Undependent™ » Community

ICHC’s Ben Huh talks community growth

Joel — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:30:37 +0000

I Can Has Cheezburger’s Ben Huh addressed FOWA in London this October. He shared the story of Lolcats and discussed these tools and tactics:

The Funnel
Sharing is Caring
Pr0n
Where to Start
Git Paiiiiid
tinypower
Thefting

His talk offers all Undies excellent insights about fostering community. You can see his slides here.

ROFLCon kicks off Tomorrow

Jef — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:45:00 +0000

The guest list really is a who’s who of Internet fame and/or ignominy. Amplifier’s own Joel Bush will be there to hopefully document the event. We gave him a great video camera so honestly, he’s without excuse!

ROFL Con (In their own words)

Mix up a bunch of super famous internet memes, some brainy academics, a big audience, dump them in Cambridge, MA and you’ve got ROFLCon.

The conference is slated for April 25th and 26th of 2008.

It’s a group dissection of internet culture. What makes it work, why it works, how it works. We’ll talk about where internet culture has been and where we think it’s going.

Then, there’ll be parties. A music show, with memes performing their work live. And then a big blowout party at the end, with everyone dancing and rocking out.

Needless to say, this might be the most important gathering since the fall of the tower of Babel.

great advice on conventions from Web Comics Weekly

Joel — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:03:22 +0000

We’ve talked about conventions here. In case you missed it, I recommend episode 4 of Web Comics Weekly.
These four folks offer tons of good advice and insight related to their experiences in comics conventions. Give it a listen.

And as always, support these Undies by going to their sites, browsing their stores, and buying lots of stuff.

on the importance of being earnest about community

Joel — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 17:51:39 +0000

Undies thrive on a direct connection with their fans. Audiences definitely appreciate the ability to interact with creators, whether at conventions or online. This direct relationship lets creators earn and enjoy high unit margins on their sales because they often need no label, publisher, wholesaler, retailer, etc.

Successful community strategies vary as widely as the Undies themselves. For instance:

Despair, Inc. lets their fans build their own Demotivators. In addition, Despair offers excellent promotions to members of their Wailing List.
JibJab has a massive community presence and lets fans star in their own clips;
Penny Arcade has forums at their site, and they host their own monster convention, the Penny Arcade Expo, that this year brought together almost 40,000 fans for three days of gaming festivities.
Rooster Teeth Productions has built perhaps the greatest Undie community site around. Check these amazing stats:

The web continues to evolve new ways to build and manage your community. TechCrunch has reviewed nine such tools. I like Ning a lot myself.
Ask A Ninja has announced an upcoming upgrade to their community platform. We’re eager to see what the Ninja unleashes for fans.
Creators, how do you encourage and engage your tribe?

Fans, what community features do you like the most?

–JLB