Is There a Place for ‘Broadcasters’ on Conversational Platforms? SWOOP: Broadcaster Persona

This post continues the series the deeper dives into the specific measures included in the SWOOP Collaboration Framework #swoopframework. The ‘Broadcaster’ behavioural persona; is the fourth collaboration persona with the ‘Engager’, ‘Catalyst’  and ‘Responder’ personas.

How is a Broadcaster Measured?

Like the ‘Responder’ persona, the ‘Broadcaster’ is calculated as having a significant surplus of contributions made, over responses received. Broadcasters are differentiated from Responders due to the original posts outnumbering the number of replies they provide.

Interpretation

‘Broadcasters’ as the name infers, suggest that these people have a bias toward publishing over the more conversational aspects that would include more liberal use of the ‘reply’ and ‘like’ contributions. Because a collaboration platform is founded on active and engaged conversations, the ‘Broadcaster’ persona is generally seen as negative. That said, there would be instances where an individual might correctly adopt a ‘Broadcaster’ persona. For example, if you are responsible for launching a brand new initiative, say like a new marketing campaign, or organizing an event. For a limited time you would be required to undertake substantial original postings to begin the initiative.

What should this mean to you?

While the ‘Broadcaster’ persona may be considered a negative one, it could be that circumstances may require you to adopt this profile from time to time. The important principle however is that it should not be considered a persona to aspire to permanently. If you feel that your role requires you to continuously adopt a ‘Broadcaster’ persona, you may want to consider whether the collaboration platform is the appropriate vehicle for you. It is likely that your organisation will have other platforms for publishing content e.g. Intranet, Document Management Systems etc..

In summary, the ‘Broadcaster’ persona tends to prioritize publishing over conversation. It is generally seen as a negative persona, unless used sparingly for situation specific instances. We do not see productive communities or teams having or needing regular ‘Broadcaster’ members.