Facilitators

A moderator keeps things normal. A moderator removes the extremes from the community. Moderating isn’t as hard as moderators would have you believe. You can typically find community members to do it.

A facilitator makes it easier for the community to communicate. A facilitator takes the community through a process, and does it well. A facilitator points out common objectives. A facilitator draws out opinions from less-vocal members. A facilitator helps the community tackle any stumbling blocks.

I think you should be a facilitator.

Comments

[Bryan Person]

Rich:

At LiveWorld we employ a couple of different kind of moderation. The first is the traditional one of reviewing posts and approving/removing posts that don't meet the publicly stated community standards (and internal moderation guidelines).

The second is what we call "social hosting," and that includes the more proactive duties that you ascribe to facilitators. Social hosts are the moderators who jumpstart discussions when needed, who connect the dots between conversations in disparate areas of the community, who connect members to each other, etc.

We find that social hosting can be critical to the success of a community, particularly when it's young and still finding its legs.

Bryan Person | @BryanPerson
LiveWorld