7 Things A Successful Online Community CAN Live Without

DesignReviver believes a successful online community cannot survive without 10 key elements elements.

Looking at some successful examples of online communities. I believe you can succeed without most of these. Especially:

1. Great Design. Design can be nice. But judging by the many, many, online communities with nice design that have failed – compared with the thousands of crappy designs that succeed, I think this is one aspect your community can live without.
2. Content. Contentious one this. Content can help with most online communities, but it’s not essential. Most of the successful communities using forums thrive quite happily without any central content.
3. SEO. No community really needs SEO. Again, it can help, but I wouldn’t put it anywhere near the must-haves when getting going.
4. A leader. Leaders tend to develop followings rather than communities. Having a manager to keep order is fine, having a leader to break new ground really isn’t essential.
5. Widgets. Anything that doesn’t absolutely have to be there for people to participate can be left out. Very few widgets add anything to the community. They distract from the key elements.
6. Multi-platform. Being multi-platform accessible can be cool, but if you picked the right platform in the first place you’ll be fine.
7. Facebook/Twitter. Few communities receive much benefit from social media platforms. They can help, but the benefits are limited at best.

The only element a community can't survive without is activity. No activity, no community. Focus on that.

Comments

[Dan Gray]

A community, by its very nature, needs nothing. It is self sustaining, content generating, engaging, entertaining... All it needs is a format within which to function, be that a forum, chat room, comment section, etc.

Saying 'these are things a community can't live without' is obviously wrong, but saying 'these are things it *can* live without' seems flawed too. Of course you can live without them, but that doesn't mean you should. Your car may have a few hundred thousand miles on the clock and be running smoothly, but that doesn't stop you wishing it had electric windows and a new paint job.

Perhaps a better title would be 'these are things you shouldn't worry about too much to begin with'. I agree that they aren't critical, and I also agree with your statement that the focus should be on engaging users rather than tweaking the platform, but there's no reason not to do both if you have the expertise and the time.

[joe]

following the first reply, i ask myself: to what extent is the community independent flaws in the platform/format.

[Anna]

I am always grateful to be told things I do NOT need to do. Thanks.