in-office customer service representatives.

Another thing to look at is that Abraham Harrison is operating through a virtual office, not one that is soaking up resources. Each worker can make pure efficiency happen with a computer and an Internet connection. There is no need for all the other fluff. All of the energy that is being burned up is within the brains of the employees……

Even though Mark and I are Virtual Company Spokesmodels and Abraham Harrison LLC is a Virtual Company Case Study, I still feel really compelled to never cease pimping and promoting all the sundry reasons to take your company virtual. More ammo from the Wall Street Journal, Online Tools Help Home-Based Firms.

If the Internet has been the great equalizer for small businesses, it is particularly evident right now in the home-based business realm — where new online tools from Google Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft Corp., eBay Inc. and others are making it easier and cheaper to network employees, sell goods and manage office accounting functions in ways that previously required office space, technical staff, and expensive investment in servers and software.

The goal of these companies is to make themselves the business brand of choice among entrepreneurs so they can reap the benefits as small firms grow and need more complicated, and expensive, services. Most of the companies hawking free basic editions of their products also sell costlier, advanced editions. They also rake in online advertising dollars from marketers — including banks, insurance providers and computer makers — eager to reach the pockets of small-business owners.

While businesses of any size can use the online tools, the potential appeal to small and particularly home-based businesses is ripe due to their low cost of entry and ease of use. Most of the services can be accessed from any computer or mobile device with Internet access.

A little more than half of the nation’s 26.8 million small businesses are based at home, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.

Via Wall Street Journal

We at AHLLC tend to gloat about our fly virtual company and our jet-set international staff-of-mystery. I think our folks like working with us well enough. How do I know? Well, the Wall Street Journal says so, Seeking Loyal Workers? Let Them Stay Home.

A recent survey finds that workers who telecommute from home or elsewhere, while still a very small portion of the work force, report the highest levels of satisfaction with their jobs and loyalty to their employers. In the poll of about 10,000 U.S. workers, 73% of remote and home-based workers said they were satisfied with their company as a place to work, compared with 64% of office workers.

In addition, 70% of the telecommuters said they were “proud to tell people I work for my company,” while only 64% of office workers agreed with that statement. The survey was conducted by the Kenexa Research Institute, a unit of Kenexa Corp., a recruitment and retention consulting firm.

“When companies allow employees to work remotely or from home, they are explicitly communicating to them that ‘I trust you to be dedicated to the accomplishment of the work, even if I’m not able to observe you doing it,’ ” says Jack Wiley, executive director of the institute, which is in Minneapolis. “It boils down to respect,” he says. “I respect you and I have confidence in your commitment to the work — to do this under the conditions and at the time you feel will be most productive for you.”

Via the Wall Street Journal

All of us staffers at Abraham Harrison LLC work on our own so all of us could spend all day on Facebook. I like to think we’re all adults here; however, according to the BBC, most employers as well as most employees are children. What do you think? Limit, block, or unlimited?

Workers who spend time on sites such as Facebook could be costing firms over £130m a day, a study has calculated.

According to employment law firm Peninsula, 233 million hours are lost every month as a result of employees “wasting time” on social networking.

The study – based on a survey of 3,500 UK companies – concluded that businesses need to take firm action on the use of social networks at work.

Some firms have already banned employees from accessing Facebook.

Via the BBC

In response to Saul’s recent post, “Conversational Marketing and Language Barriers” and the subsequent discussion on internet culture, one of our readers, Mark Foreman, of aconnector.com asked if we here at Abraham Harrison LLC, are “typical Americans that expect the whole world to speak English”, the kind that “repeat the words much louder when the locals don’t understand you”. As I thought about how best to answer Mr. Foreman, it coalesced in my mind how amazingly international, cosmopolitan, and multi-lingual Abraham Harrison is, and thus, why it is so natural for us to communicate sensitively and effectively regardless of what internet subculture we find ourselves in conversation with.

We are a company of 15 people stretching across 14 time zones, and living in five countries on four continents. We are of four nationalities and six ethnicities.

Among us we speak not only English, but Spanish, Afrikaans, German, French, Hindi, Swahili, and Arabic. I don’t know all the countries that our people have lived in, but they do include the US, UK, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Liberia, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Germany, Spain, and Egypt. I don’t really know all the many countries our people have visited, but off the top of my head, I count 56.

In this highly international, intercultural, interlingual company that is Abraham Harrison LLC, we meet on the internet and operate primarily in English – and we live our daily lives both on and offline within the constantly morphing cultural boundaries that is our modern cosmopolitan world. It is our normal daily life that we order lunch in German while phoning with a client in English, then pause to ask a friend a question in Spanish – and navigating in real time the cultural switches that go along with communicating with an Austrian, a Canadian, and a Colombian within the span of 10 seconds .

Equally, and in a similarly cosmopolitan and adaptable fashion, we comfortably and naturally move between online communities of Ivy-League professors, Latino youth, snarky gamers, and growling no-BS New York businessmen – each of these groups has as unique an inside culture and as much protocol that we must carefully respect, as any culture defined by geographic boundaries or national language. It is this ability to comfortably, naturally, and sensitively move among cultures – both in the online and offline worlds – that make us here at Abraham Harrison so effortlessly able to communicate effectively wherever our clients need us to. We are cosmopolitans in the fullest sense, and the sensitivity and adaptability we employ in our daily lives and as we move around the globe for business, pleasure, or family, we bring to bear intuitively in our online conversation marketing.

15 people, 5 countries, 4 continents, 6 ethnicities, and 8 languages between us. That’s the team at Abraham Harrison. It makes me very proud of our company.