You have a choice with your community; you
can narrow the focus or you can broaden it.
If you narrow the focus, it means you’re
using the information gathered through the community (what’s popular) to
identify specifically what members are interested in.
It means that you’re refining the community
concept. You highlight the discussions that are within the focus and let the
rest fade away. You change the copy of the community to reflect its more narrow
focus.
By narrowing the focus, you reach less
people but get those more interested in participating in a community about the
topic. By narrowing the focus you increase the level of activity per member.
By broadening the focus, you’re recognizing
there is something within the community that can be applied to a broader
sector. This is usually the personality of the community, but it might be an
underdeveloped sector.
Broadening can succeed. I’ve lost track of
the number of small communities that became huge successes within a broader
field (Facebook). But this is risky and rarely succeeds.
Given the choice,
I'd suggest you narrow and refine the focus.
