Future of Web Apps - Metafilter.com
Matt Haughey talks about online communities
October 3, 2007 4:42 PM
Matt Haughey, the creator and of MetaFilter, the community news site (think of it a bit like a massive blog slash slashdot slash early prototype for Digg) who's talking about creating and running communities.
Blimey, this lad's tall.
Any site or application you create should include a social component. This is essential now for Web 2.0, but the potential for disaster is huge. But a successful community great for everyone involved, the creators and the members.
The lifespan of a community follows a classic growth curve sees an early spike where everyone tries it out for 10 seconds and never comes back. Maybe you'll keep 10% of people, and then over time it starts growing... and then there are three outcomes.
1. It sky rockets
2. It flattens out
3. It declines (it's almost always the person who's running it lets it die)
Be a third place. Following the idea that you have to be something outside of people's work and outside of their home: be something that people want to join in every single day and enjoy. That's the high-level goal. But it's not as simple as throwing some software together and a domain. A lot of thought has to go into it.
Future of Web Apps - Metafilter.com | Technology | Guardian Unlimited.
