Ever wondered how you get into the GovLoop Top 100 rankings?
Well, for those of you who are a little competitive or just like to feel as if you’re making progress toward something (you know, like gold stars, good grades and general gaming domination), then this post is for you.
First, here’s the breakdown of the point system:
So let me make it super easy for you to see the activity that gets you the most points:
1 – Post a blog. (25 points)
2 – Invite new people from within GovLoop. (20 points)
3 – Respond to a forum question. (15 points)
4 – Make comments, start a discussion, upload videos, and add events. (10 points)
5 – Friend a bunch of people, join groups, add photos, and get comments on your blogs or forums. (5 points)
And here’s the real secret…are you ready? Want to know how almost all of the people in the Top 10 Hall of Fame got there?
They volunteered to be a GovLoop Greeter. They took a little time one day a week to post a message on a new member’s Comment Wall. In fact, Amy Phillips has seen a meteoric rise to the number 2 spot by being our weekend greeter.
Want to join her? Click here.
Now…I’m pretty sure we can change this configuration…so I always have to ask a question:
How would you change this point allocation? What activities should get more (or fewer!) points?
Commenting? Friending? Joining Groups?
For instance, I might make posting a blog a bit less and increase friending or commenting…but I’m open to suggestions.
Let us know!
I would award points for each Awesome received (10) or given (5) on a post or profile (and on comments, if we can get that added as an option for comments) … not counting those given on one’s own post. This serves to reward quality posts and comments rather than quantity.
I would equalize the points for forum and blog posts … have never understood why those are different. Equally confusing is the different points awarded for ‘Discussions started’ and ‘Forum Posts’ because, as best as I can determine’, they are the same thing (discussion = forum).
I would also increase the points for Comments Received (10 / 15) because this indicates success at getting others to engage.
And not just Groups Joined, but more points for Groups Created / Managed.
Andy, in your links list, shouldn’t ‘Respond to a forum question’ be 10 points for Comments Made rather than the 15 for a Forum Post. Isn’t a forum post a discussion started? When I click on Ask a Question under the Forum link on the top tab, it takes me to Add a Discussion.
Blogs and forum posts are different, in my view. At least that’s how I approach my blogs. Look to the NYT as an example, Brooks and Krugman will write an article – and then in their blog have a short reference there, and perhaps pose a question for followup. Or they may post to their blog on an off-article day with a link or short observation. In our usage, I would consider blogs as the articles, and discussion forum posts as the same as NYT blogs.
But that’s just me. Also, blogs should be 100 points. 🙂
Moreover, it appears to not work as advertised:
Hey Sam – This is exactly why I made this post…because I had a hunch it wasn’t working and I wanted to test it. Thank you for trying it out and showing the weak spots. I’m going to re-work the system to make sure it’s (a) working, (b) fair, and (c) truly rewarding the kind of engagement we want to see on GovLoop. Thanks again!
This is right up my alley Mr. K…I’d like to see points added for other things like checking into a group, sharing a link on twitter/facebook/linkedin, choosing “it’s awesome,” etc. What if each group leader/administrator got a small amount of points (1/5th normal points) based on the points their group members get within the group? This would incentivize group leaders to keep activity in their groups going.
Most importantly, I’d like to see the points be much more explicit. For example, each time you get points, you’re notified instantaneously with a ” +5 Points” graphic. If that’s not possible, maybe an activity chart (ideally in the daily awesome emails) showing your points activity.
As you know, I’d really like to see this stuff happen but know it’s not easy. Let me know how I can help!
Sam- I know it’s a pain but I spoke with ning yesterday and they said they need specific examples of actions where points were not accrued. If you have any of those I’ll forward them on… as much of a pain as it it time stamps and screen grab would be a massive help. I’m trying to replicate with profile as I think this isn’t a singular person issue.
OK, @Stephen. Shall I send it to your GovLoop email account?
That would be amazing Sam, thanks you rock!
10,000 points and you get into the Hall of Fame. I’m still waiting for someone to catch up tome – Amy is getting close
I was wondering about the point breakdown. Thanks, I guess I’d better get busy on my blog posts 🙂
Great tips. Comments and reaching out to others works wonders.
Points are just recognition for who you are what you do. The discussion on “What makes a bad web site” still holds true – recognize others or fail.
It costs nothing to say Hi, welcome. Feel free to brows either by topic or the discussion links along the right side of the web page.
This is what I like about GovLoop – Volunteer, Pandemic and Disaster recovery goups. Hope you stop by and take a look.
How can it be a compitition when there is no group higher than 10K ? 50K Sr. Hall of fame? 100k Master Hall of Fame. 150K GovLoop Foundation Stone? (Want to save 1M points for Valhalla lord) Come on, plan for Gov Loop’s 7th, 10th and 15th year! Remeber how long it took to fix things after Bill Gates said “PC will *never need more than 640K of memory” ??
What about a newbie top 100? When GovLoop started just having 500 points got you into the top 100. Now one needs 3,500+ That keeps alot of people out. Pretty high entrance fee.
Another possibility to consider is awarding points for gifts received / given to promote recognition of others in a more tangible way.
@Sam, Sometimes my points do not update until the next day.
Points don’t drive me but I think the calculations are slightly off. Yesterday, I posted four comments to discussions and got one new “friend”. I received five points for the day. Can anyone explain?
Do you get anything with points? What’s the incentive besides self-promotion?