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Community, by Design

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IntroductionPlan (+ break)PlantGrow

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What is this... community?

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Latter-dayWebmaster

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Where do you fit in?

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Let’s do an exercise!

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But what about...

Digg

MySpace

Facebook

Friendster

Twitter

Epicurious

Fark

Threadless

LinkedIn

Craigslist

Scrapbooking

Wikipedia

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Our Assumptions

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A group of people who have come together

around common interests, in a defined

space, around a shared social object.

Individuals inhabit different implied and stated roles, and are governed by different

implied and stated rules.

Mechanisms exist for allowing these rules and norms to take form, and for enforcing them once

they exist.

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SomeGuidelines

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You’re not really in charge.

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MessyUnpredictable

Complex

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Design matters.

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Church

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Stadium

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Needs change over

time.

Iteration

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Patience

ExamplesExamplesExamples

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1) Planning the garden

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2) Planting the garden

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3) Growing the garden

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Group Exercises

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PART 1: PLAN YOUR GARDEN

Purpose

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What kind of community are you

building?

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Is your space a community, or a

network?

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Complimentary

Competitive

Collaborative

Combative

Your Assumptions

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How heavyis your hand?

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Good fences make good neighbors

Open or private?

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Who are we trying to keep out?

• Where are you on these spectrums?

Some either-ors to consider

Where are you on the following spectrums?

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Private versus Public?

Commercialversus

non-commercial?

Siloed versus part of a larger network or

ecosystem?

Community exist entirely within your site versus enable behaviors

outside your site?

Democratic versus dictatorial?

Technical versusnon-technical?

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Group Exercise!

• Private versus public

• Commercial versus non-commercial

• Siloed or part of a larger ecosystem

• Entirely your own or enabling outside behaviors

• Technical versus non-technical

• Democratic versus dictatorial

Where do you fall?

Metrics for Success

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• You will be judged on some set of criteria

• It's better if you're the one who has defined these criteria

• And you're more likely to deliver on that, too, if it's in line with your desires

This is hard but IMPORTANT

Look for metrics that will act as effective

proxies for your idea of success

So, what do you want?

• Great data

• Tons of "eyeballs"

• New business growth

• Higher product sales

• Selling more products to the same people

• New product ideas

So, what do you want?

• Great data

• Tons of "eyeballs"

• New business growth

• Higher product sales

• Selling more products to the same people

• New product ideas

So, what do you want?

• Regular community engagement

• Obsessive community engagement

• Identifying community evangelists

• Better word of mouth

Growth above all!

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Group Exercise!

What are the success metrics for your

community?

Yet more decisions to make

Technology

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Team

Chief Community Officer,Community Manager, everybody else, too

How does your community team

interact with other team members?

Oh and one last thing...

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EVERYTHING YOU'VE DECIDED SO FAR IS

WRONG

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Get comfortable with the fact that most of

your decisions will need to change

PLANT YOUR GARDEN

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PART 2:

Launched! Now what?

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Now what?

Don’t look likea graveyard

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• How do you get the word out?

• Who shows up first?

• Identifying and recruiting first users

How do youget the

word out?

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Have a hook

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Get Active(and get activity)

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Be your site’s biggest user

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Add apersonal

touch

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Give them a taste

Give early adopters a sense of ownership

Seed wisely

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Dealwith

feedback

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Blog it!

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Group Exercise!

Community Guidelines

Do:• Use a human tone

• Be clear and rational

• Make it clear where the lines are

• Make it clear where your authority lies

• Explain how and why people will get removed from the system

• Get the lawyers involved

Don’t:

• Let the lawyers run the show

• Be vague or noncommittal

• Let this one go until after you’ve launched

Our favorite: Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne

Our favorite: Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne

EVERYTHING YOU'VE DECIDED SO FAR IS

WRONG

http://www.flickr.com/photos/monikahoinkis/