Business savvy.

FROM OUR BLOG

• "If you build it, they will come"
  Um, no.  At least not in community and social networking applications.
  
  Growing a community or social network is like tending a garden: you have to plant the things you want, and then feed, water, and weed them.  Without that - depending on your climate - you either end up with a bare patch of ground or a garden full of weeds.
  
  A surprising number of organizations, even big companies, throw lots of money at a community and design gorgeous software with fancy web 2.0 bells and whistles, and then put it out there and expect it to grow itself.
  
  The first problem, even with plenty of traffic, is the empty room phenomenon: the first people arrive, look around, see that the place is deserted and take off.  People don't tend to want to be the first ones to a party, and they aren't inclined to stick around and try to "get something started."  People who do post something don't get a response, and they also give up and go elsewhere.
  
  The solution to that is called - aptly enough - seeding.  Before launch, you gather a number of people who can be relied upon to ask good questions and provide the kind of dialogue you would like to see on your site in the best case scenario.  Ask them to post for a week or two and develop some content.  These initial seeders are, in effect, role models for the people coming after them.  Then, when you open the site to the public, the first visitors won't feel like they're the first humans to tread on that ground, and will be more likely to participate and return.
  
  Another important ingredient is the human touch.  Real live humans need to be available to answer questions, encourage conversations, and pull the weeds.  These people can either be employees or passionate community members, but it is essential that they stop by frequently and do what needs to be done, whether it is moderating posts or helping newcomers find their way around, or posting thoughtful replies.  It may sound like a small thing, but it has been shown that simply responding positively to a visitor's very first post makes it much more likely that they will become regular visitors and participants.
  
  Without someone to do this, the community can be dominated by bullies.  Your carefully considered topics can fill with objectionable posts or spam.  Fights between community members might be the most "interesting" thing posted. Or worse yet, nobody might post much of anything.
  
  It costs money to pay someone to do this so sometimes organizations try to cut corners and skip this step.  But it's critically important if you want to have a healthy community - people provide the human touch that even the most sophisticated, well-designed software tools can't.  After all the time and energy you've spent setting up your community or social networking space, give it the best chance of success by handling the human side as well as you handled the software side.
  Categories: online community, social networking
  
  
  -- Sue Boettcher, Director of Community Development
  

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