Social Media and Communities: how not to approach it
How many different ways can a social media endeavour go wrong? FanLib counts the way.
FanLib is a social network site that aims to create a ‘MySpace’ for authors of fanfiction. Their heavy handed, often misguided and just plain clumsy efforts to monetize a community give the rest of us valuable lessons to take note of.
Fanfiction are stories about characters or settings by fans of the work as opposed to the original authors. Fanfic has a long history, but the internet has really helped push a hobby and pastime into a thriving community. For pretty well any TV show, movie or book with a following, you can find a collection of stories penned by fans who wish to explore further or alternative renditions. There are numerous forums, archives and collections dedicated to the practice.
Enter FanLib. “In synch with the Participation Age, FanLib’s community-driven online experiences produce consumer-generated media that is ready for the marketplace. The result: More value for marketers, more manageability for producers and, most importantly, more fun for fans.” Can I see a show of hands from anyone who feels that sounded sincere and authentic? Yeah. Me neither.
Their intial stumble onto the scene was to spam a number of authors of fanfiction. “Dear [insert fan name], I saw some of your [insert media property] fan fiction online and really enjoyed your writing. We’re impressed by your writing and value your opinion. That’s why we’re inviting you…” Flattering until you realize every other fanfic author you know received the same letter with the same praise.
I highly recommend a quick read of miera_c’s exchange over this email. Of specific note is when the one email to her which still included some of the company backchannel discussion, “She got a little hostile in her second reply, but it looks like she’s softened up a bit.”
If you were to poll the average guy on the street to describe who would write fanfiction about Star Trek or Harry Potter, I’m sure the answer would be either ‘teenage boys’ or ‘one of those trekkies that lives in his mom’s basement’. But if you were a part of the community, you would know that the majority of fanfiction is authored by women in their mid-twenties/thirties. So it is almost predictable who FanLib chose to target with their ad campaign.
Around this point, FanLib’s previous marketing materials came to light. They’ve been removed from the website but live on in Google cache. Of specific focus was the following:
MANAGED & MODERATED TO THE MAX
All the FANLIB action takes place in a highly customized environment that YOU control.
* As with a coloring book, players must “stay within the lines”
* Restrictive player’s terms-of-service protects your rights and property
* Moderated “scene missions” keep the story under your control
* Full monitoring & management of submissions & players
* Automatic “profanity filter”
* Completed work is just 1st draft to be polished by the pros
You can just imagine how much the community appreciated the colour in the lines concept as most fanfic is geared towards colouring outside the lines.
Now - when the community you’ve decided to thrust yourself upon is questioning your sincerity and motives, and your entire business plan depends upon them providing you with free content, what do you do? Well, according to the FanLib marketing playbook, the only thing to do is flame respected members of the community.
Granted, in an interview Chris apologized for his “…idiotic post across multiple blogs and for my offer to open a dialogue that I was unable to follow through on…”. But immediately following that interview being posted, Chris votes favourably for himself and FanLib in a poll asking whether the interview changed your mind. Under the username mimbo, Chris writes “Cool! I’ve been hoping for a site like this”
You can find many other examples across the net where Chris posts under ‘mimbo’ yet fails to disclose his connection to the company.
Needless to say, it’s a safe bet that the $3 million in financing this company received is going to see an absolutely lousy ROI.
The saga continues to play itself out at the Livejournal community Life Without FanLib.
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:23 am
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December 13th, 2007 at 3:02 am
[…] Social Media and Communities: how not to approach it A great look at how one company tried (and failed miserably) to capitalize on a niche community. A must read. […]