1. 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

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

4. 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

5. 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

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

7. What kind of environment do you want your content living in?

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Examples of Physical Content Ecosystems

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

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

18. 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:
The Bible Stack Challenge:

19. An Example: Operation World
Facebook “Leaders Using
Operation World” Group
& General Operation World Facebook Fan Page
Enhanced CD/DVD
Operation World Book
#OperationWorld
Operation World Map

20. What is the Cause?
Prayer for the Nations

21. What is the core content?

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. YOUR TURN
Take the course on Empathy as a next step in learning to be aware of your ecosystem:

26. I would love to connect:
Jon Hirst