When an Online Community Pro Retires
Rebecca Newton\xa0is a legend of the online community profession. After 30 years, she has retired. But what does it mean when we retire from this work?
Her career began AOL in 1994, building communities and managing a massive volunteer program. Among her numerous stops, Rebecca found a focus in child safety, leading such efforts for Sulake (the company behind Habbo Hotels and Disney\u2019s Virtual Magic Kingdom), Mind Candy (Moshi Monsters), and most recently SuperAwesome, a provider of tools for safer, responsible digital engagement with young people, who was acquired by Epic Games.
A program manager for community in 1997, a community director in 2001, a chief community officer in 2007: Rebecca has held all of the titles. Along the way, she has paved a path for the community profession, pushing us higher in corporate environments and creating valuable resources for us. Most notably, her 24 year stewardship of the\xa0e-mint\xa0listserv for community pros, an iconic resource that has helped countless community facilitators.
After such a career, what\u2019s it like to step away from full-time work? What goes through the mind of a retiring community pro? That\u2019s what we\u2019ll discuss, plus:
- How do you prepare for retirement, as a community pro?
- What will Rebecca miss? What won\u2019t she miss?
- The least and most effective pieces of legislation passed during Rebecca\u2019s career
Big Quotes
What will Rebecca miss most about being a full-time community pro? (17:32):\xa0\u201cI\u2019m going to miss working with people online the most. It\u2019s a different animal than working with people offline, and I did plenty of that before I started in the online world. \u2026 Everybody thought they invented remote working. I\u2019ve had remote teams since 1994, so it\u2019s not new. I\u2019m going to really miss that because there\u2019s a special culture in the online world, as you know, that is really hard to describe, or it\u2019s hard for me to describe but is not like the offline world. It\u2019s like being in a special club, in a secret club. That\u2019s how it feels to me.\u201d -Rebecca Newton
What won\u2019t she miss? (23:07):\xa0\u201cI won\u2019t miss \u2026 people naively thinking they know better than everybody who built the widget. I\u2019ve heard the conversations. \u2018Oh, they can\u2019t let go. They don\u2019t know how to let go. They don\u2019t know how to grow. They don\u2019t know how to do this.\u2019 Then I would think, \u2018Okay, well, we\u2019ll see who\u2019s not growing in a year, so I\u2019m going to go looking for another job because I know in a year this thing\u2019s not going to exist.'\u201d -Rebecca Newton
The cyclical trend of online community obsession (31:09):\xa0\u201cI remember in 2000 when dentists were [asking], \u2018Do I need an online community?\u2019 There was a trend of, \u201cOh, it\u2019s online community,\u2019 because of the success at AOL. I was like, \u2018No. You\u2019re a dentist.'\u201d -Rebecca Newton
Overreaction from government officials who aren\u2019t active online (34:21):\xa0\u201cI\u2019m not saying anything about how smart [government decision makers] are, about how great their intentions were, or their abilities in the world. [But] if you\u2019re not [active online], if you\u2019re not a heavy user, if you\u2019re not in the kid\u2019s world using it, how can you possibly [make good decisions]? That\u2019s what we see in Great Britain, in the EU. Something happens to one person under 16, they want to have 27 laws about it. Because this thing happened.\u201d -Rebecca Newton
Kids want to collaborate, they want a job (38:40):\xa0\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing I learned about working with kids. The very first thing when they get online or game in an app, whatever it is, [they say] \u2018I want a job. Can I have a job? Let\u2019s do this together. Let\u2019s do that together.'\u201d -Rebecca Newton
About Rebecca NewtonWhen legislation goes too far (39:18):\xa0\u201cOver-regulation is detrimental. I think all it does is create a whole lot of jobs for people to do a lot of stuff that nobody\u2019s ever going to look at. That\u2019s a really rude thing for me to say, but I believe that.\u201d -Rebecca Newton
Rebecca Newton\xa0has spent 30 years in the commercial internet industry. As head of digital trust and community, Rebecca led online community, online safety, moderation, engagement, and customer services efforts at SuperAwesome (of Epic Games) from 2015 to 2023. Prior to joining SuperAwesome, Rebecca worked at Mind Candy as the chief community & safety officer, serving over 140 million registered (young) users.
From 2001 to 2007, she worked at Sulake (the company behind Habbo Hotels) as the global director of community for the world\u2019s largest teen virtual world site, spanning 24 countries. She began her online community career with America Online in 1994, where she wore many hats, and finally landed as the program manager for AOL\u2019s community leader program.
Among her contributions to the discipline of online community, Rebecca co-founded VirComm, the London-based annual conference for online community professionals in 2011, and the\xa0e-mint\xa0community management listserv. She serves on boards and committees for numerous organizations, including\xa0AgeCheq, the\xa0Archewell Foundation, and\xa0DitchTheLabel.org.
Related Links- Rebecca\u2019s previous appearance on Community Signal
- Rebecca\u2019s website
- e-mint, a community management listserv that Rebecca has managed since 2000
- AgeCheq, the\xa0Archewell Foundation, and\xa0DitchTheLabel.org, organizations that Rebecca provides guidance to
- eWorld, an Apple service that launched in 1994 and provided a community feature
- Michael Acton Smith, who was once Rebecca\u2019s boss
- The Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act, the\xa0Communications Decency Act, and\xa0Section 230, which were all pieces of legislation passed during Rebecca\u2019s career
- Virtual Magic Kingdom, an online game created by Disney and Sulake, where Rebecca led community and safety efforts
- Jenna Woodul, potentially the first person with the chief community officer title
- Jenna Woodul on Community Signal
- MIT\u2019s Scratch community, which is managed by someone that Rebecca has mentored, who was initially a member of one of the communities she was responsible for
If you have any thoughts on this episode that you\u2019d like to share, please leave me a comment or\xa0send me an email. Thank you for listening.