Community Happenings

May 12th 2021 - Your Community Needs You

Hi Wattpadders,

Your Community Needs You! (insert obligatory picture of stern looking person in top hat pointing out of the screen).

Ok, maybe that was a little too serious, but we wanted to let you know that submissions to join our crew of Ambassadors are currently open again (closing in early June). We're looking for more wonderful members of the Wattpad community to join the team. Are you in?

Never heard of the Ambassadors before? Then please read on and we'll let you in on one of our coolest opportunities...

Who are the Ambassadors?

The Ambassadors are our dedicated team of volunteers, sourced directly from the Wattpad community. The team are 750 people, from 75 countries and speak 70+ languages between them and represent all aspects of our diverse family. They make up a worldwide team of volunteers who help Wattpad with the day-to-day running of our community.

Our Ambassadors are involved in every aspect of what we do, and have a considerable impact on the Wattpad Community, each other, and what we do here at Wattpad — build stories and worlds that people love.

The team has been supporting Wattpad for eleven years now. For more than a decade, they've helped us better connect with the community because they are of the community.

What do they do?

The aim of the Ambassador Program is to encourage a fun-loving and engaged community that supports the millions of Wattpadders who read and write here every day.

To do that, we have four main roles our Ambassadors fill:

Content - The Content team is passionate about all things story related. They dive deep into the story archives on Wattpad and help us make sure that people are discovering even the most hidden gems. They also help us to find and remove plagiarised and other banned content by working closely with our Trust and Safety team and reporting any issues they find.

Engagement - The Engagement team is dedicated to connecting readers and writers through storytelling. They continuously experiment with new ideas to bring Wattpadders together on our various Ambassador run profiles. These Ambassadors love talking to people and engaging Wattpad users through contests, activities, and social media.

Data - The Data team works closely with members of Wattpad's own data team, and help us annotate data using machine-learning technology, which provides insight into story DNA and information on what makes each story unique. This team helps take note of anything from story genres and themes, to grammar style and character personas, which in turn become direct inputs that teach or validate the machine. The Data team gets an up-close-and-personal look at what machine-learning models Wattpad is building and constantly works with us to improve things for our users.

Outreach - The Outreach team is dedicated to helping writers, whether they're just starting out on Wattpad or have been here for a while and need some direction. This team of enthusiastic, positive individuals reach out to writers and help guide them in their Wattpad journey.

Ambassadors get to be involved in a myriad of other ways too. On top of the basic four roles they get to help Wattpad with translation and localization checking, spreading useful information, and testing new features prior to their release.

How does it work?

The Ambassador Program has three cycles per year that last four months each. With each cycle, we recruit and train new Ambassadors from all over the world. At the end of each cycle, current Ambassadors who do not wish to continue in the role graduate and move out of the program to become Alumni. Some members of the team have been badged up and volunteering for eight years and counting!

We are constantly looking to diversify the team and build our knowledge. With each new cycle, we seek people with different interests and skill sets.

What we look for

All of our Ambassadors must be 18+, active on Wattpad, and part of the Wattpad community for at least six months.

Ambassadors are people who want to represent the Wattpad community, and who maintain and uphold our Community Guidelines. We ask them to dedicate at least 4 hours per week to the team.

All of our Ambassadors are handpicked by the Wattpad team from those who submit an application. They're trained by and engage with the staff at Wattpad HQ on various projects, and volunteer their time and energy to keep Wattpad the remarkable community it is today.

Ambassadors are expected to organize their own time. The virtual nature of the role allows volunteers the freedom to choose what to do and when, along with rules, guidelines, training and support from Wattpad HQ.

We expect the team to be honest and impartial, and to not show favoritism. Ambassadors are expected to follow the general guidelines set out by Wattpad.

Once you become an Ambassador, you'll be representing a dedicated group of people who help support the team at Wattpad HQ. You will need to be careful with your interactions, be aware of the guidelines, and conduct yourself in the manner expected of an Ambassador.

You don't need to be perfect—none of us are. We all learn from our mistakes. The Ambassadors nurture and support each other in order to work better as a team to uplift the community we love.

Being an Ambassador means you want to give back to the Wattpad community. The team focuses on helping Wattpadders find their way around, directs them to useful information, and encourages and nurtures new, less-experienced users.

The Ambassadors are volunteers. They don't join to gain power or popularity, but work quietly behind the scenes to ensure the smooth running of the community.

A volunteer action is like a stone thrown into still water; Even the smallest action creates ripples, and our volunteer efforts reach out far and wide to improve the Wattpad community.

What are the benefits of being an Ambassador?

Aside from getting to hang out with your fellow Ambassadors on our private Discord server, you'll get to interact with some of the folks who help run and maintain Wattpad too. Ambassadors get behind-the-scenes experiences, from testing new products to working on projects with staff. Team members get to learn new skills, receive bespoke training on a variety of subjects, and sit in on some meetings with Wattpad staff. And your volunteer experience as an Ambassador will look great on your resumé!

You'll receive unique Wattpad Ambassador swag and merchandise for every year you've been an Ambassador. You'll also rock a badge on your profile, and get a free Premium membership.

If I have a question about the Ambassador program, who can I talk to?

You can find more information on the Ambassador Program, on the Ambassadors profile, as well as answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and of course a Submissions form if you're interested in joining the team. But if you wish to, you can also talk directly to Gavin. He's the Ambassador Program Manager for Wattpad and in charge of all of our Ambassadors across the world. Right now, we have 750 Ambassadors across 70+ countries and languages. 

Gavin is also known as TheOrangutan on Wattpad. He's not particularly orange and hairy, but he's always happy to answer any questions you might have about the Ambassador program, and how you can start your journey as part of the team.