This document discusses the technological and social infrastructure needed to build online communities. It outlines various tools like blogs, wikis, forums and social networks that can be used to connect members and facilitate interaction. It emphasizes that to create a true sense of community, the tools must help foster feelings of membership, influence, integration of needs, and shared emotional connection among participants. A well-built community uses these tools to support personal profiles, group expression, feedback mechanisms, status rewards and shared experiences between members.
Community 2.0 Community Bootcamp: the technology part by Tara Hunt
1. the technological & social
infrastructure for community
building
by Tara “miss rogue” Hunt, Citizen Agency
www.citizenagency.com
2. the building blocks
• how I define community
• the geeky stuff: technology
• the relationship stuff: getting
social
• summary: sense of
3. 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)
4. basic site structure for
virtual communities
• personal homepage/profile (ie. url.com/
people/missrogue)
• personal content creation
• ability to interact with others’ content
• ability to ‘friend’ and share content
6. 3 levels of community
1. Lightweight Social Processes
2. Collaborative Information Structures
3. High End Collaboration
7. lightweight social
processes
Low-barrier social involvement like voting and
the recording of personal participation.
• DIGG • Del.icio.us
• Last.fm • Amazon
• Craigslist • Netvibes
8. collaborative
information structures
Core product enhanced by a social
component, deeper participation to interact.
• Flickr • Facebook
• YouTube • Odeo
• Threadless • Developer networks
9. high end collaboration
Groups utilizing systems to make sense and
share complex materials and data.
• Open Source
• Wikipedia projects
• Lostpedia • Couchsurfing
10. common themes
• sense of fun/play
• constant community attention
• experimental & agile development
• maximized the power of word of mouth
11. more common themes
• simple platforms/ideas for building on
• compelling founder stories
• rewards for community members (not
necessarily $$)
12. the geeky stuff
• blogs • social networking
• podcasting • community tools
• wikis • apis
• forums • measurements
• chat • other stuff
• search
13. blogs
• Three reasons to use blogging:
• track who is talking about your product
• find, read & understand blogging experts in
your subject area
• join the conversation by blogging yourself
14. blogs
• platforms to use: Wordpress, Moveable Type,
Blogger
• RSS: really simple syndication
• trick out your RSS (Feedburner)
• using blogsearch to see who is talking about
you & find blogger experts: Technorati,
Google Blogsearch, Serph
15. blogs
• blogging into oblivion or joining the
conversation
• linking out: read other blogs...interact
• blog readers: Bloglines (web), Feedo
(web), Netvibes (web), Net Newswire
(mac),Yoono (pc), Thunderbird (all)
• commenting: when to comment, when to
email
16. pod & vidcasting
• content: make it interesting (ie.
winelibrary.tv)
• editing tools: Final Cut Pro, Adobe Flex,
iMovie (free), Garage Band
• hosting tools:YouTube, blip.tv, Revver,
Photobucket, Odeo, OurMedia
• watching tools: Dabble, Fireant, iTunes
• searching: podzinger
17. wikis
• what: webpages with edit buttons
• how to: wiki syntax wackiness
• [page | page] ... *bold*
• when to: when wikis are wonderful
• collaboration on documentation
• community information sharing
• organizing events & thoughts
• you need to garden the wiki!!
19. forums
• what: a-synchronous discussions
• when to: where forums still rock
• tips & tricks between community
members
• feedback & bug reporting
• you need to tend to the forums regularly!!
21. chat
• what: synchronous discussions
• where/when to use chat:
• instant ‘help’
• between friends/members
• alongside the forums
• pre-scheduled roundtables
• tip: have the ability for people to chat with
you live through widgets that show
availability
23. search
• white-hat SEO basics
• content is king
• use descriptive page titles (don’t lie!)
• use the heading tag
• use sitemaps
• employ a solid URL structure (opt for
static looking): www.site.com/
hikingboots.html vs. www.site.com/
products.asp?product_no=25
24. search
• more white-hat SEO basics
• avoid using flash or ajax for navigation...or
building your entire site in them
• html standards are good for you
• don’t try to scam google (you’ll get
blacklisted)
• don’t use frames
25. social networking
• not everything has to happen on your site
• effective use of established social networks
to build interest/relationships:
• Flickr: posting screenshots, flickr groups
• YouTube/blip.tv: posting screencasts
• Facebook: posting groups/events
• MySpace: create a product page
26. social networking
• more established social network tips:
• social bookmarking:
• DIGG: don’t game it...but do submit
your site/posts/publicity
• ma.gnolia/del.icio.us: follow tags &
bookmark interesting stuff in your
domain
• niche networks: participating in similar
markets
27. community-based tools
• Creative Commons
• how cc licensing works
• ways you can use it to enhance user
experience
• Tagging
• what is tagging?
