Why community kinda doesn’t matter

Posted August 27, 2009

people silhouette

For a number of reasons, you’ve decided that you want to create a better connection with your community. Maybe you want to nurture partnerships, increase donations (if you’re a non-profit), or simply get more referred business.

You’ve read a hundred blog posts on how to engage your community, and may have even attended a workshop on the topic.

But you still have no idea where to start. In fact, you’re overwhelmed at the very thought of connecting with your community – which could be thousands of people.

Forget community

For now, forget about your community.

Yes, forget who followed you on Twitter, who friended you on Facebook or opted into your email list. Instead, focus on the most important person in the world at this moment: John Haydon

No, I’m not saying that I’m more important than you, or anyone else for that matter. Because you and I are equals.

What I’m getting at is that right now, you are reading this blog post, of which I am the author. And I’m just a single human being on this big blue marble – just like you. I’m not a community. And neither is the person you replied to on Twitter five minutes ago.

There is no “we”

The term “Community” seems as if it’s becoming another casualty of the social media “term de jour” junk pile.

“Let’s focus our marketing efforts on engaging our community”.

It sounds nice, right? Feels like Mayberry, for sure. But like Mayberry, the concept of “community” is just that – a concept. It’s a speck the size of a pin that occupies your frontal lobe.

I am your community

3375798801 ef75be7ae2 o Why community kinda doesnt matter

Buddhism teaches that our world (macrocosm) is really a mirror of a the individual (microcosm) and visa-versa. Both community and the individual are interdependent reflections of each other. Science has proven this relationship (watch this incredible video proving that you are the community).

So, theoretically (and we’re getting very theoretical here), if you want to have a lively and engaged community, then you must engage powerfully with one individual (at a time) in that community. The rest will take care of itself.

It’s like causing an entire spider web to dance by pulling on a single thread.

Watch how @disqus does it

disqus 1 Why community kinda doesnt matter

@disqus is using Twitter the right way. If you look at their Twitter stream, you’ll learn that:

When their users (the Disqus community, if you will) see this massive effort, they feel embraced – and cared for – even if they’ve never had a support issue.

Proof of these positive feelings can be found in blog posts – like the one you’re reading.

What about you? How has your efforts with an individual affected an entire community?

Tiles artwork- qthomasbower
Bookmark and Share

  • People of Color understand why there is and needs to be focus on community. Maybe if one is white they do not feel this sense of communal belonging. In the US, at least, this would make sense. Don't know. Personally, I find the assertion in this post sad. Definitely wrong.
  • Nezua - I appreciate your comment, but I think you misread the post. I am not talking about "offline communities" here, which is what I think you're talking about. I'm as white as they come and love the community to which I belong (Waltham, MA).
  • Name
    Yes, the proverbial audience of "one". Some interesting but hardly profound points.
    Effective marketing...and that's of course what any of this is, regardless of "social media" are selected...is about understanding as much as possible about the interest/connection which is shared by the otherwise individual/unique members who you're speaking with.
    It's a combination of "segmentation"...what's different between/among a large otherwise generalized group...and "aggregation"...what's shared or common among which members of the group.
    Starting from that dynamic approach, you can develop communication appropriate to that group using the various channels that your research tells you will most effectively reach those individuals. Of course, I'm also assuming that leads to the personal "voice" required.
  • chrisquick
    I've heard it said that in public speaking one should make a point to connect with one individual in the room, rather than addressing the group generally. By making eye contact and reaching out to this one person you make everyone feel as if you are connecting to them one-on-one. Seems counterintuitive, but it works!
  • Clippernolan
    Interesting discussion, and an interesting post too.

    In my view, there is a fuzzy line when it comes to individuals and community, at least where social media and creating web content is concerned. But, overall I think having a vision of who it is you're talking to is a vital component in building community. There is a 'we', in my opinion. But, talking to the 'you' is a more effective way of communicating to the 'we'. The trick is knowing who that person is, and why they may be drawn, or repelled, to the content you're creating.

    Thanks for the post!
  • John, I feel like the term "community" is somewhat diluted in your example. For me, my sense of belonging to a community is not built on the idea that someone from admin listens and responds to me. That's good customer service - very valuable and useful in it's own right. But when you can really claim to have developed a great community, imo, is when your customers start interacting with each other, with their common connection being that they are all disqus users. There is a whole new level of potential for product development, innovation, and sales that opens up when MY interaction with YOU, or many of YOU (one at a time) can evolve into a joint sense of what WE as users who identify with each other want, need and/or love. Attaining that kind of WE sense among users might not always be necessary, and it's certainly never easy... but it's always powerful when it is there, and should never be underestimated.

