Tara Hunt of Citizen Agency speaking at Future of Web Apps, February 2007.

1. building online
communities
Tara ‘miss rogue’ Hunt, Citizen Agency

2. summary

3. summary
1. What makes a community?

4. summary
1. What makes a community?
2. Examples of communities

5. summary
1. What makes a community?
2. Examples of communities
3. Common community themes

6. summary
1. What makes a community?
2. Examples of communities
3. Common community themes
4. Setting fertile ground for your own
community

7. What makes a community?

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

9. 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)

10. characteristics of a
virtual community

11. characteristics of a
virtual community
• personal homepage/profile (ie. url.com/
people/missrogue)

12. characteristics of a
virtual community
• personal homepage/profile (ie. url.com/
people/missrogue)
• personal content creation

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

14. 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

15. succession

16. succession
visitor

17. succession
visitor

18. succession
visitor customer

19. succession
visitor customer

20. succession
community
visitor customer
member

21. benefits of community

22. benefits of community
• heightened customer loyalty

23. benefits of community
• heightened customer loyalty
• self-policing

24. benefits of community
• heightened customer loyalty
• self-policing
• amplified word of mouth

25. benefits of community
• heightened customer loyalty
• self-policing
• amplified word of mouth
• better feedback

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

27. Examples of communities

28. 3 levels of community

29. 3 levels of community
1. Lightweight Social Processes

30. 3 levels of community
1. Lightweight Social Processes
2. Collaborative Information Structures

31. 3 levels of community
1. Lightweight Social Processes
2. Collaborative Information Structures
3. High End Collaboration

32. lightweight social
processes
Low-barrier social involvement like voting and
the recording of personal participation.

33. lightweight social
processes
Low-barrier social involvement like voting and
the recording of personal participation.
• DIGG

34. lightweight social
processes
Low-barrier social involvement like voting and
the recording of personal participation.
• DIGG
• Last.fm

35. lightweight social
processes
Low-barrier social involvement like voting and
the recording of personal participation.
• DIGG
• Last.fm
• Craigslist

36. lightweight social
processes
Low-barrier social involvement like voting and
the recording of personal participation.
• •
DIGG Del.icio.us
• Last.fm
• Craigslist

37. lightweight social
processes
Low-barrier social involvement like voting and
the recording of personal participation.
• •
DIGG Del.icio.us
• •
Last.fm Amazon
• Craigslist

38. lightweight social
processes
Low-barrier social involvement like voting and
the recording of personal participation.
• •
DIGG Del.icio.us
• •
Last.fm Amazon
• •
Craigslist Netvibes

39. collaborative
information structures
Core product enhanced by a social
component, deeper participation to interact.

40. collaborative
information structures
Core product enhanced by a social
component, deeper participation to interact.
• Flickr

41. collaborative
information structures
Core product enhanced by a social
component, deeper participation to interact.
• Flickr
• YouTube

42. collaborative
information structures
Core product enhanced by a social
component, deeper participation to interact.
• Flickr
• YouTube
• Threadless

43. collaborative
information structures
Core product enhanced by a social
component, deeper participation to interact.
• •
Flickr Facebook
• YouTube
• Threadless

44. collaborative
information structures
Core product enhanced by a social
component, deeper participation to interact.
• •
Flickr Facebook
• •
YouTube Odeo
• Threadless

45. collaborative
information structures
Core product enhanced by a social
component, deeper participation to interact.
• •
Flickr Facebook
• •
YouTube Odeo
• •
Threadless Developer networks

46. high end collaboration
Groups utilizing systems to make sense and
share complex materials and data.

47. high end collaboration
Groups utilizing systems to make sense and
share complex materials and data.
• Wikipedia

48. high end collaboration
Groups utilizing systems to make sense and
share complex materials and data.
• Wikipedia
• Lostpedia

49. high end collaboration
Groups utilizing systems to make sense and
share complex materials and data.
• Open Source
• Wikipedia
projects
• Lostpedia

50. high end collaboration
Groups utilizing systems to make sense and
share complex materials and data.
• Open Source
• Wikipedia
projects
• Lostpedia
• Couchsurfing

52. 3 levels of community
1. Lightweight Social Processes
2. Collaborative Information
Structures
3. High End Collaboration

