Community Building Ideas

Blog, Wiki, Intranets : Any experience? | Ask MetaFilter


Website Ideas


TheoryFilter/Speculate.org

GoodQuestion.org

GoFuckYourselfCheney.com

CrossTheFloor.org
- When did you turn against the Bush administration? What broke the camel's back?

OpenMind.org
- Only one assertion must be made on this website: I have an open mind. This is what I believe, but I'm open to new ideas. If I believe something that you think is incorrect, tell me why. I will listen. In turn, you agree to listen to my arguments and consider them in kind. This is not a place for those who enjoy flame wars. This is a place for open-minded exchange of ideas.

BusinessExperiment II
- build community of people interested in new business
- interface would be simple community-blog-style (a la Metafilter, AskMeFi)
- posters would ask questions, request responses from the community
- goal is to make community large, with broad base of experience, low barriers to contribution
- how to monetize?






The power of the web to influence thinking and share ideas has only been realized in the last few years. The explosion in growth of blogs is part of a revolution, as is the emergence of countless numbers of useful web applications and communities dedicated to every conceivable realm of human activity. Websites like Ebay, Flickr, del.icio.us, craigslist, MySpace, have literally changed the lives of their users. Some call this revolution "Web 2.0", signifying that something fundamental has changed on the internet, while it may be difficult to determine what exactly that is. While the web has been around for more than a decade now, it is only now starting to realize its potential as a communications medium.

The real change that has occurred is how people use the internet. The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan would say. People no longer "surf the net", being pulled along by waves of variably relevant information, an activity largely seen as recreational. "Web browsing" is a quaint term as well, suggesting a window shopper not really looking for anything in particular. Today people "google" information, finding answers to specific questions, with the full expectation of finding what they are looking for, and finding it again later if they need to. Effective search is fundamental to this revolution, and Google has rightly become synonymous with fast, effective search.

The other side of the equation is what McLuhan would point to as the "reversal" of consumers into producers of information. Because of the vast improvements in software, such as blogging tools that make publishing to the internet extremely simple, anyone that can access information can also post information. As a result, the web has become a powerful medium for self-expression. This attribute is as powerful as the ability to find things easily, and is as responsible for the Web 2.0 revolution as is Google and its predecessors. An explosion of creative work has appeared on the internet in the last few years, in amounts that beg the question, "who is paying for all of this?" The answer is the same as who paid Shoeless Joe and his mates to play-- no one. "If you build it, they will come."

The key to building a strong community is knowing what makes people contribute. People don't get paid to surf the web. People surf the web because they enjoy it. People post to websites because they want to express themselves. People like to get feedback on their ideas, even when it is a small amount. Knowing that just a handful of people are reading your posts is good enough for most bloggers to keep doing it. People don't need anything more than the feeling of community to participate. They don't need to be paid, they don't need "karma points". They don't need to be ranked.

From looking at many web communities out there, not everyone feels the same way about these things. Many sites are cluttered with information, karma points, rankings, avatars etc. These bits of data are supposed to help the reader with context, i.e. who the poster is. But if posters write well, they shouldn't need to prove who they are. Experienced web users know how to read between the lines - they can tell how valuable your information is from the information itself. If the poster is especially good, they will gain a reputation with their words and handle alone. This is motivating enough for the user dedicated to the community.

So what we want to do is build a community that people care about. This starts with thinking about what kind of community do people want. People want to interact with others who care about the community as much as they do. They don't want to deal with trolls, spammers, flamers, and other freaks. You must treat these types ruthlessly. Remember the garden metaphor -- this activity is like weeds.

The Question Model (i.e. AskMeFi) is a good one because it positions the poster as someone eliciting feedback, not someone who is posting for the other readers' enjoyment/information. It is the start of a conversation. Only people who are looking for new conversations will be there, i.e. only those wanting to contribute. Unlike MetaFilter, AskMeFi isn't filled with snarky comments about the poster's style or judgment in posting the FPP (front page post). Investigate: Google Ask, AskJeeves. On AskMeFi the following note appears below the comment box: "note: Ask MetaFilter is as useful as you make it. Please limit comments to answers or help in finding an answer. Wisecracks don't help people find answers. Thanks."

At first, the design must be dead simple, like MetaFilter. No graphics, just words. Little structure. We want posters to see their words immediately and as up front as possible. Nothing deters contributing to a web page more than having to be approved for membership, having to have comments approved before appearing, or having to navigate a difficult set of pages to get to your comment. The idea of a community is "public space", not a filing cabinet.

Another key to building a strong community is quantity of posts. There needs to be new posts every day so people will return. A community is a place to interact. A person should ideally only need to wait a few minutes before someone comments on their post.

The value of a community

The value of a community is in its members--how many, and who they are. A prominent business web community (LOOK UP) was sold recently based on the tight demographic that the content appealed to. This sale was a landmark moment in "Web 2.0 history" because it acknowledged the value that lies in the community itself, not in applications. And it demonstrated that communities need not be that large in order to have significant value. If the demographic that the website connects to might be valuable to marketers, or to other community-builders, there is profit opportunity.

Many general-interest communities like MetaFilter, Fark, craigslist and so on do not target specific demographics, although undoubtedly most users of these sites are between 16 and 40 and likely work in desk jobs. It is well understood that many web communities are currently dominated by techies, although it is unclear to what degree this will continue. As the internet increases its accessibility, wider demographics will form communities devoted to their particular interests. It is in these niche-based communities where significant opportunity exists, partly because there are so many possible areas to develop, but also because access to users with particular interests is valuable to marketers.