• examples
28. community-based tools
• Microformats
• what is a microformat?
• how you can use microformats to
enhance user experience
• (p.s. it’s good for search engines)
• OpenID
• what is OpenID?
• how you can use OpenID to enhance
user experience
29. api’s
• what: application programming interface
• what it really is: allows for content on your
site to be ‘mashed up’ with other content to
produce really cool stuff
• advantages:
• cool extensions
• test bed for new features
• the ‘new’ partnership
30. api’s
• resources:
• How to design a good API and why it
matters: lcsd05.cs.tamu.edu/slides/
keynote.pdf
• www.programmableweb.com
• O’Reilly book: Web 2.0 Principles & Best
Practices www.oreilly.com/radar/
web2report.csp
31. measurements
• what you measure matters most
• informs you about user behavior (usually
different than feedback)
• gauges usability
• helps you with feature & improvement
roadmap
• teaches you about the needs of your
community
32. measurements
• measurement tools:
• attention data collection (eg. last.fm, DIGG
labs)
• Task Tracer
• Attention Trust Firefox plugin
• no Spyware! good cookies only!
• Google Analytics & MeasureMap
• CrazyEgg (heatmaps)
33. measurements
• measuring healthy communities:
• qualitative mixed with quantitative
• not always positive
• scaling will change the
community...fracture it
• look at it like a graphic equalizer
• three levels: Environment, Product &
Communications
34. other techie stuff
• why not consider:
• leaving your bug tracking out in the open?
• publishing a conference # for your dev
team meetings?
• using Twitter to give network status
updates?
35. the social stuff
• barcamp
• coworking
• meetups
• conferences
• karma
• fun stuff
36. barcamp
• what: a conference organized by members
of the community where there are no
observers, only participants
• video:
• http://www.archive.org/download/
Ryanne-BarCampSF816/Ryanne-
BarCampSF816.mov
37. barcamp
• advantages:
• early adopter cred (worldwide
phenomenon)
• you aren’t in charge, but seen as a peer
38. coworking
• what: physical spaces opened up for
independents to collaborate and work in
• Where the Coffee Shop Meets the
Cubicle (Businessweek): http://
www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/
content/feb2007/
sb20070226_761145.htm
39. coworking
• advantages:
• opening your space brings in fresh ideas
& energy
• become part of a worldwide growing
movement
• building trust in your local community
has huge repercussions
40. meetups
• what: gathering in a social place (pub or
community space) to meet other people
with the same interests
• tools to use: meetup.com, upcoming.org,
eventful.com
• post it to your forums, blog & send a
message out to your VIPs
• give schwag away, no big speeches
• let people interact + be available
41. meetups
• the best meetups are organized by the ‘fans’
and community members themselves.
providing the tools, a couple of pitchers of
beer and some presence (not central,
though) is the best.
42. conferences
• there are tons of conferences putting out
calls for submissions everyday
• resources: confabb.com, eventful.com,
upcoming.com
• take all pitches out of your submission
• research subject areas that matter to
conference-goers and find one that you
are an ‘expert’ on
• tell a compelling story
43. conferences
• once you get invited:
• if you want to be invited back to the
conference circuit, keep all pitches out of
your presentation
• tell user stories
• talk about your competition
• attend all mixer events and build
relationships, don’t pitch
44. karma
• what you give to your community, you get
back tenfold
• don’t have a business objective, have a
business objective, an employee objective, a
local community objective, an environment
objective and a customer experience
objective (Clif Bar)
45. karma
• be part of a larger movement that relates to
what you are doing
• “If you see a parade, get in front of it” Tim
O’Reilly
• Be part of the change you want to see in the
world
• Creates amazing goodwill
46. fun stuff
• good vibes:
• thank you’s (i.e. ma.gnolia, maya’s mom,
facebook ‘pokes’)
• vip programs (i.e. ma.gnolia gardeners)
• member highlighting & discovery (i.e.
featured members, new members)
• hold feedback contests, etc. and send
out schwag as thanks
• greeting program for new members
47. summary
• all great tools for promoting your site,
but what about community?
• how do these tools relate to creating a
sense of community?
48. 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)
49. 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 (personalization)
• greet new members and introduce them to
others with similar interests
50. feelings of influence
• includes: forums, chat, comments, blogging,
personalized mail
• create many ways in which members can
connect and platforms for expression
• respond to all feedback, good or bad
51. integration and
fulfillment of needs
• includes: status rewards, featuring members,
vips, karma points, etc.
• 'in crowd' knowledge - acorns, tricks,
traditions & rituals
52. shared emotional
connection
• can't be created, but shared experiences
with members can help (continual, deep
interaction with community)
• meetups, barcamps, coworking, celebrations
and developer days help