Building communities, inside and out

I read a fantastic article today called Community: From Little Things, Big Things Grow by George Oates (a member of the team that created Flickr).

She talks about how you develop a meaningful online community….that above all, it takes time to nurture, to set the tone and grow.

Oates explores several themes…that online communities should:

• be a space for play and exploration
• have a personal voice and unobtrusive design
• create a flexible space that allows members of the community to design new ways of using it that the creators never thought of
• provide the option to remain anonymous (though acknowledges that if you don’t “out” yourself eventually, you’re viewed suspiciously)
• and that you shouldn’t create too many rules or guidelines

While I read the article I couldn’t help think about how the discussion applied to an internally-focused online community.

Do people want to play when they’re on their intranet? Do corporations want them to be “exploring” – maybe not. But for the most part I agree with her community advice. It takes time to establish any sense of community, whether online or not. And above all I think it takes a personal stake….people can’t just build the community then abandon it. You have to invest personal time to establish a true community.