Fostering Online
Communities
Lessons from Open Source
and Grassroots Development
Tara Hunt & Chris Messina
Citizen Agency

the agenda
who are we?
1. what is community?
2. fostering a sense of community
3. the process
questions?

who are we?
Tara Hunt Chris Messina
horsepigcow.com factoryjoe.com

~1~
What is community?

community
Community can include the dimensions
of geographic location, psychological
ties and/or people working together
toward a common goal.

virtual community
A virtual space supported by computer-based
information technology, centered upon
communication and interaction of participants
to generate member-driven content, resulting
in relationships being built up.
— Lee & Vogel, 2003

characteristics of a
virtual community
• personal homepage/profile
(ie. url.com/people/missrogue)
• personal content creation
• ability to interact with others’ content
• ability to ‘friend’ and share content

succession
community
visitor customer
member

benefits of community
• heightened customer loyalty
• self-policing
• amplified word of mouth
• better feedback
• stronger & more personal filters on
content

~2~
Fostering a Sense of
Community

motivation
"What keeps them logging in as a regular
part of their routine? Because there is a
benefit to the person that makes a real
difference in their lives....if it helps you
find your next job, or connects you with a
new friend, or fulfills that need to have
good conversation with a bunch of bright
people, then it becomes a real bargain."
— John Coate, “Cyberspace Innkeeping:
Building Online Community, 1993”

sense of community
1. Feelings of membership
2. Feelings of influence
3. Integration and fulfillment of needs
4. Shared emotional connection
— McMillan and Chavis, 1986

feelings of membership
• arise from the creation of
community boundaries
• perception of emotional safety
• sense of belonging to and
identification with
• use of common symbols,
language, etc.

feelings of membership
• includes: personal profile pages,
'friending', defining groups within the
larger group (groups), invitations to
groups
• allow for lots of personal & group
expression
• greet new members and introduce
them to others with similar interests

feelings of influence
• being able to influence group (voice
heard)
• being able to be influenced by group
(learning)
• feedback responsiveness
• rule enforcement and creation by
members
• maintenance of norms within the group

feelings of influence
• includes: forums, chat, comments,
blogging, personalized mail, groups
• create many ways in which members
can connect and platforms for expression

Flickr Groups

Facebook Groups

integration and
fulfillment of needs
• feeling of being supported by others
• rewards of being a member, such as
status, expertise
• shared values
• feeling of competence within group

integration and
fulfillment of needs
• includes: status rewards, featuring
members, vips, karma points, etc.
• 'in crowd' knowledge - acorns,
tricks, traditions & rituals

Spread Firefox

Last.fm

karma
hot list
3%!
plazes

shared emotional
connection
• relationships, shared history & experience
• high quality, frequent interaction
• discrete/shared events/history and crisis
• personal investment of time and resources
• the effect of honor and humiliation
• spiritual bonds

shared emotional
connection
• can't be created, but shared experiences
with members can help (continual, deep
interaction with community)
• offline meetups, celebrations and
developer days help

Ma.gnolia Thanks

~3~
The Process

the process
• identifying your • infrastructure for
passion dialogue (onsite)
• getting into the • communications
trenches • content
• partnerships &
• infrastructure for co-opetition
dialogue (offsite)
• INreach

identifying your passion
• asking yourself: why am I doing this?
• am I solving a need? an issue?
do I understand this itch?
• why would people (seriously) give a
darn?

getting into the trenches
• exploring the environment
• documenting current tools, existing
behaviors, etc.
• becoming part of the communities
• finding out who is doing things in
this area (experts, blogs)
• learning from passionate people

infrastructure (offsite)
• offsite communications tools are
even more important than onsite
• Flickr groups
• Tags
• Google groups
• irc/Campfire, etc.

infrastructure (onsite)
• Blog/blogroll • wikis
• member-to- • feeds
member mail
• invitations
• group chats • notifications
• forums • avatars
• comments • customization
• favorites • contact/help

communications
• have a publicity policy
• transparency
• blog like you mean it
• using a human voice for site language
• get involved in the conversations
• party host

product
• transmogrification
• defensive design
• vision
• knowing when to listen to
feedback and when to say,
“thanks but no thanks”
• KISS

partnerships
& co-opetition
• affiliations to benefit users
• microchunking
• apis
• mirroring/supporting
competitive apis
• open standards

INreach
• rewarding your members
• vip programs
• promotions
• events

questions?
Tara Hunt
tara@citizenagency.com
415.694.1951
skype: tarahunt747
Chris Messina
chris@citizenagency.com
412.225.1051
skype: factoryjoe
www.citizenagency.com