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Mega Members - Introducing a new role for members!

Heather August 25th, 2016

Over the past few months, we have been experimenting with member leadership activities or teams. Some examples of this have been members leading discussions, member forum friends & other group support badges which indicate leadership or excellence from a member.

These teams/ projects have been not been as successful as we would have hoped. Laura & I have been thinking a lot about our dedicated awesome members and how they fit into our ecosystem, project teams, or other structured teams/groups.

We have realized that members & listeners have different levels of ability to participate in the community. One way to think about this is: listeners are in giving mode & members are in receiving mode. Listeners are here to provide support & members are here to receive support. They have inherently different intentions for participating.

On the listener side of the house, we have done a great job engaging listeners to help with volunteer projects which advance our mission & increase support giving across the entire community. We have not done this as well on the member side of the house.

One thing we know for sure, we have some really awesome, dedicated members. Our listeners & the 7 Cups community experience have filled up these members gas tanks enough, so they are able to give back to the community in special ways. They reply to forum threads, they attend group discussions, they have listeners who they chat with regularly, they say hello to community managers, the post on the feed daily, they offer suggestions on how to improve the member community..etc. We have all encountered these awesome members & we love them.

This suggests that members need to receive a certain amount of support from the community in order to start giving back to the broader community.

You may be wondering, why dont these members just join the listener community?

The short is, they arent ready or they have & they prefer the member side of the house. Our hypothesis is: Members need to be proactively & regularly receiving support from the community in order to start giving back to the community in more dynamic ways.

Knowing this, we need to continue to experiment where long term member fit in into our ecosystem. In this vein, we are excited to launch the Mega Member badge. This badge will be awarded to members who have been selected by the community management team.

They are members who are regularly taking growth path steps, talking to listeners as members, but also contributing to the community in special ways.

What will a Mega Member do?

They will keep being awesome. We will not be giving them any formal tasks beyond asking them to intentionally maintain a 50/50 balance between receiving support & giving back to the community.

What will this look like?

Receiving support (50% of the time they are on 7 Cups): Chatting with listeners, attending group discussions..etc.

Giving back to the community (50% of the time they are on 7 Cups): Well ask them to pick one focus areas. It can be anything of their choice. Ex. Feed hashtags, a forum category or a specific forum thread they always reply to, co-leading a group support session with a listener or any other specific item they are interested in. It is up to them to select the area they want to focus on.

How will the Mega members be selected?

To start, since we are still experimenting, Mega Members will be selected by the community management team. We will pick up to 6 for this first group. They are selected based on:

✦ How long they have been members of 7 Cups community
✦ They already have an area of focus or a place in the community they like to give back to
✦ They are known by community management staff & entire community as being kind, trustworthy and loving

In the first 2-3 months, we will be experimenting with this first group. In time, we hope to learn how the mega members take this role on, what they like about it, what they dont like about..etc. With this data, we will improve the application process & encourage more members to join in.

You can nominate a Mega Member by posting to this thread. We will formalize this process soon!

192
Mirea August 25th, 2016

@Heather

I absolutely love this idea!

I came here for support and I've received so much kindness and wisdom, some great advice too. The part I didn't expect was how good it can feel to offer the same to someone else in need.

Ila August 25th, 2016

Gosh, I can't wait to know who those lovely people are! This is a great idea :D

Keola August 25th, 2016

This is an awesome idea! :)

krissylynn2 August 25th, 2016

I love this idea! can you ask to become a mega member or does 7cups ask whom ever they think would do a good job?

OceanChild August 25th, 2016

@Heather

Many wonderful and engaged Members come to mind, who absolutely deserve recognition for their efforts and contributions to our community. What a positive development!

Anomalia August 25th, 2016

Love that we are continuing to experiment and find ways to recognize members for their amazing contributions to the community! I hope that over time this becomes a role that can be nominated / applied for since there are often members doing amazing things who just might not have been spotted by leadership yet. :)

PinkDahlia22 August 25th, 2016

@Heather

I love this idea!! :)

The support j have recieved on here has helped me take major steps in recovery... im thonking about (re)becommung a listener after my exams this acadwmic year... fingers crossed!

I also hope this encorages other member who are ready to post and inspire othersand give whag they get!

This site is well and truly amazing! Xx

Moj August 25th, 2016

This sounds like a really incredible plan! I love this idea! heart It sounds like a great way to get some members more involved in the community and taking some leadership! This might be a great way to transition members into listeners in the future too...kind of like "getting their foot just wet first" in taking on some leadership, before committing fully to the role as a listener. But also a great way to keep members involved in the community and also giving back if they just want to remain as members as well. I'm curious to see how this goes, and how it may develop the member, and also enhance the support given within the community here at 7cups, and benefit the site as a whole!

Three cheers for new and cool ideas!! yeslaughheart

5 replies
sam2410 August 26th, 2016

@Moj you would make a nice megah membah moj :O \(^_^)/

4 replies
Celaeno August 26th, 2016

@sam2410, absolutely agree with you! @Moj is our star which shines with love and compassion - would absolutely nominate them ❤︎

3 replies
sam2410 August 26th, 2016

@Celaeno mhm~

Moj August 26th, 2016

Aww, thanks guys, that's so kind of you. smiley But if we could nominate, I'd nominate you @Celaeno, you're the definition of compassion, love and support here at 7cups here on the member side. Your heart is pure love, and you let it spill out to every single person you encounter. heart

1 reply
Celaeno August 26th, 2016

@Moj, thank you so much for these kind words which reinforce my statement about your special status in this community ^^ You're brilliant and I'm so happy to be part of 7 Cups where extraordinary humans like yourself are a majority. It is a good company to spend my time with ^^

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glassdarkly August 25th, 2016

@Heather

Great Idea! 😊

Alex August 25th, 2016

I love this new initiative for our members! Go go go!