1. Community Criteria People Criteria Process Criteria Culture Criteria
Technology Criteria
Membership is a conscious choice
Member base has achieved critical mass and sustainability (no empty chat rooms; generate content; create sub-groups)
Members feel a great sense of trust
Members achieve benefits of scale (ex. gather more info as a group; provide larger number of reviews)
Roles are not hierarchical or imposed (not an organization)
Effective facilitation and site structure keeps activities on track
A spirit of participation and feedback is clearly cultivated
A sense of affiliation is achieved through ownership of equity in the community (ex. eBay’s member rating system)
Efficiency in interaction is maximized (ex. chat rooms better for on-line dating)
The community is easily navigable
Community is a set of interwoven relationships, built upon shared interests, that satisfies individual needs that would otherwise be unattainable.

2. How the 2Is Affect Online Community
Individualization
Interactivity
Less accountability — punishing an individual’s inappropriate behavior becomes more difficult on the Internet
More anonymity — user identity can be easily disguised by logging on with aliases
Convenience — communication and resource sharing can take place anytime
Reach — elimination of geographical boundaries allows for the creation of both large and effective communities
Community

3. How Communities Function

4. Transfer of Value in Communities
User to Administrator:
Examples of Types of Value Created and Shared
Community subscription fees
Content fees
Fees to engage in an activity (e.g., online video game participation)
Commission fees (e.g., for goods sold through the community)
Increased value for selling online advertising space
User to User:
Examples of Types of Value Created and Shared
User-generated content (e.g., information/opinions/advice)
Distribution of digitizeable goods (e.g., MP3s, shareware)
Transactions for goods
Relationships/support/conversation
Transfer of Value in Communities
Administrator to User:
Examples of Types of Value Created and Shared
Administrator-generated content/proprietary content (e.g., articles/editorials)
Mailing lists
Newsletters
Webcasts (e.g., of guest speakers)
Supervised chats (e.g., chats featuring guest Q&A)
Offline events (e.g., parties for members within geographic proximity)
Rewards points (e.g., to use on goods or services traded within the community)

5. Community Benefits to Parent Firms

6. Community Applicability
Consumer Attributes
Product Attributes
Community
Pursue
Creation
Consumer attributes are behavioral
Is the target group of your product or service made up of active online users?
Are members of your target group likely or willing to share information with others?
Are members of your target group involved in the process of discovery?
Do members of your target group value interaction with like-minded people?
Can the community grow organically?
Product attributes are emotional
Can the product generate critical mass (can you get enough members to maintain a community, especially regulars and leaders)?
Does the product elicit passion?
Does the product address or revolve around a certain lifestyle?
Do benefits of information aggregation arise from product complexity?

7. Three Levels of Community

8. Community Building Strategy

9. Community Growth Path

10. Four Key Stages of Customer Relationships
Community Levers
Four Key Stages of Customer Relationships
Awareness
Exploration /
Expansion
Commitment
Dissolution
Outline community benefits clearly and early on in the process
Anticipate and readily answer questions and concerns, quickly establishing a sense of trust
Establish a call for action and further exploration
Makes community exploration easy through efficient site structure
Show everyone individual attention (e.g., welcoming s, guides for novices, chat conversations for new members, use of CRM marketing to tailor site functionality)
Begin the process of equity creation (e.g., member points and loyalty programs)
Increase equity building (e.g., through tiered loyalty programs, increased rewards)
Recognize individuals’ contribution and participation
Develop members (e.g., through leadership opportunities, community roles, guides or watch-persons)
Spot departing friends early and find solutions to prevent dissolution
Make the “leaving process” fair and efficient
Seek and listen closely to feedback
Allow the option of returning

11. Conclusion
Real community is accomplished by meeting criteria along four dimensions: people criteria, process criteria, culture criteria and technology criteria
Communities differ by their foundations — shared interests of information, shared interests in activity and shared interests arising out of commonality
Within a community, value is created in three different ways: user-to-user, administrator- to-user and user-to-administrator
Communities can generate significant benefits outside of themselves, such as to a parent firm, through both cost and revenue benefits