I wrote a post about a year ago where I shared some of my favorite books that I read over the last year. I’m a firm believer that you can supercharge your knowledge through reading books and longer essays. While it takes longer to read and is harder to digest than a short, 300 word top ten list trends piece, the upside and takeaways are also significantly higher. Not to mention, the shelf...
7 Things You Should Really Stop Doing on Snapchat
I started this snarky series way back in 2011 with an innocent, little post poking fun at a few things that drive people crazy on Twitter. It is been a long time since I’ve done one. Seeing how Snapchat has become one of my three favorite social media apps, I thought now was as good a time as any to bring back this old series. No really, I’m slightly addicted to Snapchat. (Feel...
What a recent trip to Helsinki taught me about designing community spaces
Helsinki is a place that is surely fun to say, but I admittedly didn’t know much about before visiting. Normally, when I travel, I like to know something about the place or at least have a couple of friends there that I could lean on for some insider tips. This time I was flying blind. I literally knew almost nothing about Finland or let alone Helsinki. Aside from the fact, the sun sets...
13 Lessons Learned From My First Year as a Remote Community Manager
About 9.5 months ago, I wrote a post reflecting on my first three months of working remotely. I realized I have learned a lot since writing it. I’m going to share what I’ve learned about myself and working remotely in the last year in this post. In many ways, I still feel like I am brand new to this. Probably for good reason because I am still really new to this compared to many...
6 Lessons Learned from My First-Time Speaking at a Large Conference
Public speaking is scary. Talking in front of large amount of people or being the center of attention isn’t necessarily my thing. I also admittedly talk fast and wasn’t blessed with the natural charisma of awesome public speakers that I look up to like Brene Brown, Gary Vaynerchuk and Scott Stratten. Yet, I’m not one to succumb to my fears often. When you give into your fears...
Stop Chasing Quick Wins
In our always-on, social-media driven society, we all crave instant gratification. Dare I say, more than anytime in history. When we post that status update on Facebook, we want to see a bunch of likes right away. When we share a new photo of the awesome place where we are at on Instagram, we want to see a bunch of hearts. When we jump on Periscope, we want there to be a large audience on the...
The Breakout App of SXSW 2016: Snapchat???
A photo posted by Jessica Malnik (@jmalnik) on Mar 12, 2016 at 6:26pm PST Before SXSW every year, all the tech media sites and A-list bloggers talk about what will be the breakout app or site. It started after Twitter debuted and stole the show at SXSW in 2007. Then, Foursquare did this in 2009. In 2012, all the talk was about Highlight. Highlight was essentially Foursquare on steroids and...
3 Life Lessons Learned From Brene Brown’s SXSW Keynote
A photo posted by Jessica Malnik (@jmalnik) on Mar 12, 2016 at 1:15pm PST For those who don’t know, I’m a huge Dr. Brene Brown fan. Two of her books, Daring Greatly and Rising Strong have fundamentally shaped my 20s to date. So when I found out she would be a keynote speaker at SXSW this year, I was more than a little excited. Her keynote definitely didn’t disappoint. This...
Managing and Scaling a Team of Volunteer Community Moderators
I was chatting with my friend and fellow community professional, Patrick O’Keefe, the other day. Patrick has been managing online niche communities since 2000. Most notably, KarateForums.com, and also is the founder of the Managing Communities blog and the Community Signal Podcast. Needless to say, when I have a question or want to get feedback on how to handle a specific type of...
Why Snapchat Right Now Reminds Me Of Twitter Back in 2010
For those who have stuck around my blog over the last couple of years (First, thank you!), you may have seen me rant about Snapchat before. I joined the app very early on, spent a little time on the app and then publicly shared that I was deleting the app in a blog post. Here’s the proof. I have come full circle in the last couple of months. While I wouldn’t say it’s completely...