When I first stepped into the role of global operations manager for community at Dell, one of the first conversations I had with Dawn Lacallade, our IdeaStorm manager, was about the amazing Super Users we have on our community properties. When she told me about the VIPs on the forums, like Predator, Bugbatter, MoneyGuyBk, SR45, mombodog, osprey4 and ejn63, who has over 53,000 posts on the forums alone, and the great ideas and comments that Jervis961, Sugarbear and others continuously contribute on IdeaStorm, I immediately asked her…”Who are these people? Where on Earth do they find the time to participate and why were we so lucky for them to choose Dell community?”
Ironically, I am now asked this same question almost every day by people in Dell, outside of Dell, and even my friends and family. Now knowing and having built relationships with many of our community super users, it has become a fun game I like to play when I ask the rhetorical question back, “Well, Who do you think they are?” All assumptions and guesses always lead to these folks being highly tech savvy retirees. Indeed, we do have some retired and highly technical super users, but they are just a part of our super user peanut gallery.
If you hand picked people from all walks of life, all ages, all interests, and all countries of the world, then maybe you would come up with something similar to the demographic of our super users. We have doctors, small-business owners, college professors, engineers, high school and college students, retired military personnel…you name it…we have it.
No matter how different these people are, they all share a common interest: Dell. It is amazing to me to watch these people, who would never know or meet each other otherwise met up on our community. And when two super users partner up to help a customer in need on the forum…well, there is nothing like it in world. You can feel the strong sense of camaraderie and team spirit that is unparalleled in even the best work environments or on the best teams.
Blogger Jake McKee over at CommunityGuy just wrote an interesting post on the power of communities, and how people and place are brought together for amazing results. In fact, you might have a story of your own to contribute to a book he’s writing, tentatively called “Connected by Distance.” It should be a great read.
And now on to the last part of the question, “Why do they choose Dell community?” To this day, I do not have a consistent answer as the Dell brand can mean different things to different people, but I am humbled by this every day. What is consistent is how appreciative we are that they choose to spend their time with us.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I don’t know about being called a “super user”. My wife calls me more of an addict and has suggested an intervention of tossing my Inspiron in the pool several times. As for why we choose Dell, it all depends on he person I guess. In my case I’ve been a tech addict since I was a kid and bought my first Dell quite a few years ago. After having bad experiences with Sony and Compaq computers I was very happy with my Dell experience and the great tech support at the time.
I had posted a few things on the forums under a different user name but never really got into posting regularly as I hadn’t really made a community connection. I would go to the forums when I had a problem I wanted to try and fix myself but otherwise I stayed away. I had been keeping up on news about Dell though and the problems they were facing as a company. Then I stumbled across a news article about IdeaStorm and how Dell was looking for customer feedback and ideas. I’m pretty open with my opinions so I decided to check out the site. It was simple enough of a site so I voted on the ideas that were already there and decided to post 2 on my first day to see what would happen. Next thing I knew I was hooked on the site’s interaction. I found a place to discuss my love of tech and started forming friendships based on those conversations.
After IdeaStorm my participation spilled over into the forums when they added Storm Room as a place for more personal conversations instead of using the IdeaStorm site. Then I started posting on Direct2Dell and now here on the “your blog”section. Lionel even got me hooked on Twitter after reading one of his posts and deciding to try it out. Now instead of posting just on IdeaStorm I post a little on all the sites instead. I also have had some great interaction with Dell employees due to my participation. I Even had the opportunity to participate in the beta of the new home page. The community is the closest thing Dell has to the relationship you build with a local business owner that keeps you coming back as a customer.
I look forward to seeing what else Dell incorporates into the community in the future. I have a few ideas if they need them.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:16 am
@jervis, thank you so much for sharing your journey. It’s great to hear the whole story and learn about that moment where community changed from a place you visited once or twice to a place that became a part of you.
Also, really want to thank you for the nice compliment to our whole community team: “The community is the closest thing Dell has to the relationship you build with a local business owner that keeps you coming back as a customer.”
And I am sure, from first hand experience, you have some great ideas on what we should do next with community. You have rarely been short of good ideas!
May 14th, 2008 at 12:19 am
Natalie Dear…. Thanx for all the attention…. I am blushing of course
I am proud to be part of this great community myself. I have been a Dell customer since 1999…. having purchased now over three dozen machines. I visited DCF ever since a few years back, but I never registered until I decided to buy an XPS system…. That’s when I registered as MoneyGuyBK and the rest is history…..
