Getting The Appeal Right

Which of these communities would you most like to join?

1. An online community for local residents to participate in the public consultation process and have their say on everything from planning permission, budget allocation and

2. An exclusive online community for local residents to prove their knowledge and share top tips on which local services to trust, best places to eat/shop and trade goods.

3. An exclusive online community to learn the latest gossip about your neighbours and discover who’s hot or not in your local community.

Most councils/local government authorities will say the first.

Most residents say the second option works best.

Most people would actually join the gossip community.

You can treat this as a dismal reflection of modern society or as a great opportunity. Increasingly I suspect the key to developing a successful local community (or any community) is to begin with the gossip, move on to offer value and then aim for engagement on matters that affect the entire community.

Comments

[Michelle]

#1 sounds useful but horribly stuffy and boring.

#2 is what I'm trying to create but not having any luck.

#3... sigh... I really don't want to go there. But I'm not surprised that would be the most popular. Just look at the magazines in the checkouts. Ugh.

Michelle

[Dan]

The problem is while #3 would get the widest community adoption, who in their right mind would want to advertise there? Direct advertising sales is not the only way for a community to monetize, but a local community site does not seem to have many other options.

Beside that, look at the forum for any town on topix.com ... The gossips have an outlet already, and it ain't pretty. Who wants to run the community site where locals come to discuss who they think the town bicycle is?

And what is that going to do to your reputation as the owner of said site within your community? You would be feared and loathed. Everyone would be terrified of showing up on your site.

Maybe this isn't the sort of gossip you envisioned, but again, look at places like topix.com (largely unmoderated community forums), and you'll see that's where it ends up.