Comments on: What’s your community model?

By: This company has been brought to you by community production » Billions With Zero Knowledge

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 07:28:29 +0000

[...] Chris Messina and Tara Hunt from Citizen Agency have begun the discussion at the Barcamp wiki. [...]

By: Dylan Devillers

Dylan Devillers — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 14:23:04 +0000

Well done Chris! I try to keep a close look on your work and it is very interesting. Most of the time i translate it for the french community even though some parts are virtually untranslatable.
This article makes me think to a very american self help book: “do what you love and the money will follow” … But i totally agree on the main point, to get somewhere near a real community, you definitely need a hard core of true believers.

By: the name game at buzzcrowd.com

the name game at buzzcrowd.com — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:33:09 +0000

[...] Maybe we need to rename the business plan itself to the community plan or the relationship plan. That’s really want is going on, people are creating tools and businesses that focus on getting all the crap out of the way and building a real, one to one relationship with your customers. [...]

By: Matthew Reinbold

Matthew Reinbold — Wed, 31 May 2006 16:18:52 +0000

This post hits at something that I’ve been pondering for awhile now. I’ve been watching (with, admittantly, some jealousy) what you and miss rouge have been able to establish and work on in the San Fran area. Not willing to uproot and venture west I’ve been struggling on how to build technology based communities for public good in an area not as predispositioned. While a mantra of ‘do what you love, karma will provide’ sounds great its a little too abstract for the realities of a car payment, morgage, and a 1.5 year old who probably should have health insurance.

‘What’s your business model’, as said by the bean counters, could very well be ‘How much can we get out of this for ourselves’. When I ask ‘What’s the business model’ its trying to figure out what safety net exists, if any.

By: David Swedlow

David Swedlow — Wed, 31 May 2006 02:23:11 +0000

In post corresponding to the above trackback (Opposable Mind), my question was whether Community Model is the right question, or if is something more akin to Community Dynamics. Actually, the question that I find myself asking more frequently is akin to “what is your interaction model.”

Community model seems to me to imply tinkering with the community ingredients in the terrarium. Interaction model is tinkering with the feedback loops. I don’t know that one or the other is better, but I would like to see more experimentation with the latter.

By: Opposable Mind

Opposable Mind — Wed, 31 May 2006 01:54:23 +0000

Terrariums vs. Jungles…

Or old growth rain forests. Chris Messina is focusing on Community Model (in contrast to business model), and I want to take this concept a bit further. I want to look at community dynamics, and how those interdependencies evolve their…

By: FactoryJoe

FactoryJoe — Tue, 30 May 2006 19:22:31 +0000

Jeremy, you’re entirely right. And I like to rest on my naivete at times, but it’s true, love don’t pay the bills.

However, I think that creating a business model to support that which you love is the correct order of operations — and will ultimately lead to more satisfying work and greater success.

Take coworking for example — this is something that I’m very passionate about and am doing whatever I can to make it happen. Do I have any idea how I’m going to support it once we find a place? No! Hell, I’m going to go broke sooner or later — but maybe, just maybe, pursuing that which I love as a first order of business means that I’ll be more scrappy, more sincere, more crafty in figuring out how to sustain myself doing the work that is ultimately the most important to me.

By: Jeremy Pepper

Jeremy Pepper — Tue, 30 May 2006 18:31:35 +0000

While I agree that you need to love what you do – hence, me staying in PR despite the bust – there is a lot to the business model question.

At the second SF Tech Session, too many companies were proud that they had no business models. That’s akin to the 90′s where everthing was great, and the people would come. Well, that might be true – but that is not enough to survive through the years.

Some great stuff has come out, but has no business model behind it to help sustain. So, while love is great, love doesn’t pay the rent.

By: Will Pate

Will Pate — Tue, 30 May 2006 18:24:05 +0000

Chris, you are so right about community models. I do think business models and community models can live in harmony together, but it takes clarity and fortitude in the face of quick bucks to keep the balance.

By: Jason Coleman

Jason Coleman — Tue, 30 May 2006 18:04:55 +0000

Inspiring…