Ubuntu Wiki

From The Art Of Community by O'Reilly (http://www.artofcommunityonline.org) by Jono Bacon

Summary

Buzz is a complex and wide-ranging topic and one that can be exercised in many different ways. Fundamentally, the art of building buzz is an individual striving for it. Some will keep the game simple and use email and blogs to build excitement, and some will organize more grandiose campaigns and events, some even cutting crop circles in the ground in the shape of a logo to get the word out. The extravagance of the buzz campaign is often directly linked to the extravagance of the personality behind it, but this is not a closed-door club in which only those born with a sense of adventure can build great buzz. Anyone can develop this sense for thinking outside the box. At the heart of these approaches is thinking of ways in which you can attract eyeballs in your direction and then deliver a message when they have you in their sights. It is important to get the balance right here: buzz without substance is hype, and you should avoid that like the plague. Always ensure that the message that you send is just as compelling as the buzz approach that you used. Finally, one last note about thinking outside the box: it is a risky business. You are going to make mistakes and end up frustrating some folks. When you do screw up, see it as a learning process. Pick yourself up and review what you did objectively. All mistakes are acceptable under the premise that you learn from them. As you continue to build more and more buzz, you will make fewer mistakes and create more successes as you bring people to your community.