Demystifying Online Communities
<p class=default>
By NHN Staff
<br/>
May 27, 1999
</p><p>
Today's "Hey... Guru!" is Dan Shafer, Editorial Director of CNET's
Builder.com --
<br/>
the leading online resource for web developers. In this piece, Dan
explores the
<br/>
myths and mysteries of developing online communities.
</p><p>
</p><p>
1.How would you define what an "online community is?" Is that the
<br/>
best/most current term to use?
</p><p>
I think the notion of "virtual communities" is probably a
broader and
<br/>
therefore more usable term than "online communities." A virtual
<br/>
community is a gathering of people with a common interest or
passion. It
<br/>
"meets" in virtual space and may be real-time (e.g., chat) or
time-shifted
<br/>
(e.g., discussion boards) or even some combination of the two.
</p><p>
2.What are some common misconceptions and myths about building
online
<br/>
communities?
</p><p>
Perhaps the biggest single misconception about virtual
communities is
<br/>
that they can be created. You cannot create a community. If you
build it,
<br/>
they will most decidedly _not_ come. You must identify an
existing
<br/>
community and give its members a place to gather and share. The
<br/>
community may not even be aware of its existence as a community
at
<br/>
the outset. For example, at CNET Builder.com, I launched our
virtual
<br/>
community for Web builders called Builder Buzz in the belief
that people
<br/>
who build Web sites have enough in common that they constitute a
<br/>
community and that this community did not at the time have any
virtual
<br/>
space in which to hang out. So we provided a place and some
facilities
<br/>
for the community and it gathered itself.
</p><p>
The other misconception I see a lot when people discuss virtual
<br/>
communities is that there is a single "right" answer about how
to build or
<br/>
manage such entities. A chat room for young people to hang out
in is
<br/>
much different from a professional discussion board like Builder
Buzz,
<br/>
for example. When I was starting my Web career, I helped launch
Salon
<br/>
Magazine's Table Talk area; it grew altogether differently from
the
<br/>
Builder Buzz because Table Talk is a social and political forum,
not a
<br/>
technical or professional one. So it's important to recognize
what makes
<br/>
your community different from others and to design your virtual
<br/>
community to take advantage of its strengths and minimize the
potential
<br/>
negative impact of its problem areas.
</p><p>
3.What are some of your cardinal principles for building online
<br/>
communities?
</p><p>
It's probably too early for cardinal principles, so how about
some bishop
<br/>
ideas?
</p><p>
a.You should understand and be part of the community before
<br/>
you open a virtual place for it to gather.
<br/>
b.It would be good if you were seen as a leader in the
community
<br/>
before you open your doors, but at least you need to be
<br/>
informed and seen as such.
<br/>
c.Communities are like families: they need rules and
boundaries.
<br/>
You should generally keep these boundaries fairly broad and
<br/>
general, but they should be clear at the outset.
<br/>
d.Be very careful about what virtual community tool you
choose.
<br/>
You're likely stuck with it forever. Communities that make
radical
<br/>
tool and UI changes lose members in droves.
<br/>
e.Pick a community tool/service that is extensible and
flexible. You
<br/>
cannot know up front everything your community is going to
<br/>
want in return for staying in your clubhouse.
<br/>
f.After your community reaches critical mass, natural leaders
<br/>
emerge from the members. Empower these people and make
<br/>
them famous. The rewards are immense.
</p><p>
4.What are the different types of online communities, and their
different
<br/>
functions/ purposes?
</p><p>
There are so many different types of virtual communities that it
would
<br/>
take a very long time -- and lots of bits -- simply to enumerate
them. But
<br/>
to oversimplify in an effort to bring some order out of the
chaos, I think
<br/>
of communities as being divided into a 2x2 matrix. Across the
top of the
<br/>
matrix are the two basic approaches to community interaction:
chat and
<br/>
boards. Along the vertical axis are the two basic purposes of
<br/>
community: social and professional. So we have four basic types
of
<br/>
boards:
<br/>
professional chat (almost non-existent and largely
unhelpful)
<br/>
social chat (very popular)
<br/>
professional boards (increasingly deployed and useful both
on
<br/>
intranets and on the Web)
<br/>
social boards (also quite popular and widespread)
</p><p>
The big plus behind boards is that there is time for you to
consider your
<br/>
response to a question or criticism before you send it. Chat, on
the other
<br/>
hand, offers immediacy and spontaneity, which is likely why they
are so
<br/>
popular in social settings.
</p><p>
Boards can be further sub-divided into threaded and linear
discussions.
<br/>
Threaded discussions allow you to respond to individual posts
with or
<br/>
without having read the entire discussion. Linear discussions are
<br/>
typically simply collections of messages; you probably need to
read all
<br/>
or most of the collection if you want to participate
intelligently.
</p><p>
5.What might a state-of-the-art online community look like, say,
in the year
<br/>
2001?
</p><p>
I doubt that the fundamentals of virtual communities will be much
<br/>
different in 2001 than they are now. After all, stamp clubs and
<br/>
gardening clubs and parenting groups haven't changed all that
much in
<br/>
the past 100 years. People gather and they want to do many of the
<br/>
same things online they do in the real world.
</p><p>
The place that is most ripe for change is in the interface, the
richness of
<br/>
the Web/community interaction. Avatars (characters that stand in
for
<br/>
you in a community and tell the other members something about
you by
<br/>
their appearance or size, for example) will become more
ubiquitous in
<br/>
chat areas. We'll get better at focusing and personalizing
discussions
<br/>
for you. But I don't see radical change in the next couple of
years in this
<br/>
arena.
<br/>
</p>