    Disclaimer: I don't know anything about Disqus, so maybe there actually is a Disqus community in the sense that I feel more comfortable with. Also, you mentioned the role of prof. background in perceptions on this topic. My background is in collaborative community building, both online and offline in Africa. Were the communities I've built to be dependent on my ability to ensure a personal response to every person, they would have never sustained.
  • Communities are built on the collective interactions of all the people involved. One on one relationships matter a lot and I think stressing this point in the online world matters. People are making some good points here in the comments, but I think the heart of the matter is really about caring for and interacting with individuals. People need to feel like you notice, like you care, like you are interested and like you want to engage with them. Do that and build your community one relationship at a time.
  • Frank - I completely agree (obviously, or I wouldn't have written this post in the first place). But I've learned from Jeff and Danny that there is a group-level that can also be effectively nurtured.

    I like Jeff's idea: "using audience response systems, asking them to reply to question or comment via text or Twitter"
  • Well, it wouldn't let me reply to your reply.

    In event situations, interacting with the group as a whole and making them feel indvidually heard and valued is as easy as using audience response systems, asking them to reply to question or comment via text or Twitter, or putting them into small groups and having them compile their feedback.

    Interesting though that in my day job which crosses so many silos as a nonprofit employee, I also manage and run our eCommunity. So, in that regards, it does mean replying and connecting with each person individually.
  • Jeff - One's background seems to influence how they perceive the individual / group ecosystem. My background is sales - very one on one. That's probably why I see interaction as very one-to-one.

    I'm also thinking that certain tools are good for individual engagement, and other tools are good for group. For example, Twitter is great for connecting with one person, whereas a blog post is good for connecting to many.
  • Great article, John (as per usual). Focus on individuals and community will come. Just like you'd focus on every customer in your shop, you'll build a brand a reputation that will have them coming back in droves.
  • Thanks, Andy. Actually, I didn't even think to talk about the offline equivalent (a shop) that you stated here. Thanks!
  • I like this being pushed. The polarization misses it though. Seems to me that the recognition is that every individual is an expression of their community and as a user your community of users. Being present in every interaction with every individual you choose to engage with demonstrates your relationship to them and to the community by extension. If drawing on the spiritual it is about being present, if looking at the strategy it's not about ignoring community, but recognizing that your every interaction with a user is a reflection of your relationship with your user community - and particularly when it's public interaction, that reflection is particularly bright.
  • I like Roger Hjulstrom's comment ..." A community is a collection of individual interactions," and I like the post author's ..."Both community and the individual are interdependent reflections of each other. "

    But it seems to me that it is also about balance; I seem to keep returning to this point in recent comments about blogging and social media.

    If you interact positively with individuals, you make them happy. Others will see your proactive approach, and those individuals may tell others good things, both attracting more people. But it is often impossible to interact with that many individuals.

    But especially on Twitter, and in blogging, it is also good for an individual, company or brand to pay attention to the forest as it were. I successfully helped a brand grow their followers from just over 1,000 to over 5,000, with increased, balanced interaction. Some of it was through one on one interaction, but much of it was through retweeting of targeted content (or tweeting of new content from other sites/people) that met the interests of the various segments of followers.

    I had to step back from the individuals to see the larger image. That brand had 3-4 subgroups of followers, with additional interests, all linked by one overarching interest. For example (made up, but analogous): say that almost all of the brand's Twitter followers were authors. But some wrote fiction, some non-fiction books; others were freelance writers for magazines, while others were bloggers (or both); some were seasoned authors, some first timers, and some were want-to-be writers/authors. While it is hard to cater to all of those groups, it was possible to find content of interest to most, and of interest to many in the groups.

    So we built our tweeting strategy around making sure that, in addition to our own daily blogging content, we provided content of interest to each of these sub-groups, with in the larger topic of 'writing.' And it worked, we got more interactions, both on twitter and on the website, and more retweets of both ours and other's content.

    This of course was balanced with individual interactions, and good solid content from our own blog.
  • Connecting on common ground shared by different subgroups sounds like it worked well. Do you think there will be a time when multiple Twitter accounts are created to meet the specific needs of those subgroups?
  • sarahrobinson
    I totally agree with SEO David. It's about writing, responding and communicating to the individual. We all like to feel special and unique. I think the trick is to do that AND connect those individuals to each other - creating a tribe, fan base, whatever you want to call it. So we make individuals feel special and then we make them feel like they are part of a special group. Just my two cents. :-)
  • Have to mostly agree here, John. A community is a collection of individual interactions. Maybe because of the Kennedy memories going on right now, I'm reminded of when John Kennedy uttered his most famous line "Ask not what your country can do for YOU, but what YOU can do for your country" Notice the 'you' not 'we'. He was making a direct and personal connection with each person. I do have to disagree with one line of yours though :-( "disqus is using Twitter the right way" There is no right way to use twitter, it's different for every user. Great post, nice to see one about community that's not about community! The word is so overused it's starting to lose it's meaning.
  • Roger - thanks for the visit. Point taken about "the right way to use Twitter". They're using Twitter how I think it should be used - assuming that their goal is to engage their users.
  • Interesting take, John. I can see where you're coming from and why you're saying it, but I'd have to disagree (slightly) on this one. :)

    If you're concentrating on just one individual, you're missing everyone else. Say you concentrate on the wrong individual? Or you try and kiss ass to the most popular, or best-known, to try and curry favor in his or her community to increase your own?

