SC Editors,

Below is an overview of SC’s mission and overall objectives as I understand them*, as well as key success factors as I see them, and strategy & tactics that I recommend and those I suggest considering. (* My understanding of SC’s mission and objectives is based largely on my conversation with Yuri on 1/22, but my description of mission and objectives is not meant to be that of Yuri, and while I believe the two are generally consistent, they are not necessarily exactly the same.)

Normally, when working with actual clients, I meet with all relevant principals (and do much more research and analysis, needless to say) prior to presenting analysis and recommendations, but of course my time constraints preclude such an approach in this case, at least at this point, so I believe the more practical, efficient approach is to present them after meeting only with Yuri, and we can all discuss, augment and refine as needed. So the below is intended only as a first draft, as a starting point for discussion, not as something meant to be exhaustive or as thoroughly researched, discussed, analyzed, and thought-through as would be a final report with analysis & recommendations that I’d normally present to a client.

Mission

As a public service, provide and attract a substantial number of participants to a user-friendly forum for political discussion, debate and learning that is open to individuals of all political philosophies and positions and is civil, fun, interesting, thought-provoking, perspective-expanding.

NOTE: There are other potential mission components that should be discussed, including:

·        Financial objectives for principals (above and beyond financial objectives pertaining to fulfillment of the public service objective) – i.e., profit and/or ultimate sale of equity of SC as a business entity.

·        Enjoyment of the principals themselves (which is probably consistent with the public service mission, but may not be in complete alignment, necessitating prioritization).

·        Individual professional objectives of principals (if anyone wishes to leverage his/her SC experience for career pursuits such as political writing, political career, etc.).

Overall Objective

Grow SC very substantially in 2008 in terms of quantity and frequency of high quality comments and diaries (“high quality” defined as insightful and/or thought-provoking as well as civil and generally constructive in stimulating intelligent discussion/debate).

Key Success Factors & Strategy

·        Overcome the “Catch 22” of attracting participants and providing participants. The greatest challenge for SC is a “Catch 22”: to keep new users that are attracted to SC, a higher level of participation is needed (greater frequency/quantity of comments), but this higher level of participation is largely dependant on attacting new users. I suggest SC overcome this obstacle via two strategies:

o       Attract large batches of new users simultaneously (e.g, on the same evening) to provide a satisfying initial experience and improved ongoing experience (improved vs. current). Note that heavy participation of current members can assist at such times.

o       Retain these new users as SC continues to build (mainly via repetition of the above approach) by communicating to them that SC will be growing substantially over subsequent months, attracting greater, broader participation, and encouraging them to remain active (via that message itself plus other tactics such as unique, fun/interesting blogging experiences [see below], community bonding, other “Customer Relationship Management [CRM], etc.)

·        Prior to initiating promotional tactics to achieve the above (attracting new users in large batches), upgrade SC to provide the best possible user experience (within the constraints of human and financial resources – although means of expanding those resources should be considered and are discussed below).

 Positioning (Objective for how targets will percieve SC) 

·        For Users: The place to go for smart, strong, yet civil debate and discussion with people from a broad variety of political philosophies, for those with the maturity, intellectual curiosity and courage to leave the relatively safe and insular environment of like-minded communities.

·        For Media, Guest Contributors, and other individuals and groups that can facilitate SC’s growth: The community blog that promotes elevated political discourse and broad exchange of ideas as an alternative to polarized – and polarizing – echo chambers.

 Target Market (Targeted Segments) 

Primary Targets: political “junkies” who:

·        Are already active in community blogs

o       Partisan/ideologically-oriented communities (e.g., RedState, dKos).

o       Broad communities (e.g., TheForvm).

·        Are not yet active in community blogs, but are active or at least have a strong interest in politics/policy.

·        Prefer a nature of debating/discussion is relatively civil but with strong debate, and of a high intellectual quality.

·        Either prefer a community of broad political philosophies or wish to balance their blogging time between broad communities and like-minded communities. See table below.

Promotional Tactics

·        Major events to draw in large batches of new users in the same day/evening.

o       Special guest contributor on a particular topic for a very limited time (e.g., posting a diary and responding to comments over only 2 days), promoted heavily by SC outside SC as well as within.

§         Current blogger who can bring his/her audience.

§         Non-blogger who can nevertheless draw an audience.

o       Open debate on a particular topic by invitation between members of opposing community blogs – with ground rules for civility, substance and responsiveness to arguments, and moderated to enforce those rules.

o       Invitation of offline political groups to discuss/debate a topic one day/evening.

·        Public relations (P.R.) via newspapers and blogs via press release describing the polarized blogosphere and pointing out SC and the unique blog alternative (per positioning described above).

