Ways to promote the forum

Maximo_Ramallo · February 7, 2015, 3:14pm

For having more people collaborating, an strategy is required.
I do have my view on this. For starters, mutual collaboration is key, so having this forum promoted in other platforms helps a lot. Of course the mutual collaboration means to offer some kind of service too. I advice that not just use advertising with other website and futurist platforms, but actual collaboration in services like private chat, live streams and such.
What do you think?

Radivis · February 7, 2015, 7:08pm

Yes, agreed. This is in line with the expansion strategy I had in mind. Promotion of this forum mainly happened in Transhumanist groups on Facebook, so far. That’s a relatively small target audience, compared to everyone potentially interested in promoting a more social future.

I haven’t extended much further, yet, because I focused on setting up the tools I want to use, first. Of course, you are free and even encouraged to get more people into the forum. It’s a solid first step.

Here are some basic strategies that can be tested out:

Post an interesting thread in this forum and then share it on social media like Twitter and Facebook.
Follow interesting discussions in Facebook groups and transfer them into this forum. Ideally pick a few people who made good points and invite them to this forum.
Start working on some project and then invite people from similar communities who work on similar projects. For example there is an active subreddit dedicated to basic income. It would make a lot of sense to cooperate with those people on that project.
Announce this forum and the Social Future Metanet with all of its features in other communities like the Zeitgeist Movement.
Write blog posts both on the Social Future Blog and other blogs to get some attention to the Social Future Metanet and its projects.
Make some YouTube videos mentioning the SFM.

And so on. We will collaborate with other communities where we have common projects and interests.

One interesting community which is active at the moment are the transhumanist parties which are currently in formation. So far, it didn’t really work out to get the potential party members to discuss about party related topics within the Social Future Forum. Instead, they used other channels like Facebook and mailing lists. However, one those parties are fully formed, they will probably want to use this forum to coordinate their efforts on policies like the basic income, or longevity related projects.

Maximo_Ramallo · February 9, 2015, 1:10pm

Better to bring the transhumanists quickly, they are now getting bigger and consolidating the facebook groups, after that they might be only on facebook.
To be honest without any special service the appeal drops, its just like having to compete with facebook. There has to be something they like to see here, and actually use. That is why I advice to speak with Amon, he has a website already that people use. If you want people to join this forum, better to offer an extra service they dont have.

Radivis · February 9, 2015, 1:24pm

The special appeal should be that here some stuff actually gets done. We need to start with the project work asap. When people see that things are moving here, those who are interested to help will come. The rest is irrelevant!

And I agree that we have to coordinate with Amon. Yesterday I’ve spoken with Chris Monteiro and we try to create something big together. More about that soon in a different thread… stay tuned…

Maximo_Ramallo · February 9, 2015, 1:35pm

Please elaborate. Also, what project you mean to do?
The different groups are too much scattered, without common efforts everyone competes each other.

Radivis · February 9, 2015, 1:43pm

I mean we should start working on any kind of project that would draw attention. Some examples:

Basic Income
New communication / collaboration software
Quantified Prestige
Transhumanist Parties
Crating some new technology
Researching how to change the minds of people
Some kind of political activism

Any kind of serious collective effort to do any of that will draw the attention of people who are willing to help. We seriously need that. We don’t need just another futurist talking club.

Maximo_Ramallo · February 9, 2015, 2:23pm

I agree with the view on talking clubs.
About those projects, each one has its way to work with. It all involves talking, but may be in different ways. Creating new technologies for example can be done via communication and exchange of schematics (like those done with gobby), political activism via blogging and video streaming.
To be honest collaboration is done in a lot of ways, or one has a lot of people already working, or one must bring people in one by one.
You can write a couple of definitions on the wiki, and then go to some of those groups in facebook and say something like “you can add your ideas to this wiki, is easy to register, come and join”.

Maximo_Ramallo · April 8, 2015, 7:35am

Here is a proposal: What about gamifying the forum for social entertainment and engagement?

Many open source games exists that can be included in the forum, open to play, and there is one that has an interactive IRC chat that gives it extra functionality. The game has a funny name which is abreviated T.E.G.

The chat is central in the display design, so its a socializing application that can help social engagement.