However, I do not consider myself a Guru…. I have learned quite a bit in the last year-plus being a member. Most of my posts are related to a project I feel very strongly about…. Folding@Home…. this is a project that hits home with me as I lost my father 5 years ago [2003] after being diagnosed with Alzheimer in 2000.
Folding@Home is a project to study natural process of Amino acids folding to become Proteins. The “mis-folding” of proteins, scientists believe leads to diseases like Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Lou Gehrig’s….. Stanford U and PandeGroup started this project in 2000 and there are over a Million people in over 100 countries worldwide contributing to the Distributed Computing Project.
The reason I talked about F@H is that I have racked up most of my posts there, and previous to that on the long 720 thread….. However, another thing I believe in is the concept of “Pay Forward” …. so if I have learned anything good, I share…. if I see a problem that I can be sure I have a solution to, then I post.
Again…. Thanx Natalie…. and ALL the DCF Liaisons for all your support.
PS …. Happy 24th BirthDay Dell
Peace
May 14th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Wow! Thanks Natalie. I don`t know if I deserve the title “super user.” I got my first computer in the early 90`s and didn`t know a thing about them. Of course, I eventually broke it. There were no computer shops around the area at the time. I decided to learn how to fix it. I am self taught and still learning, although there isn`t much I haven`t learned to do. Now I am learning to program, just because I can. I love a good challenge. I use windows XP Pro and Linux Sabayon on my computers.
I have been building Dell computers for myself, my family, and my friends since the mid 90`s. I like the ability to “build it my way.” This has led to my aunt volunteering my services to her computer club, which is part of a large national club. Needless to say I get calls and emails from total strangers to help them build Dell pc`s. Of course I always build a Dell for them.
I have a pet project for the elderly in my area. When I configure a Dell for someone, they give me the old pc . I clean it up and donate it to an elderly person to start on and teach them how to use it. After they are comfortable with it, I order them a new Dell and pass the old one on to some one else.
I was chosen to participate on the Dell Communispace advisory panel a couple of years ago. The facilitators told us about the new Ideastorm opening up and encouraged us to participate. I did and still do. I have also been a forum member for three years. I don`t contribute a lot on the forum, except for the Storm Room.
I own and operate a small construction prefabrication business. Even though I am in front of the computer all day, I find it relaxing to read and post on IS and forum. I enjoy reading and learning on all the Dell sites. I also like a good debate, and we get them on IS. I have enjoyed meeting Dell personnel and many friendships have been formed with IS users. It`s really an extraordinary family.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:08 am
@moneyguybk and @sugerbear: Thank you both for sharing your stories with us. It is incredible reading through these comments not only to see your vastly different backgrounds, but your different reasons for why you choose to spend your time with us. We just can’t thank you enough.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
What, no mention of one of the eldest currently active VIPs? I guess this is what being old gets you.
Since no one asked, I joined the DCF (which at the time was called DellTalk IIRC) after half-accidentally wandering there while at work one day. My interest was mainly to learn new troubleshooting tips & tricks — primarily for software — and share my expertise as a pro computer tech with others to help them fix their Dells. This is something I’ve done on the side for over 8 years and freelance tech work is now my primary gig since being laid off from my previous employer a little over 7 months ago. The great people who have been members over the years are what made me remain with the forum for so long. Predator & I go way back, in fact we still keep in touch via email. Denny Denham was also a wonderful guy & a pal I learned a great deal about software from.
My computer/electronics experience stretches back ~21 years ago when I received a Commodore64 as a gift from my grandmother. Since then my love of tech has grown to include home theater, cell phones & digital photography. Much of my client base is currently church members, family and new people I meet through the first two.
I also build my own desktops.
Two weeks from today I’ll be taking my first steps into the world of voiceover work after having listened to people tell me I have a great voice for radio & commercials since around the time I was in 8th grade. I already have plans to form my own company in that area so within the next couple of years you’ll all probably be quite literally hearing a lot more of me.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
@ The_Namek, not mentioning your name is absolutely not an indication of how much appreciate you and your participation on our forum for many, many years.
We also really appreciate you sharing your story. It is much more understandable now why you have been so helpful to the users who come to the forum looking for help.
We wish you all the best in the voiceover work you are about to do!!! Thank you again for being a part of our community!
May 21st, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Thanks Natalie! I was kidding about the ‘being old’ thing. Sarcasm is just one of the many services I offer. That’s why I think the emoticon is one of the greatest inventions in the history of the interweb.
Will keep you guys in the loop about how the voiceover work goes!