Why Not Being “Special” Will Harm Your Community
You need to be the best in whatever you’re trying to be.
— Ane of /r/GabrielDropOut
In part 2 of this series following Ane, the multiplatform community builder of /r/GabrielDropOut, I will be honing in on one of the key takeaways of the conversation. This will be the idea of “Specialization in a Marketplace of Ideas”.
I will preface the article by saying that this idea may apply more strongly to young communities or those struggling against the tide of memberflow. Communities who have already found their “groove” or niche may already embody a fair bit of this article. If after reading you feel this way, we would love to hear from you in the comments or in the CBB Discord server (temporarily the Statbot support server in the Community Builders section.) We look forward to seeing you in our great discussions!
Specialization in a Marketplace of Ideas
At the heart of this section in the interview article was the idea of “theme” and how Ane has used this concept to weave together the various platforms of his community — Discord, Reddit, Twitter, Twitch, etc. I’ll reiterate the relevance of this concept by quoting that article:
We are in a marketplace of ideas. Each community wants people to spend their time and activity in it — and people want a community where they feel a return on investment for their time and activity. As Discord has grown and matured over the years, so has the marketplace. What may have worked back in the beginning of Discord, like a generic anime server, will not have the same chance at success because there are already established communities who are known for that.
— In the Spotlight — Multiplatform Community Builder Ane
The underlying idea to this and Ane’s accompanying quote is that if the idea is too general, someone’s probably already doing it and known for doing it. The point that Ane brings up is this: why would most people choose a smaller, newer community over the larger, well-established one if the two identify themselves as the same thing? So, what’s a young community that wants to be a large, thriving, and well-rounded community to do?
Specialize.
The Economy of Time
A theme or a recognizable core central idea that you can communicate to others outside of the community is something that you will struggle without. It will be your biggest asset in attracting members to grow the community and fight against the natural churn of members leaving. Why? Because we are in a marketplace of ideas.
Each community wants people to spend their time and activity in it — and people want a community where they feel a return on investment of their time and activity.
— In the Spotlight — Multiplatform Community Builder Ane
Much like an economic marketplace, Discord is filled with many people that have similar ideas and want to “capitalize” on them. The builders of these communities want to put their ideas out into the wild, growing and nurturing these ideas to a point that people see value and want to spend or invest their time there. The quote at the beginning of the interview article also rings uncannily true to this analogy: “If you don’t have people, you don’t have a community.” A community without people to spend their time or invest in it is like a business without customers or investors.
Be it through theme or some other core that the community can be based around, specializing the community — at least outwardly — can generate intrigue and allow it to find its own means of attracting members*. The goal is to create an identity that people use to describe your community and distinguish it among the sea of others — to be different. In attracting people on the roads less travelled, it will stand a fair chance at rooting itself and weathering the inevitable storms to come.
*Note: I previously had “allow [the community] to find its own means of attracting members” above as “allow [the community] to capture its own audience”. While this is true in some cases, the methods by which members find communities may not be completely reflective of the members themselves. The idea is not to attract a person of a certain type or interest, but to attract people in along different veins than those most travelled.
If Nothing Else, Create Value
This analogy can go forever, but there’s one last thing that I want to expand with it. Before I said, “people want a community where they feel a return on investment for their time and activity.” Nobody likes to feel like they’re wasting their time — feeling like they are getting 0 value for it. Additionally, a majority seek out real bonds and connections in their interactions with others on a socializing platform like Discord.
If we’re to consider the earlier idea of “theme” as marketing, then what we’re discussing now is the actual product or service behind the marketing. It’s not enough to just make it seem like people will get value from the outside. You’re still setting expectations that you will need to follow through on. Since this relationship requires that the would-be member takes part in the community, they will be quick to see through any smokescreens. The community must actually generate value. When thinking about how to specialize the community internally, it would help to approach it from the angle of “how can I best provide value to my community members?” Community builders are hosts and a host serves their guests.
Now, you may have noticed that there’s a bit of a funny proposition in these marketplace analogies. It’s okay for the community to be themed and advertise itself as something that it may not 100% be through-and-through so long as it is still supplying similar value to its members. This will have varying degrees of implications depending on how much the inside deviates from the outside and what you’re advertising. As an example, it’ll have less repercussion to say the community is based on a particular show or series but not restrict all conversation to just that, than to say it’s a place to learn about a given subject or skill but offer no resources to actually do so.
