david hinds - how to grow a vibrant virtual community 19jan09
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How to Grow Vibrant Virtual Communities
Presented to:The Social Media Club of South Florida
January 19, 2009
David Hinds, Ph.D., P.E.
Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences
Huizenga School of Business, NSU
dhinds@nova.edu
Outline
• What is a “virtual community”?
• Types of virtual communities
– Why should we care?
• How to grow a vibrant virtual community1) Identify population needs
2) Design the host platform
3) Provide seeds
4) Facilitate and guide
2
“Social media”
• Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings.[1] The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. [2] This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).
• URL accessed 20jan09: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
3What is a Virtual Community?
What is a Virtual Community?
• A virtual community is a population of individuals with shared or complementary interests who interact across a host platform.
• Not all social media, user-generated content or Web 2.0 initiatives are virtual communities
• The key defining feature of a virtual community is the presence of collective feedback in which bothcontribution and use are open
4What is a Virtual Community?
5
Collective feedback process
Virtual community
Open
contributionOpen use
Facilitator &
core group
Host
platform
What is a Virtual Community?
Types of Virtual Communities
1) Socializing – Facebook, Second Life
2) Gaming – Everquest, Full Tilt Poker
3) Content Sharing – YouTube, BitTorrent
4) Knowledge Sharing – Wikipedia, Slashdot, SMC…
5) Activism – MoveOn, ImmigrationVoice
6) Development – Linux, InnovationJam
7) Exchange – eBay, Craigslist
By defining types, we can learn from others!
6Types of Virtual Communities
Why Should We Care?
• Strategic opportunity (and threat)
– Facebook and YouTube
– Industry disruptions especially in media, entertainment and computers
• Marketing opportunity (and threat)
– Alli weight-loss program (Alli Circles)
– Dell Hell
• Management approach
– IBM InnovationJam
7Types of Virtual Communities
Some Valuations
• Facebook - $15 billion (in 3.5 years)– Presently about 300 employees– $50 million per employee (Microsoft minority purchase)
• YouTube - $1.65 billion (in less than 2 years)– In 2006, had 67 employees– $22 million per employee (Google buyout)
• Compare with (as of March ‘08):– Microsoft @ $4 million per employee– eBay @ $3.6 million per employee– General Electric @ $1 million per employee– General Motors @ $76,000 per employee
8Types of Virtual Communities
World of Warcraft
• December 23, 2008 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®, its award-winning subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now played by more than 11.5 million subscribers worldwide
@ Subscription cost: $14.99 per month
= $2 Billion annual revenues
9Types of Virtual Communities
Suppliers of Web Server Software – Market Share
(Source: Netcraft Web Server Survey, November 2008)
10Types of Virtual Communities
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Text-based
forumsSource code
repositories
Wikis
3D-avatar
environments
Tagging
The Well
Usenet
newsgroups
Linux
MySpace
YouTube
User profiles
Individuals
Non-profit
organizations
Corporate
strategic
eBay
Corporate
marketing
Corporate
management
Enab
ling
Technolo
gie
sH
osts
SourceForge
Wikipedia Second Life
Weblogs
(blogs)
Del.icio.us
Web 2.0Arpanet www
Everquest
Virtual Community Technologies and HostsH
ost ty
pes
11Types of Virtual Communities
Growing a Virtual Community
1) Identify population needs
2) Design the host platform
3) Provide seeds
4) Facilitate and guide
Like “growing a garden”
12How to Grow a Vibrant Virtual Community
1. Identify Population Needs1) Socializing
Seek approval, support, friendship
2) Gaming
Need for competition, entertainment, fantasy
3) Content Sharing
Need for specific content, desire to express or promote
4) Knowledge Sharing
Require knowledge for a purpose, desire to build reputation
5) Activism
Desire for specific action (e.g. political action)
6) Development
Need for specific artifacts, desire to build skills, need to feel accomplishment
7) Exchange
Buyers and sellers, service providers and service users
131. Identify Population Needs
SMC: Population Needs
• “…to help people find all the relevant communities of interest in which they want to participate. We want to help you explore your personal and professional passions by helping you connect with a community of your peers based on both geography and areas of interest.”
• URL accessed 19jan09: http://www.socialmediaclub.org/about/social-media-club-a-short-history-a-long-and-bright-future/
141. Identify Population Needs
2a. Select platform technology
• Technology design for collective feedback
– Threaded discussion (SMC Blog?)