53. Common community themes

54. communities studied

55. communities studied
• Flickr - photo sharing community

56. communities studied
• Flickr - photo sharing community
• Twitter - sms community

57. communities studied
• Flickr - photo sharing community
• Twitter - sms community
• Wordpress - developer community

58. communities studied
• Flickr - photo sharing community
• Twitter - sms community
• Wordpress - developer community
• Threadless - art-based apparel community

59. communities studied
• Flickr - photo sharing community
• Twitter - sms community
• Wordpress - developer community
• Threadless - art-based apparel community
• BarCamp - geek conference community

60. common themes

61. common themes
• sense of fun/play

62. common themes
• sense of fun/play
• keeping the dialogue going

63. common themes
• sense of fun/play
• keeping the dialogue going
• “wouldn’t it be awesome if...” development

64. common themes
• sense of fun/play
• keeping the dialogue going
• “wouldn’t it be awesome if...” development
• maximized the power of word of mouth

65. more common themes

66. more common themes
• simple platforms for building on

67. more common themes
• simple platforms for building on
• compelling stories

68. more common themes
• simple platforms for building on
• compelling stories
• rewarding of community members

69. “Have Fun”
• Founders having fun, very public about the
necessity of fun (the necessity to enjoy one’s
work)

74. “I just wanted to create a company that would be as
much fun and as fulfilling as possible. Fun in work to me
means a lot of freedom, and ton of creativity, working
with people I respect and like, and pursuing ideas that
are just crazy enough to work. I don't want to have to
worry about getting buy-in from executives or a board,
raising money, worrying about investor's perceptions,
or cashing out.”
~ Ev, Twitter ~

75. “Have Fun”
• Playful messaging and images on the site

76. twitter’s 404 message

78. wordpress

79. wordpress

81. keeping the dialogue
going

82. keeping the dialogue
going
• Personal use of the product

83. Twitter

84. keeping the dialogue
going

85. keeping the dialogue
going
• Involved personally in customer support

86. Wordpress

87. Wordpress
From the Future of Web Apps in San Francisco:

88. Wordpress
From the Future of Web Apps in San Francisco:
“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is
to answer your own customer support emails.”

89. Wordpress
From the Future of Web Apps in San Francisco:
“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is
to answer your own customer support emails.”
- Matt Mullenweg

90. keeping the dialogue
going

91. keeping the dialogue
going
• Greeting new customers & introducing them
to others

92. Flickr

93. Flickr
“The Flickr team spent a lot of time greeting
every user that came to the site, offering them
help on how to get engaged with the rest of
the community....online community-building is
just like being the host of the party - if guests
come to a party, and they don't know
anyone...they'll leave.”

94. Flickr
“The Flickr team spent a lot of time greeting
every user that came to the site, offering them
help on how to get engaged with the rest of
the community....online community-building is
just like being the host of the party - if guests
come to a party, and they don't know
anyone...they'll leave.”
~ from Christine.net ~

95. “wouldn’t it be
awesome if...”
• Take an experimental approach to
development

96. Threadless

97. Threadless
“We basically make all of our decisions to work on a
new project after we hear the phrase, “Wouldn’t it be
awesome if...” It doesn’t mean everything works, but
many things do”
~ Jake, Threadless ~

98. BarCamp

99. BarCamp
“Everyone was complaining that they hadn’t been
invited to FOO Camp, but we thought, “Wouldn’t it
be awesome to just have our own?” Nobody
thought we could do it. We had 6 days. No location.
No people. No food. But it didn’t matter. If it was
just the 6 of us in my living room, it would be great.”
~ Chris, BarCamp ~

100. “wouldn’t it be
awesome if...”
• Throw away the business plan and learn to
embrace the chaos

101. Flickr

102. Flickr
quot;We started the company that produced Flickr to build
an online game. Flickr was a side project. It got more
popular and then it took over the whole company but it
certainly wasn't what we intended to do, so there wasn't
any real business plan when we started.quot;
~ Stewart, Flickr ~

103. Google

104. Google
“The Googley Approach to Business quot;It's a place where
failure coexists with triumph , and ideas bubble up from
lightly supervised engineers, none of whom wory too
much about their projects ever making money.quot;”
from Fortune Magazine Article, quot;Chaos at Googlequot;

105. the power of word of
mouth

106. the power of word of
mouth
• Built-in a variety of ways to share early on:
blog, rss, copy & paste urls (Flickr)

