community platforms - Cultivating Community2024-03-28T10:37:56Zhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/feed/tag/community%2BplatformsThe Purpose of Community Platformshttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-purpose-of-community-platforms2014-07-16T18:00:00.000Z2014-07-16T18:00:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>The platform for a community performs a single function: to facilitate interaction between members. An excellent community platform improves the quality and quantity of interactions between members. A bad community platform inhibits interactions between members. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, many organizations use platforms which restrain the growth of their communities.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282218?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282218?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p>The platform is one method of facilitating interactions since for most online communities it is the only place where members will interact with each other. This is not a certainty, though. Many organizations develop platforms that are aesthetically pleasing, in line with other brand material, and clearly adhering to modern user experience principles. There is a problem with each of these aspects, but first we need to understand the biggest flaw in organizational thinking towards community platforms.</p>
<p>A content-led approach is common amongst branded online communities. Aesthetics and content is given higher priority than the interactions. This platform prohibits interactions between members. Many organizations develop a platform using a similar approach as a traditional website. In this approach, the designer/developer identifies what is needed and embraces this knowledge to design the platform. However, a community platform and a company website serve two different purposes. The former services to facilitate interactions between members, the latter serves to provide information to the target audience.</p>
<p><b>Ignoring the positive examples</b></p>
<p>Many organizations fail to research positive examples of online communities before embarking upon the development of their own platform. This means these organizations ignore best practices in favour of developing a community that adheres to more aesthetically pleasing concepts like those found in company websites.</p>
<p>Thus, whilst most successful communities use a simple, proven, interaction-focused platform, most organizations develop a custom, unproven, expensive community platform. </p></div>Essential Elements Of Community Platformshttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/essential-elements-of-community-platforms2014-06-04T16:40:00.000Z2014-06-04T16:40:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>Don't compare community platforms by the features they do/don't have. Compare community platforms by the features that are essential to you and how well they execute on those features. The number of <i>essential</i> features is very limited. </p>
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<p><b>Discussion area</b>. Members need a place in which they can interact. This will usually be a forum-based. </p>
<p><b>Notifications</b>. Members need to <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2011/12/the-notification-cycle.html">be notified</a> when people have responded to their posts. This keeps members coming back. It sustains activity. </p>
<p><b>Analytics</b>. You need to be able to properly track what's going on. You need to know what's going on beneath the surface. </p>
<p><b>Member profiles</b>. Members need <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2011/05/memberprofiles.html">to create</a> and use a consistent identity within the community.</p>
<p>Looking at this, you can partly see why <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.big-boards.com/">forum-only communities are thriving</a>. They offer nothing but the essential features. They're far more successful than any feature-backed platform. </p>
<p>But this neglects a more important point, <i>depth of features</i>.</p>
<p>Within each element, there are a range of subtle, but essential, options. Does the discussion area of the platform you're considering enable exporting of data, and integration with FB/Twitter? Can you embed the latest discussions elsewhere? Does it support different access levels, category creation, sufficient admin features, and customization of design?</p>
<p>Is it clear if there are any new posts when someone visits? Does it show both total posts or just the total number of new posts since the last visit? </p>
<p>Perhaps even deeper, how much space does every discussion take on the page? Are discussions spaced out in a way that only shows 5 discussions on a page? Or does it show 25?</p>
<p>The mistake many people make here is they compare platforms by breadth of features they rarely need and are unlikely to use as opposed to the depth of essential features. If you're in the process of choosing a platform, look to at the depth and subtle variation between the key features, not the breadth of features. </p>
<p> <em>(Image via Graphic Stock)</em></p></div>The Problem With Community Platforms (and asking the right questions)https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-problem-with-community-platforms2014-03-27T15:00:00.000Z2014-03-27T15:00:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p><b><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.discourse.org/">Discourse</a></b> looks interesting. It looks sleek, modern, and displays most of what people need. It's also open-source. It might be a fantastic new community platform. </p>
<p>It's going to tempt a lot of people to switch platforms...and this is the problem.</p>
<p>Switching community platforms is one of the riskiest things you can do. The benefits are usually minimal and the dangers are colossal. Unless you picked a terrible platform initially, changing a platform won't help you much.</p>
<p>If you want a better community, it's rarely a new platform you need, it's a new and better approach to community management.</p>
<p>How are you <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/concentrate-activity" target="_self">driving activity</a> and growth in that community? </p>
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<p>What are you doing to recruit members? Whom are you approaching? What are you telling them? What is their reaction? What tactics have you tried/not tried? How are you encouraging them to invite others?</p>
<p>How are you initiating and sustaining discussions? What topics have you tried? <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/how-to-help-members-overcome-their-fear-of-participation" target="_self">Who and how are you prompting people</a> to respond to these topics? What types of discussions work best? What does your audience analysis tell you will be most interesting?</p>
<p>What <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/14-events-you-can-organize-and-celebrate-in-your-community" target="_blank">events are you facilitating</a>? Have you scheduled regular, live, events? Are you reaching out to and inviting the top people in your community and sector to participate in these events? </p>
<p>Are you <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-psychological-impact-of-interactions" target="_self">building relationships</a> with members? How are you building these relationships? What is working/not working here? </p>
<p>Have you diagnosed your community? What specifically does your data tell you is going wrong? Is it growth, activity, or <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/creating-a-sense-of-belonging-in-your-online-community" target="_self">sense of community</a>? </p>
<p>Are you embracing the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2012/09/community-management-framework.html">full community management framework</a>? Or are you just doing a tiny sliver of the work you should be doing. </p>
<p>Too often, we jump straight to the conclusion that the platform is the problem. That's rarely the case. It's almost certainly the activity you're doing on the platform that matters. </p>
<p>This is why new platforms have made it easier to build communities, but haven't helped us build <i>better</i> communities. </p>
<p>The answers to these questions are far more important than the platform or its features. </p></div>