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Live from SXSW: Whuffie gold

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Digital Technology

I attended a session yesterday morning that is pure gold for any marketer interested in social media: Tara Hunt’s Makin’ Whuffie: Raising Social Capital in Online Communities.

Don’t be daunted by the length of the slide show. Many slides are photos or just a word or two; the deck flies by.

For the uninitiated, whuffie is reputation-based currency — aka cred.  The term was coined by Boing Boing creator Cory Doctorow in his science fiction novel “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.”

A series of lists and commandments, Tara’s advice comes as close to a community-building playbook as I’ve seen, including how to:

  • Turn the bullhorn inward.
  • Understand and become part of the community you serve.
  • Be remarkable. The the dazzle is in the details. E.g. look at this lovely business card someone gave me yesterday!
  • Create amazing user experiences.
  • Embrace the chaos; you can’t control the message.
  • Find your higher purpose.

It’s a SmartBriefed version of Tara’s soon-to-be-released book, “The Whuffie Factor.”