Lo and behold! The EMC community expert! Or something?
Posted by: BasRaayman
on October 15, 2009 
About two weeks back (Friday October 2nd to be exact), I received an e-mail from Erin Capellman. She's one of the people working for EMC and seems to be at least partially, if not even full time, responsible for the EMC community network.
Basically it's the same as a lot of other online communities. People meet in a digital environment and exchange ideas, meet peers and get new information. Something that can be quite useful and add a lot of value to projects you are working on.
Apparently someone noticed that I spend some time asking and answering questions, or even talking about ideas or trends in the EMC community. The e-mail stated that:
EMC has initiated a program across all communities, entitled the EMC Community Expert program, to recognize outstanding member contributions. Only 20 individuals have been selected to receive this leadership designation. You were nominated by managers across EMC communities because you have consistently demonstrated extraordinary commitment to helping customers, partners, or employees....We deeply appreciate the time and commitment that you continue to make to EMC, its customers, partners and employees. Thank you and congratulations from all the communities of EMC and their thousands of members.
Now, it's quite nice to get such a mail, but it also made me think if this is something related to a persons interests. The answer is yes. You can't be successful or spend a certain amount of time just because you are hoping to get some recognition. It simply won't work.
However, I am convinced that certain people have a nack for communicating online. Be it in a community or by various other means. When I look at my own "online CV" I can look back at quite a history. I've been part of a very big Dutch community at Tweakers.net and got a good feel on how to talk to people online.
I don't know if this made a huge difference in getting the above "leadership designation", but I am certain it didn't hurt. Yesterday they announced the community experts on the various pages, and it's kind of funny to see a picture of youself online with such a title:
So, to end this with a question. Is being successful in one online community also beneficial if you want to be successful in other online communities?
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written by RBruklis, October 16, 2009
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written by josephmartins, October 16, 2009
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I began participating in online "communities" with ListServs, MUT, Bitnet and IRC in the 80s. Today I'm a member of some two dozen Internet forums that have absolutely nothing to do with the storage industry, as well as a couple in storage. I have contributed thousands of answers and asked at least as many questions.
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Regarding the notion that some people have a knack for online communication...
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Perhaps, but I believe social skills transcend the medium. You're either an effective communicator, or you're not. Your ability to relate to the audience and adapt to the terminology and culture of the community. Your ability to speak/write simply, clearly and effectively. Your ability to drive consensus in thought and action. Your ability to defuse and resolve conflict. Your ability to manage your emotions and practice restraint. And having a healthy sense of humor doesn't hurt.
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Understand that your reputation and performance in one community means nothing in another totally unrelated community. More often than not you will start from scratch in each one.
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written by josephmartins, October 16, 2009
In 2005 I used online forums to build an unknown automotive specialty parts brand into one known by tens of thousands of custom car and truck enthusiasts across North America within a couple of months on a zero dollar marketing budget. The company's products went on to be showcased on award-winning vehicles at SEMA and World of Wheels, and featured multiple times on the former cable television show Adventure Highway. Two years later, after passing the torch, I watched with disappointment as that brand imploded. Though the new owner drove it into the ground, I consider my early role a success - to this day I receive calls and emails from former customers and fellow automotive enthusiasts turned friends. You can't put a value on that.
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