Creating a Blog Community
A sense of community comes from shared purpose. What purpose will attract the general public to your site? The SofTECH meeting had 4 examples of attractors.
In the case of the Dean campaign, it was a political contest. Each side had a candidate, and the public interested in the contest joined the discussion of the issues. But it was not a general discussion, or a prolonged open-ended formulation of ideas. It was a focused debate that had a deadline. It would be interesting to know to what extent that focus remains, and what topics remain as drivers of community.
On Edmunds.com, the motivator comes from a group of people who use their choice of transportation as a social connection. It is not the public in general. Most people don't define themselves in terms of their car. So what turns an object like a car into a substitute for a persona? Whatever causes that transference drives the discussions.
It would seem like "community" among business owners would have a more task oriented set of reasons for discussions. Whether these are business regulations, local conditions or political processes, the outcomes of these group conclusions have financial implications.
In a non-profit atmosphere, where a large percentage of the labor comes from volunteers, the social aspects of the work are a large part in keeping people focused on the task at hand. Either they are treated to personal attention from key members of the non-profit staff, they participate in some group activity, or they have a personal interest in the non-profit's purpose.
To set up a site that forms community, it would probably be good to discover the connectors of that community, the people everyone knows. If they are interested in the idea of a community blog, and they write about their interests, they will draw other people.
Engaging existing social connector institutions would be another possibility. Perhaps churches members would congregate to post social events on a blog.
Sports Clubs might be another source of people with common interests. Bicycle clubs, sailing clubs, tennis clubs, swimming clubs, dancing clubs all have events. Perhaps the social leaders of those clubs would consider public planning of those events to interest other people, and encourage participation.
Pets, fashion, food, bargains, contests and public recognition are motivators. People group themselves around those topics because they have a personal interest in them. They use them to define themselves, and seek opportunities to pursue their chosen sense of self.
How those individual interests can be turned into a general sense of community is more difficult. Computer people and social people may not have many common interests.
Social bloggers may not have much in common with people in business. Unless the blog editor can identify the threads that draw people in, it may be difficult to form a blog with the express purpose of community.
Like an artist faced with a block of marble, it may be that the raw material of a community blog has a soul of it's own, and a potential blog community administrator should approach the act of creation as a discovery process, not as a way to accomplish any specific aim.
In the case of the Dean campaign, it was a political contest. Each side had a candidate, and the public interested in the contest joined the discussion of the issues. But it was not a general discussion, or a prolonged open-ended formulation of ideas. It was a focused debate that had a deadline. It would be interesting to know to what extent that focus remains, and what topics remain as drivers of community.
On Edmunds.com, the motivator comes from a group of people who use their choice of transportation as a social connection. It is not the public in general. Most people don't define themselves in terms of their car. So what turns an object like a car into a substitute for a persona? Whatever causes that transference drives the discussions.
It would seem like "community" among business owners would have a more task oriented set of reasons for discussions. Whether these are business regulations, local conditions or political processes, the outcomes of these group conclusions have financial implications.
In a non-profit atmosphere, where a large percentage of the labor comes from volunteers, the social aspects of the work are a large part in keeping people focused on the task at hand. Either they are treated to personal attention from key members of the non-profit staff, they participate in some group activity, or they have a personal interest in the non-profit's purpose.
To set up a site that forms community, it would probably be good to discover the connectors of that community, the people everyone knows. If they are interested in the idea of a community blog, and they write about their interests, they will draw other people.
Engaging existing social connector institutions would be another possibility. Perhaps churches members would congregate to post social events on a blog.
Sports Clubs might be another source of people with common interests. Bicycle clubs, sailing clubs, tennis clubs, swimming clubs, dancing clubs all have events. Perhaps the social leaders of those clubs would consider public planning of those events to interest other people, and encourage participation.
Pets, fashion, food, bargains, contests and public recognition are motivators. People group themselves around those topics because they have a personal interest in them. They use them to define themselves, and seek opportunities to pursue their chosen sense of self.
How those individual interests can be turned into a general sense of community is more difficult. Computer people and social people may not have many common interests.
Social bloggers may not have much in common with people in business. Unless the blog editor can identify the threads that draw people in, it may be difficult to form a blog with the express purpose of community.
Like an artist faced with a block of marble, it may be that the raw material of a community blog has a soul of it's own, and a potential blog community administrator should approach the act of creation as a discovery process, not as a way to accomplish any specific aim.
posted by jbell at
3:15 PM
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