Communities are a very human social experience. The core of any community — even an online community — is people, not technology. 
While the technology that allows for comments, votes, and RSS feeds can be the legs of the community, it can never be its heart. The heart of the community rests with its founders and core users.
A social network’s ability to grow and attract new members depends on its ability to communicate its purpose and win users’ loyalty and participation. It would be short sighted for a social network not to realize that its success depends on its relationship with its core users. The 80/20 rule dictates that core users will represent the bulk of content submissions and comments. Those core users will also actively police the site for spam, become brand evangelists, and set the tone of the site for the rest of the users. Their willingness to friend and mentor new users can be the difference between “noobs” feeling welcome or feeling like they’ve had a flashback to the high school lunchroom.
Over the past few months, I’ve invested a considerable amount of time in various social networks. I’ve witnessed growing user revolt at digg. I’ve scratched my head at confusing features on the StumbleUpon toolbar. I’ve been completely turned off by the spam and lack of community at Sk*rt. Throughout the experience, I’ve been able to define a list of must-have features in a social network. Without these, the network is not worth my time.
Top 5 Stickiness Factors for Social Networks:
- Well-developed documentation or FAQs … especially a quick-start guide for new users
- Well thought-out submission forms which not only make it difficult to screw up a submission or submit a duplicate, but also make it easy to use advanced features without having to hunt for a power user’s “Secret tips”
- Exceptional support and timely responses to email
- Human members in the community who act as liaisons and help explain technical issues, glitches and new features
- A welcoming environment for users at all levels with no bias against a user’s gender, sexual preference, religious or political persuasion.
My next post will take a look at one social network that meets all five requirements.
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