Do you want to build a community where users search or hang? (2021)
3 days ago
- #online-engagement
- #developer-community
- #community-building
- Developer communities serve different purposes: some are for hanging out ('Facebook' type), others for quick answers ('Google' type).
- Examples of 'Facebook' communities: Rands Engineering Slack, Ruby community, Orbit.love’s Discord.
- Examples of 'Google' communities: StackOverflow, Elasticsearch forum, most other forums.
- Factors influencing community type: technology scope, real-life events, open-source nature, member interaction frequency, community size, and longevity.
- Building a 'Google' community involves providing quick help, structured documentation, searchable Q&A, clear roadmaps, and multiple feedback channels.
- Encouraging deeper community engagement can be done through meetups, member profiles, direct communication, and synchronous chat platforms.
- Most communities lean towards one type, but some, like StackOverflow, can support both.
- Understanding the type of community you can realistically build is crucial for success.