Are You Thinking Short-Term Enough?

February 5, 2009Comments Off on Are You Thinking Short-Term Enough?

Imagine a line that represents what average in your field have. If you’re below that line, you’re disadvantaged in some way. If you’re above the line, you have an advantage others don’t.

Saul Alinsky brought people together to reduce a deficiency in their lives. This might be poor housing conditions, lack of voting rights or solving the dog litter problem in the local park. He resolved the problem, he brought them back up to average.

Most online community builders don’t do this work. They work above the line. They connect people to open up new benefits, advantages or opportunities they didn’t have. But these are a hard sell. You’re convincing people to want something new.

It’s tempting to act below the line and conjure a problem, with a strategy and a solution. It’s a mistake. If they didn’t know the problem existed, and didn’t help identify it, it’s never going to be important enough.

You don’t know the end result from connecting people. So forget the long-term for now focus on offering a place that’s immediately fun to be part of. Recognition amongst a crowd of peers is fun, as is making like-minded friends and being invited to moderate a discussion in your field of expertise. Not many people turn these down. Try to develop thousands of small, fun, interactions. This is energy. Energy leads to amazing things happening.

If you’re working below the line, think long-term. If you’re working above the line, think short-term and energy.

Comments Off
©2023 FeverBee Limited, Apartment 2410, 251 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 6FN England FEVERBEE
GO TO THE CUTTING EDGE OF COMMUNITY BUILDING

We’d like you to join us.

We’re a group of community professionals who push each other to the cutting edge of our work. Every day we share our experiences, highlight new expertise, and push one another to become the best community builders we can be.

The day you join, you’ll get access to 1000+ practical tips, dozens of resources, and unlimited access to the top experts in our space. You’ll also get to see how we go about building a community amongst our own audience.

It takes just 30 seconds and doesn’t cost a thing.

CLICK HERE AND JOIN FEVERBEE
Please Select Membership Level to access more posts.

Level Price  
ALL COURSES $750.00 per Month.
Select
Community Development Program $1,100.00 per Month.
Select
Director of Community $8,770.00 per Month.
Select
Free Trial - Accelerator Program Free.
Select
Community Accelerator (founding members) [annually] $250.00 per Year.
Select
Community Accelerator and FeverBee Intelligence [monthly] $45.00 per Month.
Select
Community Accelerator and FeverBee Intelligence [annually] $450.00 per Year.
Select
Full Community Upgrade (Large Enterprise Only) [monthly] $750.00 per Month.
Select
Full Community Upgrade (Large Enterprise Only) [annually] $7,600.00 per Year.
Select