Community Spirit

Elyse Sanchez, Tuesday, April 10, 2007 @ 1:20 pm

Although the concept of community has become an integral, high-profile component of the vision of Web 2.0, as an online system of communication and collaboration it is an elder statesman of the internet, preceding the birth of the World Wide Web. Message boards such as Usenet, created in 1980 (and now archived by Google), and electronic mailing lists such as Listserv, pioneered conventions that continue to thrive today, such as groups organized around specific topics and interests that promote spirited virtual dialogues. In fact, the popularity of flickr, YouTube and MySpace prove that communities can be centered around virtually any media. And while text-based innovations, such as blogs, RSS feeds, and collaboration tools such as wikis have expanded the options for participating in community, the basic principles for creating and maintaining successful communities remain relatively constant. Following are a couple of best practices for working on community features.

Moderation is Key: A site I recently worked on imposed excessive autonomy on the participants in its communities by tightly restricting the type and number of categories, and, in fact, originating the initial post of every thread. On the other hand, everyone has had experiences with unmoderated communities that can quickly descend into the fiery pit of flame war territory. However, a too-strong editorial presence is stifling to community members and curbs participation. Create and publicize a community charter and allow the community to create its own dynamic, drivers and personality.

Keep Your Focus: Usenet’s expansive taxonomy has created literally hundreds of niche communities that appeal to people of all interests. If there’s a gap, an interested party can simply create a new group. Common interests, shared passions are powerful motivators to visit and participate in a special-interest community. In contrast, the plethora of Craigslist sites literalizes the notion of localized, virtually full-service communities, and serve as a virtual version of the town bulletin board. My recent project experience uncovered a widespread and highly knowledgeable group of “prosumer” photographers eager to share their experiences with different printers and software products.

Business-to-Consumer communities, as well, tend to create individualized zones. Amazon’s customer reviews are specific to an individual product. Amazon has created an environment where people feel comfortable expressing their opinions and advising—whether negatively or positively—potential purchasers of the product. The Interactive Movie Data Base has implemented a message board area for each film on the site (an example of an unmoderated site with high emotional output).

In contrast, communities built around personalities such as Oprah or Martha Stewart tend to attract participants who are looking to a trusted expert for information and advice, rather than to initiate a peer discussion.

user experience design

Comments

• Leave a comment
• Comment feed for this post
• TrackBack URL

None so far.

Leave a comment