Community
Community Building on the Web
This is the guidebook I hand out to anyone serious about building online communities. Not just merchants, but citizen groups, hobbyists, ethnic supporters--anyone nurturing an embryonic tribe. Most of what we know so far about how to build real communities on the Web is contained herein.
-- KK
Community Building on the Web
Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities
Amy Jo Kim
2000, 360 pages
$17
Peachpit Press
Amazon
Excerpt:
Any community with a rating system can have "champions" by highlighting the top performers--for example, eBay acknowledges and rewards members with the highest feedback scores. And Motley Fool uses their message board rating system to showcase members whose posts are consistently highly rated. Again, drawing attention to good performance will show all your members what success looks like and will motivate some of your most valuable members to stay involved.
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If you are running a small, not-for-profit community like a bookclub or mutual support group, you'll naturally turn to volunteers. But if you've got a growing Web community that has strategic goals and quarterly budget reports, deciding who gets paid and who doesn't becomes more complicated. Some communities, like the Motley Fool, avoid the issue altogether by having all their official community leaders on staff. With paid leaders, you'll retain more control over your brand and be able to run a more professional organization because staff and contractors are legally bound to fulfill their duties. On the other hand, a struggling Web community can incur a serious financial burden if it relies solely on paid leaders.
Most large-scale Web communities--like Talk City, Ultima Online, GeoCities, Simutronics, CNN, and AOL --walk this line by developing a tiered leadership structure that includes full-time staff, part-time contractors, and shifting ranks of volunteers. If you expect to have such a mix, you should launch your leadership program with paid, experienced leaders if you can afford it. This will let you attract people who know what they're doing, avoid the ambiguities of dealing with volunteers, and get your program off on the right foot. These experienced leaders can then help you set up the infrastructure and policies for your volunteer leadership program.