How does one go about strengthening an online community?
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M$2 Answers
No two communities are the same. You can have two identical sites and the community on each will be different. There is no "do this, get a strong community" answer.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about communities and how to grow them. As a Vertical Manager here on Mahalo for some time, most of my job was to build a small community and rally them toward a goal. I was successful.
I think that the single most important thing one can do to strengthen a community is believe in good Karma and the whole "do onto others" style of thinking. When you treat people with respect in a kind and giving way, they return that to you.
I also think that a strong community is founded in direction and goals. If you're rallying people together just to collect them, the community looses it's sense of worth. However, if you give them something to work toward as a group, the value of the community increases. If you can figure out what motivates the community and tie reward, purpose and result into something that the community enjoys, you will succeed.
For further reading, I suggest Drive by Dan Pink.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y
http://www.danpink.com/
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M$
I must wonder if this question is in regards to Mahalo. We may not always like changes, I know I had a very hard time at first, but the only thing to do at this point is to move forward. If the Mahalo site started with the rules that are in place right now, people would have loved the site and it would have continued to grow (as it had.) I think people have a hard time with change, especially big change. We can sit and be upset about the changes, which only hurts us personally OR we can try to move past the big shock factor, and try to adjust, be happy and continue to support the site and the wonderful contributors. Now that the big shock factor and change is over, the community will continue on and the site will continue to grow. A few steps back and now moving forward.
Personal thoughts
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M$
Excellent answer, Rob! No two communities are alike. Great video, too!