Another kind of game to implement are text-based RPGs, the reason to look after text-based games is simple, to take less graphical space. In that way is complementary to the forum, not taking the main part of the forum. What can be added besides text are static images, music and ambient sound, like “Cypher” does:

I’ve heard that coding a text-based RPG in python is more easy than normal, and that is a great way to start programming so it could encourage non programmers to get involved.

And if creating a game from scratch seems innecesary, we can get many open source engines for text-based RPG from the web.

PS: Adding ambient sound and looping videos for entertainment can do a lot by itself, and it can be implemented in the forum without gaming in mind.

Radivis · April 9, 2015, 5:16am

That’s an interesting idea, Maximo. There’s still a lot of complexity involved in text-bases RPGs, but it might be low enough to be handled by novice programmers. The question however is: That would that RPG have to do with the forum community? It would have to be related to the topics discussed here, or it would just be an unrelated and probably ineffective promotion gimmick.

The economy simulation game would be more complicated in a way, but it does have a purpose that is connected to the forum. Perhaps it might be possible to build a connection between the text-based RPG and the economy RPG somehow. Or let them play in the same general futuristic setting. What do you think about that?

Maximo_Ramallo · April 22, 2015, 2:18am

I think RPGs can have an aim to promote pretty much a world set. It can present scenarios of future technologies and our interaction by means of “world building”. This exercise in imagination indeed is aimed to youngsters, but it can fall in the area of intellectual education if we could start from basics to advanced when dealing with specific topics http://www.mprat.org/Terminus/

PS: Forgive my absence, my computer and network have been hacked.

Maximo_Ramallo · April 25, 2015, 7:54am

NEWS.
A relatively easy campaign has been done for Transpolitica, it consisted on group promotion inside reddit, and it had a moderate good outcome.
And by the way Radivis, now someone wants your chapter on Medium, would you accept to follow these steps:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BasicIncome/comments/33pz9e/a_think_tank_released_a_chapter_on_basic_income/cqnf0vk

Maximo_Ramallo · April 29, 2015, 10:53pm

This is what hard work looks like. Here is a list of sub-reddits for what is being done for Transpolitica, it can be used for sff too:
(This list is by no means comprehensive, neither accurate or finished. Is a work in progress that will take more time to produce some value).

Radivis · December 6, 2015, 3:48pm

I’m reviving this old thread, because it’s becoming timely again. There are a number of people who are serious about going ahead with their projects while seeing themselves as part of this community. But without more active members we will have a hard time moving ahead quickly.

So, I’m currently doing some kind of sprint for improving the Fractal Future Forum. Also, I’ve realized the necessity to approach this also from a community building perspective, in addition to the technical and marketing perspectives. I’ve found and read two very interesting free community building guides:

Brick by Brick: This is a short and very fitting guide that probably provides the most value per page.
The Truly Monumental Guide to Building Online Communities: It’s a much longer guide that is more directed at companies who want to create online communities to improve their engagement with their customers. Therefore, it has a more commercial and technical feel to it, but it still provides a lot of useful advice.

My impression is that using Brick by Brick as basic guideline would be quite beneficial for growing the F3. I’m willing to use any trick from that book, and it would be great if you could help me with that.

Let’s start with the audience that we want to reach. Our topic is very general: A better future, but our current slogan “Envisioning and creating a better future” specifies that we look for visionaries, and creators. Finding those people would be our first strategical task. Whenever you find someone fitting that description, feel free to invite them to the Fractal Future Forum personally, over any communication channel that’s convenient.

Radivis · January 25, 2016, 4:12pm

I’ve been doing that for about a year, and the effectiveness of that approach, even if pursued in a diplomatic way, was close to zero. Most people seem to be glued to Facebook by their convenience. People who actually get stuff done are frustratingly rare. I found it to be more effective to search for those people and contact them individually.

Moriarty · January 25, 2016, 1:49pm

oh, well in that case do i have your blessing to try it in my undiplomatic style? I guess a possible potential negative aspect of doing it my way is some people might misunderstand and think all F3 people are a bunch of arrogant tossers. But that wouldn’t worry me. The smart ones will get it, and I don’t care what the others think.

I’m half tempted to do it anyway without even asking for your permission, cos it will be funny. But I’ll respect your leadership role and let you make the call. Please say yes! Maybe existing members here can vote on if i should do it or not? (unless you’re so strongly against it that you feel you must veto it) ?

Vote yes to operation trollface!

