Thanks again to everyone who came out to the “Managing Communities That Work” panel Saturday. The questions were thoughtful, the conversation constructive and no one threw stuff at us.

This is the first panel I’ve been on where I was taking notes as the panelists were talking. Jake, Jen, Pat and Dan - it was a privilege sharing the stage with you. (And a big thanks, of course, to Miles for putting all of us together!)

We covered a lot of ground in about an hour. Still, there are two pretty big points that I somehow managed to leave out - I could say the hesitation was because I didn’t want to create the misconception that I was a shill for big-media (”Oh, look - social networking! Let’s co-opt/ruin that, too!!”), but the reason is much more prosaic: We do these every day, so I didn’t think they were anything extraordinary. Here they are:

Using tech tools to facilitate communication

Even as I type this into this blog, I’m reminded that this is what we’re all doing. What sets neighborsgo.com apart from other sites is our ability to reverse publish. Most print newspapers continue to operate under the “print first, online second” mode of publishing. It’s precisely the opposite at neighborsgo- the stories and photos submitted by community members appear online first, on neighborsgo.com. Our editors are constantly scanning the site for the timeliest, most relevant content - material that accurately reflects the communities we serve. They reverse-publish content directly to folders, edit it, then put it on our print servers and get it into the newspaper.

Follow you, follow me

We are asking neighborsgo.com users to share their lives. As editors/community managers, we are doing the same with our communities. While I did make this point - “citizen journalists” vs. “journalist citizens” - I should’ve emphasized that we’re using videos and blogs in a big way to tell stories and encourage folks to share theirs. Most of our features are shot/hosted by our editors and feature an active role for them and area residents. By showing people that we are active members of their communities, we are establishing an immediate comfort level, which is the basic building block for trust. All our videos include a call to action - we shot this, and you can, too!

OK, off the soapbox for now - back to watching Caillou with my daughter. (There’s a crisis - they want to make pancakes, but they’re out of eggs!!)

Videos | Blogs