Today, someone on the internet was wrong. ๐Ÿ˜†

Yep, I'm talking about the E word again.

It's pretty surprising to see how many people only see community as the interactions (engagement, conversations and discussions) we have.

The idea that community is more than that often gets shut down.

Typically, this shows up in the defiance of saying that a newsletter is not a community. I'd argue, how can you run a community without some form of good email communication? I'm not sure it's possible.

It's funny to see people argue with such conviction. ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ

When a community is seen as a system, then we can easily start to see that it is more than engagement, it is more than a community tool, this is siloed thinking that doesn't enable growth.

I brush it off, but also, the truth is that this kind of thinking is actually harmful, overall, to our industry. We have to get better at showing that community is more than engagement.

The truth is that community is built upon actions, engagement is important, but that's only part of the work required.

Change won't come overnight, but I'll continue to fly the community as a system flag.

Explore further in Rosieland:

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The community engagement trap
The community industry has a problem and it comes in the form of an unbalanced emphasis on โ€œengagementโ€๏ธ. Iโ€™m not saying engagement is bad. The balance is just out of whack. When we think about community often we think about lots of engagement. Lots of chit-chat. A hive of activity.
Community engagement is so 2022. Here are 10 things you should obsess over instead.
โ˜€๏ธ Hey everyone! Itโ€™s time to encourage some better community habits! I recently asked what was โ€œso 2022 in community buildingโ€ and one answer that poked its head through was engagement. Engagement. โ€” Carlos Saba (@kungfucarlos) January 2, 2023

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