Social Media: Understanding Online Communities

Dr Axel Bruns

Associate ProfessorSmart Services CRC /

ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and InnovationQueensland University of Technology

Brisbane, Australia

snurb.info – produsage.org@snurb_dot_info

21 April 2010

Social Media

• Working definition:

– Websites which build on Web 2.0 technologies to provide space for in-depth social interaction, community formation, and the tackling of collaborative projects.

Social media = Web 2.0 technologies + Community

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Image by barjack

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How Communities Work

• Communities are concentric – in values:

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Shared knowledge

Key principles

Core values and beliefs

Image by Johnny Grim5

How Communities Work

• Communities are concentric – in membership:

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Marginal members

General members

Community leaders

Image by Steve Crane

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Growing the Community

• Encouraging constructive participation:

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leaders

number of members

status

marginal members

encourage commitmentmodel desirable behaviour

Image by mike.in.ny9

Encouraging Brand Loyalty

• Developing closer brand ties:

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Third-party spaces

Branded spaces

In-house space

participation pull

More Information

Axel Bruns

Associate Professor

ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation

Creative Industries Faculty

Queensland University of Technology

Brisbane, Australia

Email: a.bruns@qut.edu.au

Twitter: @snurb_dot_info

Blog: http://snurb.info/

Produsage: http://produsage.org/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/snurb

Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond:From Production to Produsage (Peter Lang, 2008)

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Social Media Reports:

1 – State of the Art(http://snurb.info/socialmedia-vol1)

2 – User Engagement Strategies(http://snurb.info/socialmedia-vol2)