Don’t Post Announcements As Discussions

It’s tempting to post announcements and major updates as a discussion topic.

Why wouldn’t you? It (feasibly) helps your announcements reach a broader audience.

I can think of communities (especially internal communities) that are filled with nothing but announcements and news updates. Often it’s types of content or updates about upcoming events.

The irony here is the more of these announcements you post the fewer people will read any of the discussions. Posting an announcement as a discussion is a clear sign of an organisation’s priorities (you wouldn’t announce a new discussion would you?)

I’d suggest a simple rule. Don’t do this. Don’t post any announcements as discussions. Instead, start a discussion about it (and not ‘what do you think about [announcement]?’).

Not only will you get more participation, but you might also get some useful insights too.

The more you treat your community like a noticeboard, the more your members will ignore it like a noticeboard.