This past weekend, we decided to get out of the city and head to Mount Rainier for a few days of computer-free downtime. We stayed at a cabin whose décor ranged from modern (the flatscreen TV for movie-watching) to rustic (vintage skis). But the centerpiece of the living room, hanging just above the small dining table, was an antique typesetters’ box with a small sign above it.

It occurred to us that the typesetters’ box is a fitting analogy for online communities and the myth of user generated content. Ideally, each visitor would bring something interesting to the box—an oddly-shaped key, a silly figurine, a tiny picture—and take something equally interesting. But, looking at the box’s collection of odds and ends, it was clear that’s not how it played out. Instead, people had taken the things they found interesting and left whatever they had on hand. What did they have on hand? Mostly wine corks, bottle caps, and regular old trash. This knick-knack collection needed a curator—just as online communities need guidance from a manager or two.

What would make it work and continue to have great content?

• A little warning: let people know before they arrive that they should bring something worth sharing. For the first go, this is a little tricky, but online communities are likely to see repeat visitors. If they see great content being contributed by other users, they’ll want to come back with something to share in return. I’ve seen this most vividly on Tumblr and (in the old days…) LiveJournal, where the quality of your networks’ content is a challenge as well as a treat.
• A little cleanup: drop by every so often to tidy things up. Clean out the trash, whether it’s irrelevant or spammy comments. Cull the repetitive stuff, whether that means ineffective re-hash or accidental double-posting. Of course, in communities, it’s often verboten to delete simply low-value content, but just cleaning up the mistakes and spam helps raise expectations so people are a little less inclined to leave their trash.
• A little bit of love: if you care about the community, you’re going to need to help out occasionally by refilling it with the really good stuff, so that people have something to come back for. If it’s a knick-knack box, this might just mean bringing a few tiny figurines and a seashell. If it’s a community, this could mean engaging an expert blogger to write an article or logging in every day to thank the highest-value contributors. It could even mean making a video yourself or asking around to see if any of your partners are willing to share their best presentations with the community.

What does it all come down to? User-generated content isn’t magic. It’s not going to create itself, and it may not even curate itself particularly well—especially on a small scale. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth pursuing, it just means you’ll need to participate. And if you do, the reward is an interesting, constantly changing place, worth visiting again and again.

Need more help with the care and curating of customer communities? Let us know – we’d love to help.