·        Submission of op-eds by SC Contributors to newspapers on any topic, identifying writer as “a contributor to SwordsCrossed.org” (if possible, followed by a description of SC as “a blog for political discussion open to all political perspectives”)

·        Push technology to maximize quantity, frequency and timeliness of comments

o       If existing, feasible and affordable, technology to notify a user immediately (via email, via sound if user is logged on, etc.) if someone has replied to one of his/her comments, commented on a thread on which he/she has commented, commented or posted a diary on a topic of interest, etc.

o       If the above is not an option or has limitations, encourage users to use the best approach to knowing quickly and relatively effortlessly when someone has commented on a thread on which they have participated, has posted a new diary, etc. perhaps via a new page combining “Track” and “New Diaries” with users utilizing “Auto Refresher” with that page open ( http://www.download.com/AutoRefresher-for-IE/3000-12777_4-10062693.html )

o       If first sub-bullet above is not an option, send daily email (to those who opt in) with links to new diaries (preferably with first paragraph as teaser) and, if possible, new comments organized by topic and thread.

·        Search engine optimization

·        RSS feeds (?)

·        Offline community stengthening

·        Reciprocal links with other blogs

·        Comments on other blogs with links to SC

·        Email to prospective users (e.g., current users of other blogs whose email addresses are available, if such a tactic is deemed appropriate)

·        Encourage SC user advocacy (comments on other blogs with reference & links to SC; emails to friends; etc.)

·        Local in-person events

·        Automatic email from editors (from an SC email account) sent to new user upon joining, welcoming the new user enthusiastically, explaining SC’s mission and key site features, and encouraging feedback (feedback either posted on the site or sent privately to the editors via email).

 Expand Resources (to achive all of the above) 

·        Financial (to use to expand human resources, for promotional tactics, etc.)

NOTE: below is list of possibilities, with recommended approaches noted.

o       Add revenue streams (Recommended)

§         Sell ad space (banner and/or Google Adwords) (Recommended)

§         Ask users for donations

o       Equity investor(s) in SC as a business entity (Recommended)

o       Loan

o       Gift / Donation (if non-profit entity)

·        Human

o       Expand time available from editors by providing salary/wages

o       Hire staff (permanent part-time and/or temporary)

o       Oustource functions

§         Strategy/tactics analysis & development/planning

§         Strategy/tactics implementation

§         Administrative

o       Increase productivity via clear planning, allocation of tasks and responsibilities, and management/coordination of implementation.

o       Gain and direct efforts of SC users (e.g., to participate in promotional tactic execution; add or suggest needed informational content; assist in attracting guest contributors, etc.) Note: Add/enhance “Suggestion Section” oganized by category (“Promotion”, “Informational Content”, “Technical Improvements”, etc.)

Unique, Interesting and/or Fun Features

·        Continue and, if possible, enhance color coding of users, perhaps with some refinement of categories, ideally with easier view of definitions (e.g, contain abbreviation in small type within bar, or enable scroll-over bar to reveal definition; etc.)

·        Add a “Learning Resources” section with recommended reading/viewing links organized by issue/topic (Much like the “External Links” section of Wikipedia articles, when they are categorized). Links (and new issue/topic sections) can be added by users as well as editors. (Not only would this feature enhance the user experience, it would also support the positioning of SC with media, etc., as the “smart” place for people seeking to learn and discuss issues intelligently.)

·        Add “Devil’s Advocate Debates”, in which two people, or a specified group (or just open) argue the opposite position of the one they hold on an issue. This would not only be fun, unique, perspective-expanding and (if done in good faith) community strengthening, but also supports the positioning (among users, media, etc.) that SC promotes understanding of the “other side”.

·        Add special “Campaign Strategist” and “Campaign Prognosticator” sections, with the latter including a weekly contest based on Intrade results vs. predictions, RCP Average vs. predictions, etc.. (Many/most users are armchair versions of both, so a special section could be fun)

·        Add an “Under-reported / Under-discussed” section for topics, happenings, ideas, etc., that users would find interesting and are unlikely to learn of and discuss elsewhere.

·        Add search feature, enabling search by:

§         User handle

§         Subject

§         Date range

§         Etc.

§         Any combination of the above

Other “Product” Improvements

·        Achieve greater balance of users across different political philosophies

o       Target particular groups/types in particular promotional initiatives.

o       Filling gaps in set of permanent contributors (and augmenting with guest contributors)

·        Communicate positioning and promotional objectives to users, and encourage and guide them in ensuring projection of that  positioning to new users (e.g., emphasis on civil and deliberately welcoming environment (not harsh and not cliquey; Current users as well as editors offering a “Welcome to SC” can go a long way toward making a new user feel comfortable); tips on high quality debate), with enforcement by SC moderators.