– Personal space
– Virtual landscape
– Text-based repository (SMC special projects wiki)
– Other repository (SMC)
– Others …
152. Design the Host Platform
Threaded discussion (SourceForge)
162. Design the Host Platform
Personal space (MySpace)
172. Design the Host Platform
Virtual landscape (ESPN Poker Club)
182. Design the Host Platform
Text-based repository (Wikipedia)
192. Design the Host Platform
Other repository (Epinions)
202. Design the Host Platform
2b. Set the policies and design the procedures and processes
• Host platform includes both technology andpolicy/process
• Key policy decision: who is authorized to do what?
• The platform defines the “protocol of interaction”
• The platform also enables the collective feedback process to occur
212. Design the Host Platform
SMC: Policies
“In looking at what is most important to us, it would seem most appropriate to focus our efforts on the four areas of our core mission:1. Expand Media Literacy
2. Share Lessons Learned Among Practitioners
3. Encourage Adoption of Industry Standards
4. Promote Ethical Practices through Discussion and Actions
From here, it is important to note that anyone in the advisory group (and any member of the community) may propose projects for the club to support.”
• URL accessed 19jan09: http://www.socialmediaclub.org/projects/
222. Design the Host Platform
23
Collective feedback in Wikipedia
Articles
Posting Repository
Community of
“Wikipedians”
Abusive or
inappropriate
contribution?
Submitted
article
Submitted
change
Prior versions
are saved
Revert to
prior version
Moderators
only
Anyone
Yes
2. Design the Host Platform
24
Collective feedback in Slashdot
Troll
filters
Moderator
review
Comment
Contribution
Portal
Initial
posting Comments
Initial
submission
OSDN
review
Ratings
attached
Facilitator (sponsor)
only
Moderators
only
Anyone
Troll
filters
Comment
Contribution
Portal
Initial
posting Comments
Initial
submission
Ratings
attached
Posting Repository
Community of
“Nerds”Threshold
filters
2. Design the Host Platform
3. Provide Seeds
• Initial postings to public forums by key contributors
• Early game players
• Seed source code provided by founders of open source software projects
253. Provide Seeds
SMC: The Founders
• “SMC is Chris and Kristie’s labor of love. From day one, they focused on growing the organization organically as there were only two of them working on the organization on a part time basis …”
• URL accessed 19jan09: http://www.socialmediaclub.org/about/social-media-club-a-short-history-a-long-and-bright-future/
263. Provide Seeds
4. Facilitate and Guide
• Focus on attracting and motivating participants– Pay attention to community needs
– Make it as easy as possible
– Recruit key members to minimize cost
• Provide just the right amount of structure– Do not command and control
• Respect the norms and culture of the community– Beware that virtual communities tend to set their own
direction
• Be aware of specific legal considerations
274. Facilitate and Guide
SMC: Facilitating Collective Feedback
• “SMC has fallen short on some of our goals - primarily, not connecting the groups as well as we would have liked, and we need to ensure the knowledge shared at SMC chapter events is then pushed back into the system so all can utilize … when groups are talking about a certain topic, we need to ensure there are digital scribes in the room who are then responsible for bringing that info back into the SMC ‘portal’ so other cities can then use it for their events or members can read up on what is hot in that community. ”
• URL accessed 19jan09: http://www.socialmediaclub.org/about/social-media-club-a-short-history-a-long-and-bright-future/
284. Facilitate and Guide
Relevant publications
• Armstrong, A. G. and J. I. Hagel (1996). "The real value of online communities." Harvard Business Review: 134-141.
•
• Benkler, Y. (2006). The wealth of networks: how social production transforms markets and freedom. New Haven, Conn., Yale University Press.
•
• Rheingold, H. (1993). The virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier. Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley.
•
• Tapscott, D. and A. D. Williams (2006). Wikinomics: how mass collaboration changes everything. New York, NY, Penguin Group.
•
• Timmers, P. (1998). "Business models for electronic markets." EM - Electronic Markets 8(2): 3-8.
29
Thank you!
David Hinds
dhinds@nova.edu
30
Team vs. Virtual Community
Microsoft
(team)
Apache
(virtual
community)
31Types of Virtual Communities
Threadless: a creative hybrid• Users can submit T-shirt designs and rate submitted designs
– 800 designs submitted weekly– 200,000 design reviews weekly– Design tools available on web site
• Weekly design winner gets $2,000 and IP rights to the design other than for T-shirts
• Threadless produces and sells T-shirts with winning design
• With only 25 employees … a highly profitable hosting model
• Combining aspects of 3 markets/models– Gaming: competition– Development: design tools– Exchange: content sharing
• What if YouTube sponsored a video production competition?
32
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