Being Different to Share in the Same Success
It is with this that I want to emphasize that I do not believe communities are in direct competition with each other. There are many factors that differentiate this marketplace of ideas from an economic marketplace. I instead want to focus on this point: to get your idea to take root and grow, you must find ground with ample opportunity. With regards to a community that aims to have a larger breadth of audience, Ane says:
“People are attracted to bigger communities. You need to be the best in whatever you’re trying to be. You need to be more specific at this point.” — Ane of /r/GabrielDropOut
It’s okay to want to be like another down the road, but the beginning is the time to be different.
Since I like analogies, here’s one in line with “growing” a community. Planting a sapling (new community) in the shade of a mature tree with massive roots (a large, generalized community) will hurt the sapling and stunt its growth. The bigger the tree, the larger the roots and the more nutrients (people) it attracts in comparison to the smaller ones around it. This will starve the sapling of the members that are so extremely critical in the beginning of its life. One member for a community of 100 is more impactful than one member in a community of 100,000 — there are exceptions. Also, the mature counterpart will overshadow the sapling blocking it from getting the exposure [to sunlight] it needs.
This sapling will fare better when planted on its own plot of land further away. “Plot” represents a different idea or specialization that the community is based upon. There are as many plots as there are ideas — an infinite amount. As the sapling that is a community grows unimpeded by the mature ones around it, the roots will spread finding those people that more closely identify with that community and its culture. As the sapling grows, the trunk expands. This is that initial idea expanding. If you allow it, it may grow into other plots nearby increasing the breadth of the core idea. With enough time, this community may even grow to the point that it matches the size of the mature tree before it; however, it will be its own and the two will coexist upon the different ideas that they were founded. This is an opportunity that the once-sapling may not have had if placed in the shadow the mature tree.
The moral of this story is to give your budding community room to breathe by starting it with an idea where it can become its own. Generalize only once it’s recognizable on its own. If you aim too quickly for the large, generalized ideas that are already well-established, you may find your community struggling to find its own identity.
In Practice
So, how does this tie into my conversation with Ane? It relates because this is exactly how his community matured into what it is today.
Let’s take step back and revisit the concept of “theme” as Ane and I discussed it. As you found out in the Backstory of the interview article, /r/GabrielDropout started around emojis of the series and no open channels before it was a community where people could talk to each other. It eventually grew into a community called “Gabriel HangOuts”, expanding its roots from just emojis to people with a shared interest in the series. People found the community often through the emojis. With “hangouts”, the idea of an emoji server expanded into a casual place where people could meet and talk.
Fast-forward further and Ane now describes the community as a “wholesome anime community”. Try creating a community with that exact description as its entire foundation and the community will likely run into an identity crisis early in its life. The community will be trying to find ways to generate intrigue to get members among the sea of other communities with that same description.
“We have people who are absolutely not interested in anime.” — Ane of /r/GabrielDropOut
On the surface is a theme — the same theme it has had since it was a sapling — the Gabriel DropOut series and its characters. It is consistent and gives people an idea of what to expect when joining the community. However once in the community, it doesn’t matter whether they like the series or just the plentiful emojis and memes from it. Ane states, “the theme, Gabriel Dropout, ends at the theme.” The member finds that the community is not restricted by the theme.
Give your budding community room to breathe by starting it with an idea where it can become its own.
The inside may not 1-to-1 match the outside. That’s not important. The theme continues inside with the server’s emojis, imagery, and ties to the other platforms around it as well as news on the subject matter. If the members want to discuss, meme, or otherwise interact with others about Gabriel DropOut, then they’re in good company. The community fulfills its advertised purpose. It’s then that we see that those that just like anime in general or even just want a place to chill and make friends are still in good company. The community members do not feel pushed to interact with the theme if they don’t want to.
Be Yourself
Before wrapping this up, I want to add a note to something I said in the interview article.
Having a niche that you feel you can do better than anyone else is extremely powerful in life.
— In the Spotlight — Multiplatform Community Builder Ane
“Do it better” may be a path to success when someone is already doing what you want; however, you should consider the information in this article in mind as equally important. The adage “work smarter, not harder” comes to mind. Plant your community in a place where it can get the exposure it needs, and work towards your ideals from there. If you want the community to stand the test of time, play the long game and respect the process. Starting with an identity of “It’s like X, but better!” may come to bite you later.
In Closing
Most communities, no matter how similar, will not be in “direct competition” with each other. Regardless, it’s important to recognize the paths of least resistance and of highest chance of success. By avoiding being too general in concept and by making your community distinguishable, you are setting it down these paths. It’s okay to not start with your absolute ideal idea of a community if it means that you’ll have a community in the future that you can direct towards those ideals. In relation to your goals, recognize the things that you can worry about later and prioritize the things you cannot.
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