From Content-First to People-First. Why We’re Focused on Relationships

Sam Reader
Sep 7, 2018 · 5 min read
Photo by Hian Oliveira on Unsplash

When we started out to create WONDR, the first conundrum we faced was

How do we help you find information that will be helpful towards your interests and ambitions?

So, we created an environment where insights and information could be shared.

But we’ve since discovered there are two elements playing a part that are critical to whether you find anything of value; context and trust.

What we started to see was that context mattered a great deal. Matching you with relevant content was fine — i.e. an article “to understand the impacts of climate change” —but there were a 1,000 ways the topic was being addressed; regionally, professionally, as a citizen, as a scientist, as an economist, as a student etc. It was near impossible to match you perfectly with an insight that held the answers for your specific and unique situation.

Another core component was trust. Even if the person who shared/saved that piece of content on climate change trusted the information, how could you trust the person in their assessment of that material? How could you decide to spend time reading that article?

So what do we do when we know something isn’t quite right?

We talk with you.

What we soon discovered was the same issue was being raised:

“[Online] Information is everywhere, it’s only 20% of why I’m here. Finding people like me is far more difficult, that’s 80% of why I’m here.”

Something dawned on us.

Mmmm

We’d been trying to present insightful content to you from people who shared your interests, when actually we need to flip it.

What’s more powerful is being suggested the person who may be helpful first. Where interactions and conversations lead to building trust in others and receiving better content with greater context resulting from discussions.

So, we made a decision a few months back, to begin turning WONDR from a platform that delivers content, to a network that facilitates connections. Content is still important, but as a byproduct of a successful connection.

Over the last year, our community has grown across 100’s of topics, but a few core areas stand out: Environmental, Sustainability, Science, Business and Technology.

To this end, we’re now embarking on overhauling the core user experience to help you facilitate relationships within these communities.


So, what does this mean for you?

Community

Community is the single most important thing about human life. And, while our intention is never to replace physical communities — in fact we can all benefit from more physical connection in life— we do see a reason to positively impact the digital activities we have as a society.

84% of young people are not pursuing their passions due to a lack of support.

70% of people in work aren’t doing the jobs they dreamed of, thinking of them as a luxury and out of reach.

By watering the seeds of our passions and curiosities, we can open ourselves up to new opportunities, ways of thinking and ultimately towards doing more of what we enjoy in life.

Erika Andersen, business thought leader and author, reinforces this advising that in order to find and follow a passion, we must be ‘curious’ and willing to speak with people who share that interest.

By creating a platform that’s purpose-built for nurturing your interests and connecting you with people who may enrich your life, we hope to engineer more opportunities for these interactions to occur.

How will you access these communities?

The first thing you’ll do on WONDR is to select at least one community that matters to you (i.e. Environment & Science). To tailor your experience further, you’ll still be able to add specific interests to your profile (Climate change, Deforestation, Marine biology).

This will power the way you match with people who share your interests, and also how you’re suggested insights from others in the community.

Plus, you’ll select your intentions for joining the communities.

This helps everyone in the community get a quick understanding of why you’re using WONDR.

  • Just browsing
  • Mentor others / Find mentors
  • Collaborate with others
  • Find new friends
  • Studying for a topic
  • Find a new job / Explore a new career
  • Looking for inspiration

People

All of that information is then displayed on your profile to give a snapshot of who you are.

In order of top to bottom

  • Who you are
  • The main reasons you’re here
  • A short headline about yourself — more than your interests but less than your bio
  • Your interests
  • Your recent posts/insights
  • Connection button (wording will change from ‘Follow’).

Connections & Collaboration

We’ll help suggest people who may be a good match, so you can start to build your network of interesting people.

Your feed will populate based on who you connect with along with the most helpful people in your interest area.

This will work chronologically. The only algorithms we’ll consider, are ways in which we can suggest helpful people and content from the wider community to you, to mitigate the negatives of an echo-chamber.

This will be a space for you to share insights, discover new knowledge and ask questions, unafraid of judgement from friends, family and colleagues.

As people save insights or post thoughts, you’ll be able to lean on the knowledge or start discussions around those topics.

We have a lot more work to do, but hopefully this gives an overview of the direction we’re heading in. And we hope, it’s a direction that brings you more value and enjoyment.


We always love to hear from you.

I’m Sam Reader, Co-Founder & Head of Community and you can reach me on — sam@mywondr.co / @readersam121

Whether that’s for feedback about your experience on WONDR, comments on the topics raised in this blog or simply just to catch the breeze about life in general 🍃✌️

Visit WONDR to learn more and get early access to what we’ve created.

WONDR Blog

A helping hand for curious minds.

Sam Reader

Written by

Passionate about Behaviour, the Meaning of things & Life-Long Learning. Co-Founder of WONDR —https://www.mywondr.co

WONDR Blog

A helping hand for curious minds.

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