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Sandra Schaffert, Diana Wieden-Bischofcomstudy@newmedialab.at
Successful Initiating of Online Communities. An Analysis of Reports, Projects and Expert Interviews.
I-Know Conference, September 3 2009, Graz, Austria
Gefördert mit Mitteln des BMWA und des Landes Salzburg
A lot of successful projects in the Web are unthinkable with vibrant online communities
... how to initiate such communities?
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Why the Salzburg New Media Lab is interested...
Film ausschnitt
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Agenda
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Agenda
(Our working) definitition of „(online) community“
Methodology Lifecycle of online communities: existing
theories and explanations General principles of successful initiating of
online communities Six applications areas Open Innovation
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Definitions
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What are online communities?
For “community” the geographical proximity and/or familiar relationships play a role [Stocker, 08, 64f]
Several terms: virtual community, online community or Web community
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„Virtual Community“ by H. Rheingold
“Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace.“
[Rheingold, 93].
Source: http://openp2p.com/p2p/2003/04/25/graphics/h_rheingold.jpg
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„Online Community“ by P. Sloep
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Our (working) definition
A online community are persons with common interests, using Internet and communication technologies to interchange or develop common contents, developing a strong bond and a feeling of togetherness. (p. 12)
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Methodology
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Source: http://www.fieldstonealliance.org/client/client_images/cartoon-cmty_building.jpg
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Basis: Literature and Tipps (in German)
(...)
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First steps ...
we identified (i) theories and explanations of
the online community’s life cycle,
(ii) categorizations of online communities, and
(iii) recommendations and examples for their successful initiating (...or even research about this)
Peak headbanging(gipfelmoshen.de)
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... next steps ...
Still open: What are general aspects and principles?
Selection of six very diverse application areas online self-help groups or patient groups, online communities on professional news-sites, communities of learners, customer communities for open innovation, enterprise communities for knowledge
management, communities for open source development.
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...additionally...
We broaden our research for publications, statements, projects and potential interview partners, also to international publications, in the six applications areas.
i.e. Prof. Andrea Back
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... finally
Every recommendation was scrutinized if it can serve as general (or as fitting to just one of the application areas)
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(background)
our approach builds on the ideas and concept of Grounded Theory, which describes a systematic theory building from data in the process of research [Glaser, 67]
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Lifecycle of online communities: existing theories and explanations
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Metcalfe‘s law
states that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system (n2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_law
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Metcalfe‘s law
Source: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/metcalfes-law-is-wrong
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Metcalfe‘s law is wrong (for communication within online communities)
Source: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/metcalfes-law-is-wrong
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Lifecylce of online communities: overview of explanations/theories
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General principles of successful initiating of online communities
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Initiating online communities: Overview
figure 7, p. 26
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General Principle:Let it grow!
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General Principle: Let it grow!
Communities are organic systems ... as plants
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General Principle: Let it grow!
... You can cultivate them
i.e. a certain degree of uncertainness, of momentum.
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General Principle: Let it grow!
Case Comparison: encyclopaedia projects
Nupedia/Wikipediastart: 2001Website: www.wikipedia.org
GNUPedia, later GNEstart: 2001Website: gne.sourceforge.net/eng/
importance: – one of the most famous Websites, worldwide, also in comparison with traditional encyclopaedias
importance: – comparably unknown
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General Principle: Let it grow!
„Let it grow“ means … (potential) community members should be
involved and have to be taken serious Participation concerning content, organisation,
technical aspects Community‘s activities and goal can be
changed – this have to be okay!
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Commitment on purpose and goal of the community
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Commitment on purpose and goal
Example: MiAdidas
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Commitment on purpose and goal
Example: Rett-Forum (seldom illness)
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Commitment on purpose and goal
egoistic motives, e.g. reputation, image customer relationship marketing, advertisement product development quality assurance market monitoring
altruistic motives to bring or develop something a step forward (e.g.
politics,science, techonologies) To help others (e.g. self help groups).
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Investigate the needs of the target group
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Investigate the needs of the target group
Concerning their motives: Egoistic motives (reputation, to learn
something) Altruistic motives: to brings something
forward, to help Concerning their needs: layout, content,
interests, rituals, technology, design etc.
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Investigate the needs of the target group
Research for existing studies and data Own investigations (single case analysis,
group discusions, questionaires...)
Important: involvement of potential community members in an early stage!
Kim (2000): Members are attrachted by a topic, but stay because of the others/relationships
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Investigate the needs of the target group
… getting involved in a (online) community of pick up artists ...
