proprietary and confidential © 2008 ibelong networks, inc. community: a primer on living together...
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Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Community: A primer on living together online
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
What is community?
• Definition– a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common
characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists
• Origin– the Latin prefix com- (which means "together")
– and the word munis probably originally derived from the Etruscan word munis- (meaning "to have the charge of").
– So literally: together we have charge of
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Paleocommunity—Interacting offline
Gatherings of like individuals exchanging ideas and information is as old as…well civilization.
Why you should stop worrying and learn to love community
Plato’s Academy
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Paleocommunity—Interacting offline
Socrates was the perhaps first community participant expelled for a Terms of Service violation
Why you should stop worrying and learn to love community
Of course there are risks.
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Paleocommunity—Interacting offline
In modern times party lines were seen as an easy-to-use way for people to meet and get to know each other.
Why you should stop worrying and learn to love community
Party Line Telephones
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Paleocommunity—Interacting offline
And they still are!
Why you should stop worrying and learn to love community
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
You may already have experience in community if you…
• Conduct focus groups or advisory panels
• Offer a suggestion box to employees or clients
• Attend conferences or attend tradeshows
• Advertise
• Do promotions or buy promotional materials
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.© Copyright MITAGroup, Inc. 2007
The Evolution of Community Online
IRC &Usenet
Homesteading and Personal
Websites
Blogs, WikisSocial Networks
InformationExchanges
Forums, Chat, Instant Messaging
Content CentricUnstructuredUbiquitous
Pre-web Web 1.0 Web 2.0 Web 3.0
Structured Unstructured
Communication Evolution
User CentricHorizontal DecentralizedHigher Participation Rate
“Destination” Centric Hierarchical
Low Participation Rate
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Successful Online Communities
• In existence since 1985• Moved from pre-web into a web-based community• Multi-Channel, general interest • Forum/Message Board community, some social networking• Paid subscriptions
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Successful Online Communities
• 1992-2000• Well-Like community combined with dial-up access• Multi-Channel, general interest• Forums, instant messaging, chat, homesteading, social
networking
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Successful Online Communities
• 1995-• Web personals• Member profile, profile matching, member-to-member
communications• Paid subscriptions, advertising
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Successful Online Communities
• 1995-• Buyer/Seller transactional community• 100 million members strong• Stores, catalogs, auction tools• Seller posts, buyer auctions, seller reputation
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Successful Online Communities
• 2001-• A collaborative, community-driven encyclopedia• 10 million articles, 250 languages• Wiki• Free, users enter articles or edit existing articles
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
What makes an effective community?
• Relatively large group of motivated people• A clear purpose or defining rationale• Related set of interactions• Users define context• Dynamic: lots of content that changes
frequently• Leaders key to success• They didn’t happen overnight
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
What others have learned
Source: Tribalization of Business
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Community Audience
80% +
10% - 15%
3% - 10%
0% - 3%
Why success factors matter…
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Where might you use “community?”
• Internally: – Collaborative Market intelligence– Communicating with sales force or partners– Best practice or knowledge sharing networks– Senior manage blogs or podcasts– Wiki-Based collaboration around sales or technical documents– A social network to help find “experts” within your organization
• External– “Crowd Sourcing” with clients to plan the next product– Communicating tech library, recall and warranty information to
current customers– Collaborative help desk communities– Advocacy and public affairs efforts– PR and promotions
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Questions to ask when starting a community
• Why am I doing this?• What do I want out of it?• Who is my audience?• What do they want out of this?• What kind of community best fulfills my goals and my
audience’s expectations?• How do I attract people?• How do I keep them coming back?• How will I manage this after I start it?• How do I measure success?
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Things to remember
• Community is a process, not a product
• Community is about people, not technology
• Communities are grown not launched
• Not “nice to have”…essential and integrated
• Successful community doesn’t mean you’re accomplishing anything
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Things to remember
• If you’re afraid to hear what people say, don’t ask in the first place
• If people want to misuse your content and brand they don’t need your community to do it.
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
Community killers
Finding people, getting them to interact and finding the time manage
Proprietary and Confidential © 2008 iBelong Networks, Inc.
How to start
• If you need help, get it– Vendors may not be the best advisors– Your IT shop may not be either
• Make a plan– Not a community plan…a plan to use community– Plan to spend money, but don’t over-invest– Experiment! Take chances!– Don’t hurry– Recruiting and keeping participants is the hardest part
• Start small, build on success– Good team = good community– Nurture leaders and early adopters– Cheat if you have to