WebWise Solutions

Recently (July 08) a very intriguing article was posted in Business Technology http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/07/16/why-most-online-communities-fail...

The article explains how a lack of ongoing support for a community can result in its failure. Seems like a simple, intuitive notion, but it seems to have caught a lot of companies by surprise.

We have clients that range across the spectrum. Some believe that if you build it, they will come. (Not true.) Others believe you can update it once in awhile and the community members will do the rest. (Also not true.) And still others understand that you need a dedicated team of community moderators, managers, and editors, that behave like the owner of a fine restaurant -- out there greeting guests, checking on the food, remembering faces when they return, etc. It is not hard -- but it is essential. And it pays off.

For example, at the Novell Communities we have around 25,000 registered members, with a 90% lurker rate. This community has never gone a day without active moderation. Ever. We are always in there straightening things up, keeping the conversation going, shooting private kudo messages to people when they post something interesting, running surveys and contests, sending rewards to top contributors, posting cool things we discover, adding new features, etc.

Like a restaurant, you're only as good as your patrons say you are, and they judge you by the meal they just had (not the meal they had a year ago). If you can't run your site with the same passion and commitment to quality that is necessary for a great restaurant, your community will stop dropping by. They have options. You have to make it consistently worth it to them to spend time with you, or they will click away and never return.