Why do some online communities fail?
Hey everyone,
I realise that not all communities are created equal! Some thrive, whereas others fail. Let's hear your thoughts on what causes some online communities to fail?
Some suggestions:
- No sense of belonging
- Negativity
- Inability to contribute
- etc.
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That's interesting, especially the 3rd point.
If only a small share of members of a community is contributing, how can you make sure you don't create a hierarchy between members when delegating stuff (organising events for ex)?
Very tricky to be honest.
(1) If the remaining members can't contribute at all, you end up with a mix between a community and an audience.
(2) If they can contribute (in a more restrained sense), then the health of the community becomes more heavily contingent on the community members with the most power. For example, I know Reddit has experienced this issue with their moderators, etc.
Thanks a lot Rich!
I think the risk of having an hybrid members' base community/audience is real. Is this a question of having a critical mass so the 80% audience is 'entertained' by the 20% active? Or is it a question of having a strong direction/curation/control from us (the team) at this stage?
I'm aware of the influence of a small group on the entire community, what would you have in place to reduce the negative effects of this imbalance of power? Guidelines ? Manifesto ? Randomly picked committee ?
a lot of the times the leader, themselves, is unsure of how to proceed. that's a tell-tale sign.
This is an interesting take! Indecisiveness from the top can easily cause the community to dissolve.
leadership is a big deal.
That's a deep question. For me, when founding any kind of new group, one of my highest priorities is to help people volunteer and contribute. I need to convert the group identity from "this is mike's group" to "this is our group".
Yeah, this is where inability to contribute limits their sense of ownership and involvement.