Scaling User-Generated Content

Elizabeth Milch

Deputy Director of Content, Genius

@blueliz

#cmxsummit

LET KNOWLEDGE DROP How Genius Scales Its Community of

Scholars & Hip-Hop Heads

[May 19, 2016]

OUR EVOLUTION

2009.

2011.

2014.

Genius explains the deeper meaning behind music and

culture.

TODAY

“WHAT’S RIHANNA SAYING ON WORK?”

HOW WE KEEP IT

Cultivating a culture that’s diverse, inclusive, and passionate.

Hiring dedicated community managers.

Lowering barrier to entry for new contributors and making sure they’re equipped with the right tools.

MEASURING PROGRESS WITH ONE SOLID KPI: AMOUNT OF CONTRIBUTION ON POPULAR PAGES.

We turn knowledge into a game.

OUR COMMUNITY• We reach 40m+ a month—36m in the U.S. alone.

• Our core users range in age from 14 to 34, with a 55/45% male/female split.

• We also have passionate communities in France, Germany, Poland, The Netherlands, Italy, and Brazil.

• 1.2m active annotators, 15k accounts created per week, 3m+ annotations opened daily.

• Popular pages (1m views or more) often contain the work of 150+ contributors.

• Our community spends a collective five years on Genius.com every day.

• We have one clear, collective mission:

• Our News Genius community has doubled in size since March.

SHARE KNOWLEDGE.

SOME OF OUR CONTRIBUTORS

WHAT WE CARE ABOUT

Converting casual visitors into contributors (“scholars”).

Fostering a dialogue between contributors, community leaders, and in-house staff.

Empowering users to find their voice, increasing the quality of contribution.

IN SHORT, MAKING OUR COMMUNITY FEEL LIKE THEY’RE PART OF A MOVEMENT.

WHAT’S NEXT 👀

New types of artist-community interaction.

More URL to IRL community experiences.

More community involvement in the development of Genius products (e.g., Fact Tracks.)

WIZ KHALIFA READING FAN ANNOTATIONS ON GENIUS

thanks!

[May 19, 2016]contact: liz@genius.com