107. the power of word of
mouth
• Built-in a variety of ways to share early on:
blog, rss, copy & paste urls (Flickr)
• Participants are media creators: podcasting,
blogging, irc, wiki, etc. (BarCamp)

108. the power of word of
mouth
• Built-in a variety of ways to share early on:
blog, rss, copy & paste urls (Flickr)
• Participants are media creators: podcasting,
blogging, irc, wiki, etc. (BarCamp)
• Instead of adding more features, added more
on-ramps: jabber, email, web-based, etc.
(Twitter)

109. involving community in
decisions

110. involving community in
decisions
• Listen to your users & be flexible (Flickr)

111. involving community in
decisions
• Listen to your users & be flexible (Flickr)
• Let the community create the content &
make the decisions (Threadless)

112. involving community in
decisions
• Listen to your users & be flexible (Flickr)
• Let the community create the content &
make the decisions (Threadless)
• Put the audience in charge (BarCamp)

113. simple platforms to
build on
• Google Maps versus Yahoo! Maps

117. simple platforms to
build on

118. simple platforms to
build on
• Building blocks [by Tantek Çelik]

119. simple platforms to
build on
• Building blocks [by Tantek Çelik]
• Tools, resources, or techniques

120. simple platforms to
build on
• Building blocks [by Tantek Çelik]
• Tools, resources, or techniques
• Built by experts

121. simple platforms to
build on
• Building blocks [by Tantek Çelik]
• Tools, resources, or techniques
• Built by experts
• Usable by non-experts

122. simple platforms to
build on
• Building blocks [by Tantek Çelik]
• Tools, resources, or techniques
• Built by experts
• Usable by non-experts
• Combine with other building blocks

123. simple platforms to
build on
• Building blocks [by Tantek Çelik]
• Tools, resources, or techniques
• Built by experts
• Usable by non-experts
• Combine with other building blocks
• Build larger blocks from smaller blocks

124. simple platforms to
build on

125. simple platforms to
build on
• Make your platform simple and extensible
(Wordpress)

126. simple platforms to
build on
• Make your platform simple and extensible
(Wordpress)
• Provide a simple, but rich API (Flickr)

127. simple platforms to
build on
• Make your platform simple and extensible
(Wordpress)
• Provide a simple, but rich API (Flickr)
• Keep it simple and document it openly
(BarCamp)

128. simple platforms to
build on
• Make your platform simple and extensible
(Wordpress)
• Provide a simple, but rich API (Flickr)
• Keep it simple and document it openly
(BarCamp)
• Focus on one function well (Twitter)

129. simple platforms to
build on
• Make your platform simple and extensible
(Wordpress)
• Provide a simple, but rich API (Flickr)
• Keep it simple and document it openly
(BarCamp)
• Focus on one function well (Twitter)
• Keep it to the torso (Threadless)

130. compelling stories

131. compelling stories
• Twitter (the birth of Obvious)

132. compelling stories
• Twitter (the birth of Obvious)
• Flickr (GNE to photo sharing)

133. compelling stories
• Twitter (the birth of Obvious)
• Flickr (GNE to photo sharing)
• Wordpress (Matt, the wonder kid)

134. compelling stories
• Twitter (the birth of Obvious)
• Flickr (GNE to photo sharing)
• Wordpress (Matt, the wonder kid)
• Threadless (Jake and Jake just loved art)

135. compelling stories
• Twitter (the birth of Obvious)
• Flickr (GNE to photo sharing)
• Wordpress (Matt, the wonder kid)
• Threadless (Jake and Jake just loved art)
• BarCamp (6 days, no resources, story of will)

136. community rewards

137. community rewards
• Flickr: free pro accounts, anniversary
parties, schwag

138. community rewards
• Flickr: free pro accounts, anniversary
parties, schwag
• Twitter: featured members, blogging

139. community rewards
• Flickr: free pro accounts, anniversary
parties, schwag
• Twitter: featured members, blogging
• Wordpress: featuring developers

140. community rewards
• Flickr: free pro accounts, anniversary
parties, schwag
• Twitter: featured members, blogging
• Wordpress: featuring developers
• Threadless: as they make more $$, so do
their artists

