Social Density

Ensuring social density (the amount of activity within a given area) is consistently high without being too high. - dissipate activity when it becomes overwhelming in one area (by creating new areas for discussion, etc.) or concentrate activity when areas of the community become too sparse (removing/combining areas/topics).

Concentrating Activity

Too Quiet

• A thin community will appear less successful and members will be less inclined to assume the community’s group identity.

• At the launch of the community, the number of areas in which posts can be made should be restricted to a mere few, perhaps just one.

• You should remove or combine quiet areas of the community, where possible, into related groups.

Group Identities

• But what if Poland is a very active group? Should it also be combined into the Eastern Europe group? The answer is no. Do not infringe upon a highly active group (or category). It may be perceived as an attack on their group identity.

• Few communities embrace this approach, however, because they fear it appears disorganized. This is to their detriment. The quest for neat, parallel categories is at odds with the natural evolution of group identity.

• Do not be inclined to neatly categorize members at the expense of their own group identities. Let these group identities flourish in whatever form makes most sense.

Dissipating Activity

• When the community has expanded and information overload is a likely issue should the community moderator dissipate this activity.

• New groups take a bit of time to get going. Take care to ensure the community reaches the critical mass stage of the community development process prior to developing new groups.

Friendship Groups

• Give them a unique, relevant name. The most successful communities are filled with forums and groups named “The London Shoreditch gang,” “The 3am insomniacs club,” or “Mike and Joe’s freeze-flower forum” not “General Chat,” “Advice,” or “Classifieds.”

• These names may make little sense to outsiders but create a strong sense of community among insiders. If you understand the name, it’s because you’re a member of the community. This increases the sense of identity and bonds between members. Members are more likely to feel ownership over an area of the community.

Novices

• Frequent novice questions - create a separate place within the community where newcomers can feel comfortable asking questions and members can go to answer them.

Experts

• A final method of dissipating activity is to identify experts and influencers within the community and create sections that they can run.

• Once a new category/group has been created, the moderator should promote it via the daily news story and an e-mail to members of the community to participate. You should, where possible, also transfer existing discussions on the topic to this forum category.