Yesterday saw the kick-off of our very public secret project. Yes we love to be innovative here at the SWBN and this project falls squarely outside of the square.

Here is an excerpt from the project scope document that was publicly posted yesterday.

Project scope document

We have also posted graphics of the base numbers for this project as our starting point.

Anyone who has a business/niche area should probably follow along. After all community/tribe  building is the hot topic these days (actually has been for ages).

Case study

I have been involved in several community building exercises in the last decade and a half. Here is an example of one.

In 2001 I was one of the “founding members” of a niche PC magazine community. The community progressed the way that most do.

• First there is the common interest that draws people to one place
• Because of this common interest there was acceptance of all kinds of people and personalities
• People started meeting offline very early in the formation, further cementing bonds
• Collaboration spontaneously occurred in all areas – business, creative, philanthropic etc
• Relationships formed ( I met my partner there!)
• The community grew to a size where groups within groups formed
• A self perpetuating entity continues today, with a new generation of central figures

These are the things that will happen in any community (and I bet you could grab any number of studies by sociologists that will confirm that). These will be the milestones we will be looking for in the SWBN comunity.

This may sound cold and contrived, it really shouldn’t be though. These things will happen naturally in the right environment.

In the background of the community a core network of dedicated leaders set the norms, had a heap of fun, and did what they saw as what was best for the community.If you have “super fans” like these, hang on to them and encourage them all you can. It is these people that will help your community grow and mature.

This is where interest in your area of business is essential. if you have a business or membership site and you aren’t really “into” the whole thing, well people are going to know. It is best in that case to seek out those “super fans” really early and get them doing the communication, bonding and driving. Again, select them and reward them well, your community depends on them.

Back to our secret project, it shouldn’t be too hard to track down. I didn’t really smudge too hard, and others will have seen where the material is being posted. Seek it out and see what happens.