Humans are social animals. Given opportunity and a reason they will come together and form a community. In a traditional sense a community is defined as a group of interacting people with common values and social cohesion living in a common location. Not a difficult concept on its surface anyway, although sociologists don't really agree on that definition (according to Wikipedia there are 94 different definitions used by sociologists for community). Still let's use that as a basis for looking at how communities manifest online. The social web has opened up the ability to create community in a very different way (online) yet in many respects these communities do not appear or behave differently from a community outside the Internet. One of the major differences though is that the online community is generally one of specific intent, not one of general cohesion, but not to say that intent isn't a necessary ingredient in any community. Online communities generally have a specific purpose, for example to build loyalty around a brand, or to gain support for a cause, or perhaps to share an interest in some hobby.
Open source vendors were really the first to get this online community thing right IMHO. The realized that transparency and openness build trust and that people join communities to contribute but also to gain / improve their reputation and demonstrate prowess. The high level of engagement of many of these communities is demonstrated by the fervor and passion the community members exhibit in participating and engaging with the OSS vendor and other community members. Here are a few random thoughts to use in launching a new online community and creating an ongoing relationship among members.
- Why are you members in the community? What's in it for them (yes, I know YOU want them to be in your community but really, why would they want to)?
- What are you giving (content?) - what are they looking for?
- Make your community relevant to the potential member if you want to draw them in.
- Communities control themselves, you don't "manage" them.
- Create heros, know who really has influence?
- Give before taking. This is really the same social networking advice you'd use personally, give or add value to get value back.
- Trust is a fragile thing, especially online. One breach of trust can have disastrous and long term effects.
- Ask, after all this is supposed to be a conversation.
- Attention is the major currency in our ADD inflicted world. It's difficult to attract and even more difficult to hold.
- Social capital is a critical factor, help increase the influence of your community and its key members.
What else should be on the list?
