Whoop! I survived and made it to Issue π―
This equates to pretty much two years of sending out a weekly curated newsletter. My life has changed so much in those two years!
Since starting this newsletter I've gone on to:
- writing of community articles, practically every week!
- creating a curated Community Builiding Notion database that I'm very proud of
- I've done a bunch of talks and spoke on many podcasts
- run a community building cohort
- ran our first recorded Rosieland community event (last week)
- made some money along the way
- built up a good email list and lots of Twitter followers!
All whilst holding down a job (and then a new job) and throughout this horrendous pandemic.
Most people don't realise that I refused pretty much all public speaking requests until about 2 years ago, so I'm pretty pleased about diving in 'good and proper'! π€£
Whilst it's easy to paint a pretty picture, there have been struggles behind all of this. I'll be mixing things up a bit with Rosieland over the coming months, mostly to keep me less stressed and sane.
More of that is to come soon.
ππ½ For now I just want to say thank you for subscribing and following along. ππ½
Tightening your community instead of making it bigger
By Phil Santos
I recently came across a brilliant idea from a Miami-based conscious dance community called Solar Sunday. Theyβre preparing to launch a new project, so instead of blasting the news across social, they decided to strengthen their innermost community by creating an event thatβs only for past attendees.
Social learning powers distributed work
By Harold Jarche
Those of us who have been blogging over the past two decades understand that deep professional relationships can be developed without ever meeting someone. How did we do it? We shared our knowledge, insights, concerns, and perspectives freely. Over time, people in this emerging online global network saw value in our work and gave back. In this network, communities developed. We learned from each and continue to do so. But if you do not give, you will not get anything back. To give freely is a leap of faith β faith in humanity. Of course we also learned that some people will take advantage of this. But we also share that information.
- Big Brands Experiment with NFTs, and a look to the Future β Jeremiah Owyang
- Online health communities: how do community members build the trust required to adopt information and form close relationships? β Taylor & Francis
- Youβre living in the Metaverse, you just donβt know it yet. β Ben Popper, Stackoverflow
- Targeting taste communities β Ana Andjelic
- How to Measure Problem-Community Fit β And Why You Should β Garrett Johnson
- Recontextualizing my Relationship with Burning Wheel β Jeremy Friesen
- Building Community by Buying Nothing β Yes Magazine
- The inevitable decline of fully open platforms β Seth Godin
- A month long conference is a neat concept β Matt Webb
- βMore dynamic, loyalty driven communities:β What comes next for publishers on the blockchain β Digiday
- Using Discourse as a social media platform β Discourse
- Pilot Holes and Countersinks β Hugh Lashbrooke
- 2 NFT communities compared: The Doge Pound vs. Slumdoge Billionaires! β Carmen Taubman
- The Human Scale: Part III β WrathOfGnon
- The New Creator Economy - DAOs, Community Ownership, and Cryptoeconomics β Nader Dabit
- How Do Peer Awards Motivate Creative Content? Experimental Evidence from Reddit β SSRN
π Podcasts
- Episode 55 ~ Community: Truly Seen, Heard and Known ~ Kajabi β Social Lights
- 090: How to build a community-led membership - with Dejan Pralica β Membership Maker
- Community Goes Both Ways w/ Lauren Clevenger β Community Corner
π News
- Discourse Announces $20m Series A Investment by Pace Capital and First Round Capital β Discourse
- After community backlash, PokΓ©mon GO reinstates a COVID safety and accessibility feature β TechCrunch
- Sugar raises $2.5M in seed funding to connect apartment residents β TechCrunch
- OnlyFansβ explicit content ban should spark a conversation about a creatorsβ bill of rights β TechCrunch
- YouTube has removed 1 million videos for dangerous COVID-19 misinformation β TechCrunch
π¦ Twitter
What's the hardest thing about running a free community?
— Rosie Sherry (@rosiesherry) August 30, 2021
I love hearing about extremely weird / niche communities.
— SPINKS | spinks.eth (@DavidSpinks) August 30, 2021
What's the weirdest community you know of?
How do you think about - and talk to others about - the value created with your community?
— Bill Johnston (@billjohnston) August 30, 2021
My first post in a five-part series, drawing from 20+ years of experience and practice:https://t.co/nVzO0Sm244
"Membership-focused companies typically don't use the tools that are designed for SaaS. But I think they should, because there is a lot of overlap.β β @blairwadmanhttps://t.co/QkD8zX6AKy pic.twitter.com/NGoonjFKk9
— Userlist (@userlist) August 30, 2021
Kindness and CommunityπΌ
— Ayush π (@ayushtweetshere) August 27, 2021
Community Wisdom from @rosiesherry
- How she started Ministry of Testingπ¨βπ¨βπ¦βπ¦
- Why she doesn't do customer researchπ
- And Her Advice for Indie Hackersπ€
Read on - https://t.co/dXSNMpXs8P
one-to-one = interaction π€
— Krystal Wu (@HelloKrystalWu) August 23, 2021
one-to-many = audience π£
many-to-many = community π
I always feel odd talking about CTAs (calls to action) in a community context, bc of the association w/ "selling."
— Noele Flowers (@NoeleFlowers) August 27, 2021
But, many components of community design, down to daily engagement posts, need CTAs.
I propose a rebrand: CTA β© CTC πCall To Connection. Happy Friday!
As a small token of appreciation to my newsletter Slack community (now over 5k strong!), I've created crypto-punk-inspired NFTs of the 40 most helpful and active members from over the past year. Cause why not! Check them out in all of their gloryhttps://t.co/thb6wQrY3z
— Lenny Rachitsky | lennysan.eth (@lennysan) August 27, 2021
"You donβt have to bring your whole self to every community you join, but you do have to bring a slice of yourself, and that part needs to be authentic to its core." - @shl
— SPINKS | spinks.eth (@DavidSpinks) August 26, 2021
Interesting! What are your thoughts on cameras off vs on?
— lizandmollie (@lizandmollie) August 26, 2021
Weβre fans of having cameras on for the first five minutes to promote connection, and then turning them off when the group starts digging into agenda items. https://t.co/tgWOeZMxT0
Real community talk. pic.twitter.com/Z82pPfOTYw
— Rosie Sherry (@rosiesherry) August 25, 2021
Curation in web3:
— gaby.eth (@gaby_goldberg) August 26, 2021
- The most expensive NFTs sit at the top of @opensea
- We maintain subgraphs on @graphprotocol
- Curators are rewarded on @yup_io for likes & ratings
Great overview from @nir_III for the @forefront__ community πhttps://t.co/wUgyicOOr5
How I built a paid community to 1,000+ members in 10 months
— Dru Riley π (@DruRly) August 24, 2021
A threadπ