141. community rewards
• Flickr: free pro accounts, anniversary
parties, schwag
• Twitter: featured members, blogging
• Wordpress: featuring developers
• Threadless: as they make more $$, so do
their artists
• BarCamp: more privileges as leaders emerge

142. Setting fertile ground for your own
community

143. motivation

144. motivation
quot;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.quot;
~ John Coate, Cyberspace Innkeeping: Building
Online Community, 1993

145. sense of community

146. sense of community
1. Feelings of membership

147. sense of community
1. Feelings of membership
2. Feelings of influence

148. sense of community
1. Feelings of membership
2. Feelings of influence
3. Integration and fulfillment of needs

149. sense of community
1. Feelings of membership
2. Feelings of influence
3. Integration and fulfillment of needs
4. Shared emotional connection

150. 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)

151. feelings of membership

152. feelings of membership
• arise from the creation of community
boundaries

153. feelings of membership
• arise from the creation of community
boundaries
• perception of emotional safety

154. feelings of membership
• arise from the creation of community
boundaries
• perception of emotional safety
• sense of belonging to and identification with

155. 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.

156. feelings of membership

157. feelings of membership
• includes: personal profile pages, 'friending',
defining groups within the larger group
(groups), invitations to groups

158. 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

159. 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

160. feelings of influence

161. feelings of influence
• being able to influence group (voice heard)

162. feelings of influence
• being able to influence group (voice heard)
• being able to be influenced by group
(learning)

163. feelings of influence
• being able to influence group (voice heard)
• being able to be influenced by group
(learning)
• feedback responsiveness

164. 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

165. 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

166. feelings of influence

167. feelings of influence
• includes: forums, chat, comments, blogging,
personalized mail

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

169. integration and
fulfillment of needs

170. integration and
fulfillment of needs
• feeling of being supported by others

171. integration and
fulfillment of needs
• feeling of being supported by others
• rewards of being a member, such as status,
expertise

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

173. 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

174. maslow’s hierarchy of
needs

175. maslow’s hierarchy of
needs
1. Physiological

176. maslow’s hierarchy of
needs
1. Physiological
2. Security/Safety

177. maslow’s hierarchy of
needs
1. Physiological
2. Security/Safety
3. Social

178. maslow’s hierarchy of
needs
1. Physiological
2. Security/Safety
3. Social
4. Self-Esteem/Ego

179. maslow’s hierarchy of
needs
1. Physiological
2. Security/Safety
3. Social
4. Self-Esteem/Ego
5. Self-Actualization

180. integration and
fulfillment of needs

181. integration and
fulfillment of needs
• includes: status rewards, featuring members,
vips, karma points, etc.

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

183. shared emotional
connection

184. shared emotional
connection
• relationships, shared history & experience

185. shared emotional
connection
• relationships, shared history & experience
• high quality, frequent interaction

186. shared emotional
connection
• relationships, shared history & experience
• high quality, frequent interaction
• discrete/shared events/history and crisis

187. shared emotional
connection
• relationships, shared history & experience
• high quality, frequent interaction
• discrete/shared events/history and crisis
• personal investment of time and resources

188. 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

189. 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

190. shared emotional
connection

191. shared emotional
connection
• can't be created, but shared experiences
with members can help (continual, deep
interaction with community)

192. 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

194. in conclusion

195. in conclusion
Fostering healthy communities is complicated,
time consuming and requires dedication to
your members, but the rewards are high and
long term.

196. in conclusion
Fostering healthy communities is complicated,
time consuming and requires dedication to
your members, but the rewards are high and
long term.

197. licensing:

198. Photo of Matt Mullenweg: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jluster/3392263/
Slide with Photos from Threadless CommunityNext presentation
Kitty on Twitter Shot from Twitter.com/error
Flickr’s Clogged tubes screenshot of my own
Hello Dolly! Album cover: Wikipedia
Cute dog waiting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/itsgreg/90724994/
Thanks to:
Chris Messina (for all sorts of stuff), Blaine Cook (Twitter), Stewart
Butterfield (Flickr), Jake & Jeffrey (Threadless), Matt Mullenweg
(Wordpress), Léon van Gurp (Masters Thesis Student in the Netherlands,
who pointed me to some of these resources), David Weinberger (whose
O.J. quote I probably stole used), PARC’s amazing research on collaborative
networks, and everyone who reads my blog and helps me through these
lessons daily.