The Science of Community Building

Monday, May 16, 2011

The Science of Community Building

fuckyeahsynesthesia:

Why is the reddit community so kind compared to 4chan or YouTube comments?!! Even Facebook comments aren’t often as compassionate as reddit comments.

I admit, though, I’m new to reddit, but the level of community in it is simply incredible.

Citing Michael Wesch, hatred as a public performance in internet dialogue is bred from anonymity, physical distance, and rare and ephemeral dialogue.

Like 4chan and YouTube, it’s anonymous and physically distant from everyone else, it’s a little less ephemeral, but not by much.

Maybe it’s the rankings. By making high ranking comments something desirable, people try to make their posts the best as possible. “Best” means… interesting? engaging? funny? Hmm… even 4chan’s biggest threads aren’t full of hate, but full of originality and passion.

Something to think about when community building. reddit does have a completely different atmosphere to other communities. I think the ranking system is a large part of it. Why do you think this is?

Community building is no simple task. It involves careful attention o detail, empathy with members within the community and a very, very thick skin. Nowhere is this more present and needed than on communities such as 4Chan and Reddit, where erroneous or backhanded comments can leave a person grasping for their Internet lives.

Anonymous identities are partly to contribute for the tough nature of community management. Anyone can grab a photo from the Internet and pose as a tough person or a foxy vixen, carry a persona that makes them a millionaire or pose as a celebrity when they really aren’t. As we have embraced the concept of anonymity, we have also given rise to an entire culture built up around sitting behind a wall and being protected.

In community management, therefore, it is important to always be empathetic because you never know what may come out any specific incident. By showing that you care and even bowing down, you show that you want to keep things from getting out of hand. Pre-social media, we called this customer service and customer engagement. Post-social media rising, we call it community management.

What do you think? Send me a tweet or write in the comments below.