The Golden Thread of Online Communities

As I take morning walks along the beach in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, I've had the opportunity to observe an amusing variety of sand "castles" (pictured below in the handy animated gif).

In my own convoluted way, I thought I might use these ephemeral creations as a way to introduce my theme for today's newsletter: finding the golden thread.?I betchya didn't know these newsletters have a theme? Well, neither did I, but let's give it a go.

What makes a great sand castle? Is there a golden thread, some conditions that ensure the successful execution of a sand castle? The bar is admittedly low for something not intended to last long at all, but I'd say there are a few criteria that could be called unifying or important principles of?sandcastling--yikes, did I just verb that?.

• Sand castles should express playfulness, creativeness, or even cleverness
• They aren't designed to last long, so fine details aren't that important
• It should cause a moment of delight if you happen across one
• They should, perhaps most of all, bring joy to their creator(s)

The Golden Thread of Online Communities

Online communities, of course, are neither ephemeral, nor simple creations. Finding what works for these constructions takes considerably more effort. The idea of a golden thread came up when a new client used this word in a brief and it loomed large in my imagination.?

Where does the idea of a golden thread come from?

Is it mythological? I've read the story of Theseus and the Minotaur many times and seen countless television and movie references, but I cannot seem to recall whether the thread that leads the young hero through Daedalus's impossible maze is actually?golden?although I suppose artistic license could make it so.

The Fates of Greek mythology play with threads quite a bit but as far as I can recall, the only golden threads explicitly reference come up in the Disney version of Hercules, where a golden thread denotes the fate of a god (or son of a god).

Then there's the gold-from-straw spinning goblin Rumplestiltskin who tries bargaining for the firstborn of a desperate young woman in peril of her life but is foiled when she guesses his name.

I feel like the term has definite folkloric or mythological roots but the term as we have it today is probably a collision many different associations, which made it all the more maddening for me to try and figure out! I think that when it comes down to it the golden thread, in online communities at least, is the?characteristic, quality, configuration, or policy that is common to multiple communities of a given type?and?which is validated by observable success.

That's?two?criteria if you were counting. Just because multiple versions of a healthcare support community has used the same approach to badges, or prompts to post, or monetization, doesn't mean it's worth emulating unless you can somehow validate that it's a?successful?play.

If you're researching communities of a given type as a prelude to launching one of your own, you need to evaluate this information, not just with communities similar to your own concept or in the same space, but with adjacently positions communities that are perhaps in an entirely different field.

How can you judge whether an element of a community should be deemed a golden thread?

If you cannot join and directly observe a given community, it's definitely more challenging but not impossible. Ideally, if there's a community you're interested in, you should consider finding out who manages the online community via LinkedIn, reach out, and ask for a brief conversation about the community. So long as you're not trying to duplicate that exact community type, I cannot think of a single person in the online community profession who would turn down a conversation about their community.

Even so, there are some other things you can do to determine the relative success of a given community online, even though it may require some extrapolation or guesswork. Here are a few ways you can try:

• Pay close attention to any statistics or success signals that the site itself publishes. These often appear on the home page or on a sign-up landing page for the community. How many members does the community have? How many posts? What other metrics do they share?
• Has the community been able to communicate its reason behind certain design decisions crisply? Clarity of purpose and justifications for setting up the community in a specific way can signal its relative success.
• Is the community following practices laid out be top community industry thinkers and academic research? Apply a little patience here. As much ink has been spilled on what makes a great community, online communities as an organizational digital experience are still very much in their early days. The literature is still emergent.
• Longevity of the community site is a good indicator of how well it has done with execution of its mission. Longer-lived sites that still thrive, enjoy a good reputation, and seem to be kept updated with a modern interface and user experience have probably made good choices and iterated upon them over time.
• If you have access to them, draw upon any analytics tools at your disposal. For example, I use several SEO platforms for competitive evaluation of sites for everything from organic and paid traffic, to keywords, top landing pages and more. If you don't have access to a paid tool, many of the SEO tool providers offer freemiums that allow partial access to their platform features.
• Finally, don't be afraid to apply your personal experiences and instincts about the community based on other communities you have investigated so far. Trust your hunches. If they line up with other data you're seeing, you're probably correct.

What does the golden thread mean to you? Hit reply and let me know your thoughts....

Note: I am posting what's usually my newsletter delivered via TinyLetter on LinkedIn as a regular article to see if it gains any wider viewership. If you're reading this for the first time and you're scratching your head, A View from the Clocktower is my Friday musings about the world of online community building, peppered with pop cultural references, a bit of a love letter to my home town, Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and other nerdiness. I'd like to know if you prefer reading it in this format better, so drop me a comment and let me know?

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Unless I explicitly disclose a referral partner relationship, recommendations are purely my own opinion.?

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This has been A View from the Clocktower...?

Source: Wikimedia Commons

I'm closing out the today's newsletter article with this image of the golden clock tower presiding majestically over Chiang Rai, the northernmost city in Thailand.?Read more...