Is that the failwhale over @ MyGenius?
Earlier this week I asked the owners of South Africa business networking site MyGenius to delete my profile and along with it went all my blogs and comments. I now longer wish to associated with the site.
For a while I was one of their most active and loyal members, writing literally hundreds of posts mostly with marketing advice for small entrepreneurs and responding with more than 700 responses on other peoples questions and comments.
I wasn’t the only one either, MyGenius was a vibrant, supportive and caring community with discussions that focused a lot on business advice and support but with a healthy dose of fun and humour thrown in.
Although I have never received much in the way of direct business, a core group of members became pretty good friends with business and social interaction both on and offline. At one stage, because I believed in the community, I opted to pay R100 a month for membership for very minimal benefits over the ‘rank of file’
So what happened? Well a number things which changed the dynamics completely:
- As the site got bigger so it started losing its intimacy.
- A group of vociferous members, who believed that they needed profile on the threads to be effective on the site, but without much to say, started attacking and flaming the regular contributors. Many of whom merely shrugged shoulders and moved on.
- The owners decided that they needed a better return and blocked most of the existing functionality except those who were prepared to pay R75 monthly as paid up members, to take on Genius status as its known.
I decided not to continue with my subscription and stopped paying and was accordingly downgraded. I took this step partly because the quality of interaction had already decreased dramatically but also because in comparison to other online networks MyGenius now didn’t offer value. Furthermore I believed that the move would result in a fall off of members and a therefore even a further reduction in value.
I wrote a discussion thread to inform my followers that they would need to contact me directly or follow me at other places and leaving my profile up just “in case” and still a member of the community moved on.
Last month I received a call from one of the MG members who wanted my assistance by being the speaker at an event organised at her initiative to promote one of the member’s undertakings , a Spa and lodge outside Johannesburg. I agreed to do so and even waived my speaker’s fee completely. I also booked the lodge for the Flying Solo unconference in September.
As part of the promotion to MG members it was suggested that I write a “blog” from “beyond the grave” so to speak and invite my supporters to attend the event. I did this in the style of an update and was posted by the member who had suggested it, as I was no longer a Genius I had lost that functionality.
The resulting furore, malicious and downright rude posts as well as the hate mail which both I and the organiser both received were flabbergasting. But are not isolated incidents. I was even insulted by being accused of having questionable ethics and being of low class by the MG owners. The reason was that instead of them seeing the value offered by a professional speaker speaking at an event for FREE the focus was on a perception that I had set out to avoid paying the R75 membership in order to make the post, and that someone else had used their membership to do so. I still battle to understand the logic.
This and because of the threat of a boycott of the event being organised I was asked to withdraw my participation which I did. The event was today.
Is there soemthing to learn? Communities only exist because they offer value to their members, quite possibly MyGenius still offers value, I suspect mainly to those who have already lost the ears of the gossips in the school car park. Often outwardly brave but actually insecurely hidden behind their computer screens disconnected from the people they are addressing, they say stuff they would never say face to face.
But consider this:
- Even online communities are brands and unacceptable language and attacks should be rooted out.
- Online comments are still subject to the normal laws protecting individuals against defamation. People have been sued.
- Quality contribution should be encouraged, even incentivised.
- If you are going to charge make sure that you offer real value, much more than what members can get for free say on LinkedIn, ecademy and Plaxo.
- Online communities are fickle, with a short attention span and with low exit barriers and massive choice, and can and will easily leave.
It is possible that I haven’t understood what the site owners wish to achieve, maybe the they felt the more supportive environment doesn’t work for them. For people like me and a number of the previous more supportive community with whom I have spoken the current ethos is not what they want and they are reconsidering their involvement.
I’ve already made that decision and one thing is for sure MyGenius is one place online where you won’t find me!
(The failwhale is the error screen image that appears whenever Twitter has a technical problem)
