There are some blog posts that have radically influenced how we think of building online communities. Below are a few of the best of the past few years.
- Kevin Keller – 1000 True Fans. Your organization can serve small groups of people at high profit. This was the best blog post of last year and changed how we think about mass-marketing.
- Seth Godin – Tribe Management. The future of business is finding products for your community, not a community or your products. Why most businesses need a tribe manager.
- Jeremiah Owyang – Online Community Best Practices: Jeremiah with a comprehensive guide to developing an online community, complete with best practices at each stage.
- Jeremiah Owyang – Forrester Wave Report: Leaders in Community Platforms for Marketers: Jeremiah’s fantastic guide to the various community platforms. It’s available for free here.
- Jonathan Bishop – Increasing participation in online community: A framework for human-computer interaction. This is a slog to get through but invaluable reading for a scientific perspective on what people are likely to react to.
- Francois Goissieaux – Tribalization of Business Study: A watershed study about how business is changing towards communities.
- Chris Carlfi – A Pattern Language for Online (and Offline) Communities. A great overview of this little discussed area of community work. Familiarise yourself with the language of building communities.
- Chris Allen. Chris Allen is one of the few to actively tackle the Dunbar number and the 90-9-1 theory of participation in online communities. Read his series of posts for a clear understanding and the need for developing groups within your community. Part 1, part 2 and part 3.
I wanted to include something by Guy Kawasaki and Clay Shirky in the group, but couldn’t find any single post that did their wisdom justice. Drop me an e-mail if you know of a great posts.