    Instead of concentrating on just the one person, how about making every single person in your community feel as if you're only talking to them, and concentrating on them at that given time.

    It's not easy to do, and sometimes you'll fail (I know I do) but isn't it worth the effort and trial and error to include and appreciate all?
  • If we try to focus on everyone we miss everyone. It's kind of like trying to be good at everything and ending up not being good at anything. No?

    My take is to focus on building individual relationships as much as I can with those that are also interested in the relationship. I just keep it up and over time a community forms.

    The harder part is connecting others to eachother - "agent zero" style!! =)

    http://twitter.com/franswaa
  • Chris Brogan is very good at writing a blog post (addressed to the group) that feels like it's personally written to me (individual). So this is an example of focusing on everyone, no?
  • Yea, Blogging let's us connect with many people for sure. Writing in a way that personalizes it helps it to feel, well, personalized. All that helps with the one on one connection, but I feel a tighter connection if the blogger responds to my comment or chat's with me on Twitter. That's the one on one connection that really helps build relationships.


    ________________________________
  • I agree Frank, and is why I wasn't suggesting concentrating on everyone. More concentrate on making everyone feel that they're the only person in your sights at that time - wee difference :)
  • Danny - I pay you to agree with me (canceling check now).

    I should have clarified by saying "focus on one individual at a time" (will update the post) - like the @DISQUS example. Notice how most of their tweets are to specific individuals? Their effort with each individual includes (and appreciates) all.

    In terms of kissing ass to curry favor, that's for another post.
  • All your checks bounced anyways... ;-)

    I agree on focusing on one individual at a time - I still think that you can make others feel left out if you're not careful. Not an easy journey, for sure.
  • The journey is a tough one to navigate without wisdom. If one's intentions are selfish, bad results will follow. But if one is genuinely concerned about the other person (which the community loves), then good results will follow.

    Take you, for example: Your followers love you because you make it about them, not about you.
  • in a One-To-Many communications medium, every individual user is representative of some percentage of the overall community. When Disqus resolves a customer service issue with one particular user in public forum like twitter or facebook or whatever, there are a certain % of users similarly affected that will have their questions answered.

    Just because you're only talking to one person doesn't mean you're not being heard by the group.

    I think your initial point is correct, though i will say that some companies lend themselves to groupthink tribes more than others (see: Cult of Mac). There's a difference in customer-with-company interaction between companies that can attach to someone as part of their identity (see: Apple, Pepsi, Obama) vs companies that don't necessarily create that bond.
  • Time out. I'm going to call a foul there John. At least IMO, a foul regarding your choice of words.

    You just told Danny that his followers love him because he makes it about "them," not about himself. You just moved from one person, Danny, to the community, them. We could say you moved from you (Danny) to we (his community, of which I see myself as a part).

    You almost lost me with this piece. Especially when you said there is no "We." I do believe there is "We." I'm going to split hairs here with semantics but you and I make "Us" or "We." Not just you.

    Is a community only a collection of individual interactions? Can someone be part of a community and never interact with another person? I believe it happens in every neighborhood around the world, where neighbors are part of a community yet don’t know the people who live beside them. It also happens with readers of blogs that don’t leave comments.

    So yes, it can happen and does. I can choose to be part of a community and be a spectator for as long as I want. I decide when I want to interact with others. You can reach out to me, send me an email, tweet, comment, phone call. Yet, ultimately, I decide when or if I will respond. You can’t control me.

    I interpret what you are saying into this: It’s about connecting on a personal level individually when I can, and when requested, as well as connecting corporately to the body or group. I can boil it down to one word: authenticity.

    As Danny said, it’s about two levels of connections: one for individuals and one for the group or body and making the corporate connections feel just as authentic as the individual ones. It really is about moving from me, me, me, to you, you, you. I personally look at it as how can I create touchpoints with my community, both individually and corporately.

    Now, for a real spin on things. As a professional meeting and event planner with a background in andgragogy (adult learning), I see my face-to-face events as one touchpoint within an eco-system of community touchpoints. It's my job to structure and facilitate those touchpoints on a regular basis, both virtually and face-to-face. [At least, that's what I get paid to do.] Chew on that for a while.
  • Points well taken, Jeff. I especially like your reference to individual AND group touchpoints. You really have to have both, don't you?

    My main point here (based only on my experience, which is fairly limited) is that by connecting with individuals (as DISQUS demonstrates), the community experiences a positive impact. In your experience as an event planner, how have you interacted with the group that has resulted in individuals feeling heard and valued?
  • SEO David
    This is time-tested advice that a good advertising copywriter will tell you. Address the individual, not the group. Nobody listens, watches, learns, feels, reacts or reads as a group. They do so as individuals.
  • Interesting, I know nothing about advertising copy.
blog comments powered by Disqus