Social Networks Research Report
July 31st, 2005This should make for interesting reading. A company called Wildbit has released a report [PDF] on online social networks and communities.
“Communities are not created; they evolve. The growth of an online community takes time and effort. Relationships must be initiated based on trust, and then carefully cultivated. Organizations must identify a sequence of steps to increase a constituent’s level of involvement and offer a variety of participation options that work to engage different components of their audience. To build a vibrant online community, organizations need more than an individual’s donation or membership application — they need ongoing interaction opportunities that will keep a constituent engaged and developing into a lifelong supporter. In addition to defining a set of interactions, goals must be clearly articulated. Organizations must ask themselves fundamental questions about the nature of the online community that they are building.”
File…Print.