Virtual Communities, Building

Purpose

Most important, a community is considered successful when it serves a clear purpose in the lives of its members, while at the same time meeting the goals of its organizers. When designing an online community, both in the initial blueprinting stage and throughout its implementation, the builder must be able to define the type of community being built, why the community is being built, and whom the community will serve. As the community grows and matures, these questions should be asked periodically to assess if the basic needs of the community are still being met effectively.

Users are attracted not only to sites with well-defined purposes but also to communities that uniquely satisfy an ongoing unmet need. Potential community members will be attracted to a site that delivers services and information that they need and cannot find elsewhere. The Internet is littered with “ghost towns,” the remains of overhyped sites whose lack of purpose led to their demise. A formal mission statement posted on the community's Web site is an effective way to communicate its purpose and goals to the general public. Taglines are another popular technique; they give users a quick summary of what the community is about and what to expect there. For example, the tagline of Slashdot, “News for Nerds. Stuff that matters,” clearly reflects the Web site's distinctive purpose as an online community devoted to providing the latest information regarding information technology (IT). These taglines play a crucial role in forming a unique brand identity and in distinguishing one online community from another.

While it is important to have a confidently expressed and clearly defined sense of purpose, online communities must also be prepared to adapt to the shifting social and economic landscape of the Web. For instance, audience demographics may contradict initial expectations, or subgroups may form that call into question the community's original purpose. Surveys and online focus groups are valuable research tools for monitoring the changing pulse of the community.

The online community also has a responsibility to respond to the financial investment of its organizers and funders. To prosper, a community should attract and keep enough members to make it fiscally viable through membership fees and advertising revenues. One effective technique for preventing conflict and for reconciling possible clashes of interest is to list the unique needs of all the community's stakeholders and then to prioritize and consolidate them into a master list.

Roles

People usually progress through five successive stages of community membership: They start as visitors, then become novices, regulars, leaders, and finally elders. Although these social roles are present both in the online and offline context, an online community builder interested in maintaining membership satisfaction and a high quality of community life must give them special attention. Online features and programs specifically designed to support these roles will help the community to attract and sustain membership. To make a community friendly for both newcomers and veterans, the unique needs of these diverse segments of the online population should be considered in the early stages of planning. Initial conditions are crucial, because the features, programs, and policies established early on in the community's life will shape how the community develops in the future.

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