Creating a Content Ecosystem Everyone in this room is in the business of bringing Kingdom ideas to life. But many of the ideas we are stewarding are on life support today. They should be thriving but instead are struggling and we need to reframe how we manage those ideas. Building an ecosystem And seeing it thrive! Jon Hirst

http://robertwensman.wordpress.com/ http://birddigiscoper.blogspot.com/

The Reality in Publishing Today: All content has an ecosystem – we simply forget to water it most of the time.

What happens when we don’t support a content ecosystem? The content gets lost! Most content is orphaned and siloed away so that few people will ever enjoy or benefit from it There is so much more content getting lost today! “90% of all information ever created was produced in the last 2 years alone" Dr. Mike Lynch, CEO of Autonomy

What is an Ecosystem A self sustaining system that generates, transfers and then recycles energy As large as a rainforest and as small as a log http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/emrrp/emris/emrishelp/what_is_an_ecosystem_ecosystem_management.htm

What Does a Content Ecosystem Do? . . . generates, transfers and recycles ideas! Big Idea #1

What kind of environment do you want your content living in? http://igs-alberts.wikispaces.com/ http://www.mensjournal.com/the-ghost-park

Making the Connection “Once you see your platform as an ecosystem and not the parts, your possibilities to grow and develop more business value (increase). Can you see it? Look beyond your blog as being the core of things. Think of it as an outlet. From there, things get exciting.” Chris Brogan http://www.chrisbrogan.com/build-ecosystems-for-your-content/

Core Elements of Your Ecosystem Big Idea #2 Core Elements of Your Ecosystem The Earth – Your Cause The Plants – Your Content The Living Creatures – Your Community

The Cause Definition: A Cause is an others-focused, broad-based effort that allows a community to form and act as one in an effort to accomplish a specific goal. It’s the thing you do that God cares about It is based in Scripture

A Sample Cause - GMI GMI helps Kingdom Workers make Spirit-led decisions that advance the Global Church! Type of Cause: Resourcing the Body of Christ Key Scriptures: John 4 – Journey of discovery with woman at the well Numbers 13:17-30 – Seeking to understand reality, defining it correctly and then making a Spirit-led decision

The Content The key messages that engage people with your cause Contextualized content focused on specific communities All the contributed content to your cause by your community

The Community Those people that have chosen to live in your ecosystem Those that believe your cause is important and that you are a thought leader in that area Those that commit to a relationship within the ecosystem Those who contribute productively to its growth

An Ecosystem Works Together Generating: The content grows because the cause is rich and fertile Transferring: The community develops because the cause and the content help them thrive Recycling: Both the community and content add nutrients and value to the cause as it grows richer As it works together it becomes more valuable Bringing Together 1 & 2

Examples of Physical Content Ecosystems

Your not the only one living in your ecosystem … Don’t act like it!

An Example: The TED Ecosystem TED.com TEDTalks TED Conferences TEDx events TED Fellows TED Books TED Prize TED Open Translation Project TED-Ed

Creating Community: The One Verse Bloggers A group of 30 women – key contributors to The Seed Company/One Verse’s ecosystem Committed to the Cause of Ending Bible Poverty in partnership with The Seed Company/One Verse Meet the Bloggers: http://blog.theseedcompany.org/news/bloggers/ The Bible Stack Challenge: http://blog.theseedcompany.org/news/bible-stacks/

An Example: Operation World Facebook “Leaders Using Operation World” Group & General Operation World Facebook Fan Page Enhanced CD/DVD Operation World Book Twitter @owtips #OperationWorld www.operationworld.org Operation World Map

What is the Cause? Prayer for the Nations

What is the core content?

Who is the Community People passionate about missions People with a global perspective People gifted in prayer Leaders wanting to see their people pray People in global missions

What does it take? Birthing an ecosystem is hard work! Some key skills: Intentionality: Everything on purpose CQ – Communications IQ Empathy: Getting in other’s shoes Creativity: Feeding the ecosystem Dedication: Persistence over time

Metrics for Ecosystems How do you define: Living . . . Thriving . . . Growing? The depth of your cause The quality of your content The level of engagement with the community

YOUR TURN Take the course on Empathy as a next step in learning to be aware of your ecosystem: http://ed.ted.com/on/KvGvjDsq

I would love to connect: Jon Hirst jhirst@gmi.org www.twitter.com/JonHirstGMI www.twitter.com/generousmind www.facebook.com/gmi.org www.facebook.com/generousminds