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Your website is an online community when… Posted in Digital Strategy, Social Media, Concocted by LouisJvR, 4 comments
Published on 29 January 2009

When I started writing this post, I thought…Ok, let’s Google all the definitions for ‘Online Community’, ask Wikipedia and provide my beloved, loyal and always good-looking readers with a list of definitions of this term and throw in a bit of my own interpretations.

NOW, HOW BORING WOULD THAT’VE BEEN !?

So, let’s cut the bull (I wanted to say ‘crap’ but Fred said I must use something more politically correct) and get to it… your website is an online community when you…

  • …stop referring to your visitors as ‘visitors’ but as ‘members’
  • …utilize social technologies such as commenting, forums, friending, content sharing, rankings etc to empower your members
  • …give your members a platform to be acknowledged
  • …read, respond and interact with your members
  • …your members interact with each other
  • …know your visitors intimately – names/nicknames, personas and demographics
  • …realize that online community is about relationships

So, if you’re reading this and thinking your website can become and online community or that your website is an online community you just never realized it… you are right. ANY website has the potential to evolve into an online community. Fact.

And lastly, just as an FYI – an online community is NOT a social network – however, social networks do have a number of interconnected online communities within them…

Agree with me? Disagree with me? Sound off with comments below.

Read more posts by LouisJvR

LouisJvR

Louis is the Johannesburg manager of web marketing firm World Wide Creative. Louis is also known as the ‘Case Study Guy’ with an encyclopaedic knowledge of research resources to support the strategic initiatives he is involved in. In between organising Heavy Chef Sessions in the Gauteng region, Louis happens to have a mean sidestep on the rugby field. With his silky skills, dashing good looks, Colgate smile and cunning wit, Louis is the high school quarterback of the World Wide Creative marketing team.

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  1. Lionel says
    (January 29, 2009, 6:28 pm)

    Exactly! Without somebody reading/interacting/following/conversing with somebody else, all you have is, well, all you have is an empty room echoing with the sound of your own voice.
    Great post! I’ll share it on facebook… etc..

  2. Louis Janse van Rensburg says
    (January 30, 2009, 9:31 am)

    Wonderful analogy Lionel.

    I see it as in the past a website was put up and then you prayed – hoping for numbers, putting up some pretty good content etc.

    But, now, the world (wide web) has changed – your website needs to part of the crowd… within a crowd… your crowd.

    In the words of Barack Obama: “The world has changed. We have to change with it” :)

  3. thescott says
    (February 1, 2009, 10:40 pm)

    nice post.

    i do think that it’s important to note that cultivating a successful comunity of size requires a lot of time and resources that most companies don’t have / can’t afford.

    planning is key. be sure there’s ALWAYS someone on the other end to representing your “brand”. the last thing you want to do is to put all the mechanisms in place without being able to deliver on expectations – creating and managing EFECTIVE and CONSTRUCTIVE conversation.

    building a community will take time but should be planned for the long term gains. just be sure you’re able to keep the fire burning, nice and hot… forever :)

  4. Fred says
    (February 6, 2009, 10:36 am)

    I disagree with pretty much everything you say here.

    Just kidding. Great post Louis… : )

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