Mixed by Gregory Culpin (Business Development Officer @ Whatever) in Knowledge mgmt
February
An article originally posted on libraryclips.blogsome.com
A more natural strategy is to build a system that has enough value without network effects, at least to early adopters. Then, as the number of users increases, the system becomes even more valuable and is able to attract a wider user base. Joshua Schachter has explained that he built Del.icio.us along these lines - he built an online system where he could keep bookmarks for himself, such that even if no other user joined, it would still be valuable to him.
Read the full article at libraryclips.blogsome.com
In my opinion…
Community and more broadly knowledge management is about putting concrete actions into place for fostering communication and participation.
Some solutions rely on the network effect (”à la Facebook”) which as John Tropea explains is often viewed as a positive effect for adoption. However negative factors such as lack of trust and “community congestion” can also occur resulting in lesser participation and lower quality content generation – and I totally agree.
Answering individual’s needs (such as personal productivity) is the best way to make them take up new initiatives and not pushing them into wide open spaces (i.e. keep them involved in smaller communities) sometimes answer these needs better.
How can an ideal balance point for a community be identified in order to maintain its momentum and is there a rule of thumb or way to determine these points a priori rather than a posteriori?
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