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Foster communication, collaboration and community
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Foster communication, collaboration and community
Fostering community according to Kim (2001) Offer flexible and expandable meeting
possibilities Offer diverse roles Develop a clear leadership strategy Foster the development of a (n)etiquette Regularly events Develop rituals Support sub group establishment
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Foster communication, collaboration and community
Compelling profiles
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Evaluation and measurement of success
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Evaluation and Measurement of Success
Not simple – because of two possible perspectives of the community or of the initiators/ providers?
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Evaluation and Measurement of Success
Assessing the healthiness of a community (Spreadloveproject 2008) the average length of time it takes for a newbie to become a
regular contributor community participation in gardening, policing and keeping
the community a nicer place (eg. people who click on the 'report this as spam', people who edit the wiki for better layout, etc.)
Member engagement: activity and "investment" in community
Member Loyalty & Satisfaction Mobile interactions with the community: including views and
posts from mobiles. ratio of posts with no response to posts with response
http://spreadloveproject.pbworks.com/CommunityMeasurements
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Six Application Areas
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Six application areas of online communities
online self-help groups or patient groups, online communities on professional news-
sites, communities of learners, customer communities for open innovation, enterprise communities for knowledge
management, and communities for open source development.
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(just one application area)...Open Innovation
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Open Innovation
Initalisation of a communty of customers to involve them in innovation processes
Examples: Swarowski, Acecook, MiAdidas
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Dr. Peter Gloor (MIT) about Open Innovation
A clear answer of „What is in it for me?“ should be given (from users‘ perspective)
Fitting persons for advertisment are needed e.g. Bono für Motorola
The product have to be „cool“ (for the community)
No aggressive sale of products
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Dr. Mark Markus (SRFG) about Open Innovation
Customers should have the idea to make a contribution to a „common good“, that a product value will be developed and that they can get reputation
Involvement of friendly user, without payment but with attractive special offers as tests, exclusive products
Generally: other methods are eventually more goal orientated.
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Summary
obstacles and stumbling
blocks
research and acquisition of lead users is important
it could be problematic if the public and competitors are able to follow the community’s activity
Successful measures
established instruments of innovation measures, e.g. idea competitions
a member only communityspecial offers (costs, events, test
usage, exclusive content)(Schaffert & Wieden-Bischof 2009, table 5, p. 68)
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Outlook
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Open questions ..
this study was about the first phase of community building (initialising)
... there is still a lack of more research and (meta) analysis of recommendations for community management.
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Next steps within the project „ComStudy“
ComStudy is a project of the SNML (10/2008-12/2009) about vibrant online communities
3 additional studies will be published: overview, good practice and recommendations concerning (meta) informationen (11/2009) recommender systems (11/2009) reputation and engagement systems
(12/2009)
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More ...
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More about this:
Full Study, in German: Sandra Schaffert & Diana Wieden-Bischof (2009). Erfolgreicher Aufbau von Online-Communitys. Konzepte, Szenarien und Handlungsempfehlungen. Band 1 der Reihe „Social Media“ (hrsg. von Georg Güntner & Sebastian Schaffert)
Video, in German: http://www.vimeo.com/4291468
English Summary: Sandra Schaffert & Diana Wieden-Bischof (2009). Successful Initiating of Online Communities. An Analysis of Reports, Projects and Expert Interviews. In: I-Know Proceedings.
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Salzburg NewMediaLab
Website www.newmedialab.at pp.newmedialab.at
Contact Dr. Sandra Schaffert
Salzburg ResearchJakob Haringer Straße 5/IIIsandra.schaffert@salzburgresearch.at
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References ...(within this presentation...)
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References
Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine.
Kim, Amy Jo (2001). Community Building – Strategien für den Aufbau erfolgreicher Web-Communities. Bonn: Galileo Press.
Rheingold, Howard (1993). The Virtual Community. Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. New York: Addison-Wesley. Online zugänglich unter: http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/index.html [2008-10-16]
Schaffert, S. & Wieden-Bischof, W. (2009). Erfolgreicher Aufbau von Online-Communitys. Konzepte, Szenarien und Handlungsempfehlungen. Salzburg.
Spreadloveproject (2008). Community Measurements (Wikipage, unter anderem unter der Mitwirkung von DavidCary, NurtureGirl und TaraHunt erstellt). URLr: http://spreadloveproject.pbwiki.com/CommunityMeasurements