A Guide to Successful Community Building: Lessons from Reddit and Digg

A Guide to Successful Community Building: Lessons fromredditanddigg
An Executive Summary
A report by Heather Morrison & UjwalArkalgud, May 2011

Online communities on a cultural continuum
Sequentia Environics recently completed a rigorous three month Digital Ethnographic study that focused onredditanddigg. Our research demonstrates that every successful online community requires the existence of six key countercultural* elements pertaining to design, social interaction and structure.
The best way to understand the importance of these characteristics is through a cultural continuum. The further an online community moves from core countercultural characteristics (such as democracy or anonymity), the weaker the community becomes. At the break point, communities begin to take the form of content distribution and syndication networks that lack kinship or user-initiated collective action.
*counter-culture can be defined as a group whose behaviour deviates from the societal norm

Lessons From reddit and digg
Our conclusions are driven by a Digital Ethnographic study of two of the most prominent and evolving communities today,redditanddigg. These conclusions were further strengthened by our review of historical communities such as the WELL, Tribe.net and Friendster.
A rigorous three month qualitative research process helped us unearth and understand how counter-culture characteristics manifest themselves in a community setting and help spur growth. Drifting away from these characteristics can often result in a steep decline in community membership, or in extreme cases, the death of the community.
When comparing the countercultural elements ofdiggandreddit, it was apparent thatdiggwas migrating toward the break point of the Cultural Continuum and becoming more of a content distribution network.reddit, meanwhile, has continued to maintain many of the basic countercultural characteristics necessary to support a strong and self-sustaining community.

reddit and digg in Relation to the Cultural Continuum
The influence of counterculture values withinredditis easy to see. These includes a minimalistic design, user-created sub-communities, self-moderation and an overarching altruistic motive.
Recent changes todigg’sdesign and overall community structure have gradually realigned community values, pushing the site closer to a content distribution network or news website.
diggis tantalizingly close to losing its “community” status

Six key insights for building successful communities
Our study ofdiggandredditdemonstrates that there are six key counter-cultural elements are necessary to create a successful and self-sustaining community in today’s environment:
Optional anonymity
The ability for users to remain private helps shift focus to issues rather than individuals
Democracy
A strong community is driven by a need for collective action and a change in the balance of power
Earned authority
While authority is tolerated in communities, it must be earned rather than appointed
A strong sense of purpose
Every community needs a collective agenda that goes beyond products, services or tactical activities
Transparency in operation and intent
The heart of an online community involves its relationship to an Anarchist or Libertarian agenda. Transparency in operation forms a critical piece of that agenda.
Inclusive ownership with scale
Every community should provide a mechanism for members to take ownership of certain areas of interest. This is especially important as a community begins to grow, as it allows for the development of collective identities.

Leverging These Insights to Build Successful Communities
The adoption of these six critical countercultural elements can occur in a number of different ways:
Community design
Layout
Look and feel
Vernacular
Structure
Moderation
Ethos
Rules and regulations
If you are unable to incorporate these elements into your community, you may consider the creation of a group or content syndication network. The following slide provides some simple examples of how you can look to apply these 6 elements within your communities. It is important however to remember that the extent to which you choose to adopt these elements will depend on the type of audience you want within your community.

Leveraging the Counterculture to Build Successful Online Communities

Download our full report, at no cost
For a detailed look at how countercultural elements can improve overall community health, download our full report.
Contact us for more information
SequentiaEnvironics
Phone 1.416.203.3656
info@sequentiaenvironics.com
Authors
UjwalArkalgud
@interpretivist
ujwal.arkalgud@sequentiaenvironics.com
Heather Morrison
@hmorrison
heather.morrison@sequentiaenvironics.com

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A Guide to Successful Community Building: Lessons from Reddit and Digg

by Sequentia on May 26, 2011

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A Guide to Successful Community Building: Lessons from Reddit and Digg — Presentation Transcript