For the next two weeks, we will be reading the blog of Richard Millington, sharp thinker, Seth Godin intern, and community-builder extraordinaire.
His blog is FeverBee.
Getting to Know Richard
- Who are you? I’m Richard Millington, an Online Community Builder from the United Kingdom and the author of FeverBee. I’m currently working in New York with Seth Godin at Squidoo.
- How would you describe your blog?
FeverBee is about building online communities. The main difference between my blog and the blogs of others is the focus on people. I don’t spend much time talking about the technology involved. I write about motivating people to participate.
If you want to build a successful online community you need to understand why people do things. What can you offer that will make people work for free? What’s going to cause people to invite friends? What’s going to keep people coming back? These are the sorts of questions I try to answer.
- Why do you blog?
It’s a cliché, but blogging is like exercising.
Blogging forces me to keep coming up with fresh ideas. It forces me to read 200 blogs every morning to see what other people are saying. It forces me to dig deeper into the basic desires of human beings. It keeps me curious and has become an inside-track to building relationships with some people I really admire.
- What blogs do you love?
I have a huge list on www.feverbee.com, (look on the right side) of blogs I read daily.
As you notice at the top, are blogs like Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, John Jantsch, Brian Clark, Jeremiah Owyang, Guy Kawasaki. These are the super-heroes of the business blogosphere.
More recently I’ve been in awe of other blog in the community building space, blogs like Dawn Foster, Connie Bensen, Martin Reed, Matt Rhodes and Angela Connor. I hope I can be as good as these guys.
- What are your feelings on being selected for this?
It’s like my first day of school again, I’m scared no-one will like me (and the giant spot on my nose wont vanish in time).
Really, it’s great news. Zoe’s blog was brilliant and I’ve got some mighty big shoes to fill. It’s a lot of responsibility to not let you all down. It’s going to force me to work extra hard over the next two weeks, which can only be a good thing.
It’s also exciting to have so much potential feedback all at once. Usually the complaints come in the 10s and 20s….I’m hoping to hit triple figures over these next 2 weeks.
- What’s the best way for us to support you for these next two weeks?
Well, the better question is what’s the best way for me to support you these next two weeks?
Right now you have one of the fastest growing communities around. I’m humbled you’ve picked me for two weeks. I hope that I can do something that will benefit your community to grow and be even more excited about the next blog.
More selfishly, I’d love to hear your ideas and questions. Tell me what’s working for you, and what doesn’t. Ask me any questions you can think of.
- What’s the hardest thing about blogging for you?
Boiling an idea into a useful sentence.
The hardest thing, by far, is to strip an idea down into it’s single key point.
If you don’t remember my post, I’ve failed. If it’s too long that you don’t bother to read it, I’ve failed. If it’s too vague, theoretical or abstract to be of any use, I’ve failed.
With every post I try to offer something that’s immediate, actionable and, above all else, as brief as it can possible be. That’s a big challenge.
- What’s something interesting about you that has nothing to do with blogging?
When I was 2 years old, I used to eat sand. True story.
I once spoke to Bill Gates. He asked me when the bathroom was, I didn’t know.
Next week I’m moving back to the UK. Next month I’m moving to Vilnius, Lithuania. It looks chilly.
- What is your opinion on building relationships through blogging?
If you commit to it, you win. Don’t expect miracles, just be present and persistent. Blogging has helped me build relationships with such an array of people, from a Fortune 500 CEO to some of the best young marketers in the world.
Most of all, don’t forget that technology hasn’t changed anything. Relationships still take time. You still need to add value to the lives of others. It helps if you can meet people in person. Just be a genuinely nice, happy and proactive person.
- If you had to give blogging a less silly name, what would you call it?
Hmm. Thinkwriting?
In truth, perhaps it’s best not to umbrella so many different variations of a blog under the term blogging. Take moving, we never say ‘Sarah is moving’ we say ‘Sarah is walking’ …or running, or skipping, or sprinting, or hopping….There’s so many different types of movement that we need to be more specific.
I think that’s the case for blogging as well. It’s crazy that an online diary can be in the same genre as Techcrunch, Seth Godin or Scoble.
- Why did become an online community builder? I love building online communities because it feels like work that matters. I get a chance to work with a diverse range of companies and it’s the perfect balance of marketing, PR and social media. It’s a job I always want to be better at, which is a great place to be.
Why I Chose Richard’s Blog
Put simply, I honestly believe that FeverBee is one of the best blogs on the internet. And to be clear, I don’t just mean the best of the hidden gems. His thoughts and the clarity with which he presents them are absolutely top-notch.
Richard is writing on a subject that should be of at least some interest to all of us–community building. If you are a blogger, you either have a community or are trying to develop one. If you own or run a business, your customers are your community. And if nothing else, this blog project is an attempt at community, and it could be a powerful boost to the strength and potential of this project if we all soak in Richard’s advice and then try to collectively apply it here.
FeverBee is also a perfect way to follow Essential Prose. Richard’s style, subject, post length, and posting frequency are all a contrast with Zoë’s blog. Both are good approaches, but I was hoping to find a change of pace for these two weeks, and I got lucky.
So What Should We Do As Readers?
As a reminder, we’ve all committed to reading Richard’s blog for the next two weeks. Even if you don’t have time for your usual blog reading, try to make a deliberate effort to read his stuff. Perhaps move it to a special folder or add a reminder.
Engage with him in the comments on his site, through email, the forums here, or through Twitter (http://twitter.com/RichMillington). Offer him your honest feedback, but as always, strive to be constructive and encouraging.
Links, Tweets and Stumbles are always a good way to share something you really enjoy with other people. Don’t force it–this isn’t some sort of scheme. If it’s good, though, it’s good to help give it exposure.
Here is the FeverBee RSS feed, but make sure you visit the blog itself at some point as well.
Happy Reading
Our first two weeks went really well. I’ve gotten to know some amazing people, and I’ve had some very encouraging offers for help that I will be accepting in the near future. For now, I hope you enjoy Richard’s blog as much as I have!
