The Community Catch-22
November 17, 2009 in Administration, Community by YourFriendlyAdmin
The catch-22 of all websites designed to be platforms for communities, to be services for users, to be part of that whole clichéd web2.0 user-generated-content surge, is the ghost-town trap.
The problem is that when people visit a site, not entirely certain if it’s brand-new or has been around for a while, and don’t see it as a bustling hive of activity, then they’ll probably move on, especially if they’re looking for somebody ask questions of or just to talk to. I do the same thing — I look a little askance at sites that push forward their plain old phpbb forums, when a quick glance shows a total of 6 or 7 posts in total. ‘Nobody else is engaged,’ I think to myself, ’so it can’t be worth my time, either!’ Something a bit dodgy there, it feels like.
But a site creator, like, you know, yours truly, is put into a precarious position in early days of a site launch — we invite people, but if they don’t sign up and actually get engaged, become your early adopters and seed the site with content, well, successive waves of visitors will see the site as underpopulated, and themselves be hesitant to sign up. And then a feedback loop starts to develop, and your community never gets traction.
But don’t invite anyone or promote the site, and you are positively guaranteed nothing will happen.
So it’s tough, and it’s a balancing act. I hope that some of the things I’ve added to the community home (and some new things and design tweaks) will help people feel comfortable and confident that they’re joining a living community in its early stages. We’ll see.
As always, anything you care to suggest, I’m all ears!
