Ciaran Laval – as I’ve previously mentioned – raised a post about LL needing to listen to its users, a point of view most of us would agree with. Certainly, it would appear that changes in LL’s communication’s policy are on the horizon.
Said Michael Linden, in one of his recent Office Hours:
OH is to an end because many of them are. Change in communications policy”
No link available. A blog to come out “soon” (by month’s end).
But some OHs are going away/changing, Twitter accounts by individual lindens are losing the “linden” name (so they are not “official comm)
And there will be changes to the blog*
Now…this could be seen as both good and bad.
On the one hand, far to much has, in the past, been “leaked” as “official” communique through the use of Twitter accounts by Linden staffers wishing to gain that extra “cool” factor in their name (and/or possibly build-up a fan base). Stripping the “Linden” last name from these will remove some of the “official” nature of the leaks – although I doubt very much if it will stop such games altogether unless the company’s internal communications policy is also re-written.
That Office Hours are being run down should come as no surprise to many. As it is, many have left LL and few of those who have departed and who held OH meetings have had their slots filled by other members of staff. BUT the OH have always been an invaluable means for residents to put forward constructive and well-founds views and suggestions to Linden staff, which have then been carried back to senior management for review. Not all have been listened to – much less acted upon – but others have; and this is important.
Of course there is also a downside to Office Hours as well – the temptation for Lindens to play groups off against one another, to drop hints that others are getting a more favoured treatment (something Jack seemed to like doing), and so on. They could also be utterly undisciplined, with residents more concerned with shouting and screaming and being somewhat abusive, rather than taking the time themselves to listen and engage. They could also be draconian – viewed as a means to lay down the law (Pink Linden), by specifying what “could” and “could not” be discussed. BUT – overall, Office Hours have been generally useful and productive – and one cannot help but be concerned as their removal, and is concerned as to what might replace them and provide the same immediacy of input / feedback.
The blog changes are even more uncertain. Does this mean more channels for specific types of communication? This could be a good thing – to a point, but is still no substitute for the immediacy of the OH meetings. Does it mean more actual Linden interaction in the blog post commentaries? This undoubtedly would be beneficial – providing again, we’re not left with a cherry-picking approach: Linden responding to the “positive” posts and largely ignoring the “negative” posts.
Some have theorised that “blog changes” could mean an end to the General Discussion forum. I’m not certain it will – although LL were, when the new blogrum software was introduced, less than favourable towards the idea of including a GD area of the forums. In some respects, one can understand their reluctance to support a GD. The current area has, in so many ways, become something of an ugly mire with far too much in-fighting among egos and people with far too great a sense of entitlement and righteousness when it comes to determining what should and should not be “accepted” by the forum community as a whole.
BUT – despite the drawbacks, the GD forum is a good tool for resident communications at least, and to lose it would, for all its faults, further break a means by which people can communicate with one another where in-world meetings and offline IMs are less than practical.
The worry here is that, overall, these changes are going to further stifle resident-to-company communications. While on the one hand, it will be good to see LL take a more professional attitude towards PR releases, announcements and the like, and properly channel them to the right outlets at the right time (without all the back door Tweeting and the like) – nevertheless there needs very much to be an expansion of two-way communications between company and residents that is both pro-active and immediate. Having a “communications manager” and a “conversations manager” would have been excellent innovations, if only Katt and Wallace had been employed to engage with and listen to users, rather than simply hand down corporate directives, muddy the waters (Katt’s famous attitude of tossing an untoward comment into the forums, followed by a “/me sits back to enjoy the popcorn”) and confuse issues (a-la Wallace’s foot-in-mouth post on conversational identities)…). But they weren’t, and an opportunity (or two) was lost.
LL don’t have the most stellar record for interaction with their user base, and while one hopes that the indicated forthcoming announcement / changes will be for the better – especially given there is also a new bum about to take up residence in the hot seat – but it has to be said that a major change of heart towards residents on the part of the company seems somewhat unlikely. As such, it’s very probable that any good coming of the changes is going to be adversely balanced by the bad…
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 