User friendly web or marketing gimmick?
I saw a flyer a couple of months ago for a “neighbourhood” web site. It turns out there is at least one other in the city. A company called Connecting Neighbours is selling these canned sites and the buyers are (surprise) real estate agents. They get their ad at the bottom of the page.
The most striking thing about these two sites is that they are empty of resident-contributed content. The Connecting Neighbours web site is full of benefits for the real estate agent, but pretty skimpy on benefits for residents (no flashy banner ads is listed as one of three points). Are these sites failing as community focal points because their basic commerciality turns visitors off, they aren’t advertised enough, or they don’t fulfil a need? [What are you talking about, Jay? Wouldn't this post on how to pump your own gas help hundreds? - Stop it. You're killing me!]
Do communities need their own web sites? There are plenty of successful community sites online such as Planet Half-Life or the BattleFront forums, but these are centered around products, not geography. People love to share information about their favourite game and such sites provide an outlet for a diverse collection of people. Sites appealing to an international user base can also tap into a small percentage of users and still create a large community.
Online communities based on a single neighbourhood have relatively few people to draw on. Not everyone is on the net and of those that are, most are probably still on dial-up connections making it inconvenient to access this site. Of the ones that might regularly access this site, how many would participate in community discussions? I’d wager quite a small number. Even contraversial issues that affect an entire city of a million people will only draw a few hundred to city hall debates. Not enough people care to get involved.
The bottom line is neighbourhood-based online communities are non-starters. The first rule of usability is to know your users and Connecting Neighbours is focusing on the buyer more than the other, larger user base. Perhaps they will be (or are) successful at what they’re doing, but that’s not building communities — it’s simply providing a sales vehicle.
I’m no expert in online communities, so I’m interested in links or feedback.