When working on online communities, it’s deceptively easy to get lost in the numbers and statistics. You’re keeping track of conversion rates, signups, all kinds of activity measures, retention rates and maybe a net promotor score or satisfaction rating. While all these statistics are certainly valuable, they’re still ‘just’ numbers, and what you really should care about is: people.
A recent article on feverbee points out that “most online communities are designed for lurkers“. It’s true. A lot of energy is spent on creating great interesting content to attract new people, and with success. But after that, the new user is left on his own. The welcome message is cold (almost rude), and when he arrives at the community he’s lost and doesn’t know where to start. A few brave souls may have the courage to write a few words, but many of them are scared away when the desired reaction just doesn’t come.
In a library people are silent
An accurate metaphor for a content-driven ‘community’ is a library. And what happens when people walk into a library? They whisper, walk slowly and try not to disturb the other people there. Social psychologists have shown that just the association of the concept library is enough to make people speak softer. For the vibrant active community you have in mind, that’s not the behavior you want to stimulate.
If you don’t want to silence your newbies, but get them to connect with your existing community members, look at what you can learn from other real life situations. How do people start talking? What do they say and what do they do? People online are still people, and they tend to follow all the normal rules of social interaction.
it’s not that hard
In a community that I’m involved with, we’ve recently taken a few simple steps to help our newcomers really join. The account confirmation email was replaced by a welcome message offering guidance and a little encouragement. Instead of demanding new members to “introduce yourself! within a week, or else…”, we’re now welcoming them and ask them the kind of questions you would expect to hear at a real life meeting as well (hi, what’s your name? what brought you here? what are you interested in? etc.). We’re paying explicit attention to the first few interactions, where a fast friendly reply can make all the difference between feeling ignored and feeling welcome. And it seems to work. People find their way more easily, and are more comfortable than before.
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