interaction 2015: building a sense of community in an online world

Building a powerfulsense of communityby Richard Millington

most INTERNAL communitiesBecome ghost cities

FORGETABOUTTECH

unless you develop asense of community

employee retentionKlein and D’Aunno (2006)White et al. (2010)

Barnes et al. (1998)

increased productivityPrice (1985)Milliman et al. (1999)

Burroughs and Ebby (1998)

Knowledge sharingArdichvili (2008) Chiu et al. (2006)

Sharat and Usoro (2003)

membershipinfluenceneeds integrationEMOTIONAL bonds

membership

feel like insiders

Create ABoundary

demographicshabitspsychographics

Demographics(who they are)

Habits(what they can do)

Age Sex Gender Location Income Job role

Knowledge Experience Skills Resources

WhoAreYourTop100?

We join the most exclusive groups we can

APPLICATIONInstead ofRegistration

Introduce RITUALS

use their language

Raise the barrier to entry

Use more rituals & traditions

Use common symbols throughout the community

Action Points

INFLUENCE

HIGHLIGHT GREATCONTRIBUTIONS

Create STATUS-BOOSTING opportunities

CONVERT ASKERS INTO EXPERTS

ASK MEMBERS ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE

Highlight good contributions

Create influential ‘status-boosting’ roles

Amplify the influence of members

Action Points

shared emotional connection

CREATE A NARRATIVE

unique experiences

celebrate small Victories

SOLICIT SELF-DISCLOSURE

promptmembers to share their fears

push discussions to deeper levels

STEAL POPULAR DISCUSSIONS

Let members brag

Initiate and highlight the most popular discussions

Encourage self-disclosure discussions

Allow non-essential/off-topic debates

Action Points

INTEGRATION OF NEEDS

RESOURCESSAFETYEFFICACYSTATUS

INFORMATION-SEEKERSTHE PROBLEM WITH

Satisfysocial needs

INSTANT SOCIALISATION

doingthinkingfeelingfearing

Success BEGETSsuccess

Focus on discussions over content

Prompt members to share what they’re doing, thinking, learning, or fearing upon arrival

Quickly remove elements which aren’t popular

Action Points

RICHARD MILLINGTONrichard@feverbee.comcourse.feverbee.com/learn-more/

(50% of the book for free)