The so-called ‘online community’
It always sends shiver down my spine when I heard people making a big fuss of online community (as well as ‘web 2.0’; ‘engagement’; and ‘ROI’). Not that I am against online communities, but when businesses start to consider how can they ‘harness’ ‘online communities’ to drive ‘revenue’, they lost me there.
Not that I am against company making money, either, since after all, I am also a pin of this corporate system.
BUT…
- Users who CHOOSE to use your services are not just passive consumers of information; they are people who read, and write. Lawrence Lessig made a clear case of the read-write culture (highly recommend it if you haven’t seen Lessig’s classic presentation yet):
- Users who CHOOSE to be part of an ‘online communities’ are not necessary air-heads. In fact, many are not.
Such as Opensource software development that drives not just the technology, but a manifesto, an ideology, a belief, that information should be open, and we should stand on the shoulders of each other, so that the sum is bigger than the whole. AND – we are all mini giants. Don’t you forget that.
Such as Creative Commons, now built into major commercial search engines (such as google [see user rights] and yahoo), that units little creative minds so that people can share, remix, be creative, be respective, be fun, be global…
Today we talk about myspace, facebook. But remember what online communities were for at the dawn of the internet – (dark force aside, such as pornography and cracking activities) it’s for sharing knowledge, facilitating innovation, connecting you to the like-minded so that you know that the sky is the limit, and you can make your dream come true if you try hard enough.
Think firefox – since its launch in it has exceeded 50 million active users with more than 600 MILLION add-on download. Do they need hiring a ‘marketing department’ – yes, and no. What they did was to create a kick-ass browser which was so good that users invite all their best friends to try out (and fall in love..) and at one point most IT professional CHOSE to install Firefox as default browser in companies. And you know the story – Firefox Spreads like wild fire.
Now that’s real ‘marketing’ – not by having fancy ads campaigns, but by creating a product that with USER NEEDS in mind.
- Finally – only MEANINGFUL communities last. Such as Opensource, such as creative commons, such as Wikipedia. Not only do they last, they grow stronger day-by-day, it is because they are driven by people who have strong vision, who believe in precious qualities of humanities.
Think friendster, think myspace, think bebo, think facebook. Yes maybe it’s fun to see what your friends are doing, but what happen when you grow out of it? These ‘social networking websites’ are just tools, an extension to our mobile phones, emails, or weblogs. But phones get out-dated, better email services emerge, user switch, you switch.
Only meaningful communities with strong visions last – even if someone leaves, other joins, because they are driven by faith, not hype. And faith doesn’t get outdated. Remember that.
