Let’s face it.
If you are an enterprise with a traditional website, your community is probably now the most trafficked section – especially if you are doing any support or product idea sharing. It is going to be very tempting to add a bunch of “stuff” to your community just to get it some exposure by justifying it as “useful to community members.” Beware this temptation.
And – even if you are a small to medium-sized business, this warning still stands. Your website might BE your community. As it grows, evolves and matures you are going to be tempted to add some of the traditional website content or functionality. Beware this temptation.
There are two entirely different types of content and one of the quickest ways to dilute the value of your community is to clutter it with content and utilities that are not truly social in nature. Your community should not be viewed as the one gateway for customers to experience the wealth of information about your company. It should be viewed as the one gateway to all things two-way in nature.
At the core of this concept is the definition of community, right?
The definition I would like to use is actually from several years ago, but I bumped into it again recently. It says that communities have:
1) Boundaries (not everyone can join)
2) A sense of common purpose (together we achieve more than we do alone)
3) Reciprocity (one-to-one relationships)
4) Rules (and penalties)
5) Self-determination (community cannot be imposed)
If you are considering adding links to applications or new content that will be “useful to community members” and it does not satisfy these criteria, then leave it out.
Examples might include knowledge bases, event listings, user group lists, software download sites, and news feeds. Unless these types of content are being pulled into the community AND allow reciprocity (comments, rating, bookmarking, tagging) then it will just cloud the community-building waters.
Leave all that other content where it belongs and where people expect it – in the top navigation of every conventional website out there. I am sure it really belongs in one of your Products, Solutions, Services, Support, or About Us buckets anyway.
Credit must be given to Mat Morrison for the community definition. He posted it in the comments of one of Jeremiah Owyang’s old blog posts.