Radivis · January 25, 2016, 3:24pm

I feel giving you approval for this “mission” would hurt the F3 more than it would help it. I have been rather undiplomatic in the beginning, but it didn’t really work. My confidence in you being better at that than me is really low.

Instead, we should work on a strategy to pitch the F3 to different target audiences.

Moriarty · January 25, 2016, 5:15pm

I don’t know why you insist on maintaining this delusion that you are better at marketing than I. Your marketing has been average at best. Myers-Briggs tells you, I’m an extrovert, you’re an introvert. The only question might be: is my tactic of telling people ‘if you don’t join us you probably suck’ unethical? Maybe, but the end justifies the means. And it’s true!

My exaggeration of how your way comes across is: like you’re grovelling/begging them to join us because we need them. ‘ohh please come and play with us, because we’re lonely and we want to feel popular’, and we don’t know what to do so we’ll just invite people and hope they will come and do their thing with us, so we can get some credit for their successes.

And it’s not even much of an exaggeration, cos I’ve had ‘invitations’ to many groups, and most of the time that is exactly how their invitation feels to me. The powerful groups don’t even need to ‘ask’, the marketing is just saying ‘we’re here, join us if you think you’re hard enough’

My way is saying to them: ‘we don’t need you, but you probably need us, and your chances of making progress without us are probably slim, and you should feel honoured that we’re giving you this chance to prove yourself in the big league, and the only reason for you to not be here is if you’re not good enough for us’

Who can resist the invitation to join the ‘Heavy Crew’?

See how my psychological hooks are much more enticing?

Radivis · January 25, 2016, 6:16pm

I am not confident in your marketing skills, because I don’t have much confidence in your social skills in general, which you should know, because we’ve already talked about that issue. You seem to have some significant degree of common sense and social intelligence, but for some reason you seem to assume that they are inferior to brute-force rationality. I strongly disagree with that assertion.

If it worked, I would probably be using it myself, but the point is rather that I don’t see that strategy working! Especially when it’s phrased and executed bluntly. Well, perhaps I should concede that this strategy sometimes can actually work, but usually only when a lot of people are collaborating on it in an intelligent way. Anyway, it’s a strategy that tends to burn bridges. One might not care about that in the short term, but in the long run, that could become a problem.

The problem here, is that it’s true that we need other people to become successful. We don’t have the critical mass, yet, to succeed by leveraging some large inertia or community support. And that’s true for about all (non government, non corporate) transhumanist projects, which in itself is a good reason for not being such a transhumanist project, but a more open one. The only thing that an emerging group like ours can use for advertising itself are:

Its vision
Its people, and their skills
Common infrastructure and projects that have been worked on

Our current infrastructure is in a relatively good place now with the Discourse forum, but that alone gets the least people to join us (it’s just that a lack of infrastructure would drive certain valuable people away, which is a good reason to deal with infrastructure anyway). Most active people on this forum are here, because I invited them, and they know me from somewhere. This community has attracted some high profile thinkers, but they aren’t necessarily very active here.

Anyway, the core of this community should be its vision, and that seems to require some work. The vision of a fractal future might feel too abstract, too far out, and too ill-defined to be actually motivating. I’ve observed about the same problem in Zero State. Its principles were rather good, but the Zero State vision always remained kinda nebulous.

That is a strategy that can work, if you already are in a position of power and strength. If you don’t already have such a position, the only thing you’ll achieve with such a strategy is attracting ridicule. Making unbelievable claims doesn’t inspire people to join, it inspires people to stay away from that seemingly deluded bunch as far as possible.

See how I don’t buy your message?

Moriarty · January 25, 2016, 6:50pm

Ah. I just have no idea how you fail to see that I’m special. It should be so obvious. It must be. How can it not be?

Ah! I got it! I think I know! OMG. It makes sense now. It’s not entirely your fault. How could you know, when you haven’t seen what I’ve seen? But here’s the thing, I’m telling you that I’ve seen it, and if you’d seen it you would believe me.

SO. Now there are two possibilities. Either

I’m delusional, and the evidence that I think I’ve seen was just a dream/fantasy/mirage/illusion/wishful thinking.

or

I’m right, and the evidence is there, it’s just that you haven’t seen it yet, and if you spend enough time with me eventually you will start to see it.

now, what do you think the probability is that I’m delusional? 90%? 50/50? what?

Radivis · January 25, 2016, 6:53pm

I’d say something around 98%.