Everyone wants to build community, especially developer focused companies.
A community helps your customers and users succeed, creates content that your team doesn’t have the time to do, and builds a competitive moat.
But what type of community are you building, or looking to build? Every community is different. Which should be no surprise.
After all, offline communities aren’t identical. Neighbors are one type of offline community characterized by certain expectations and interactions. Maybe you watch their dog, wave when you see them, and get their mail for them on vacation.
Friends and family are another. You invite them for parties and see them during the holidays, discuss politics, and stay in touch through the years. Depending on family bonds, you might even lend them money or donate a kidney.
Similarly, developer communities have different levels of engagement and commitment. These can serve different audiences and needs.
A community is not a community is not a community.
One easy way to think about the community is to ask the question: are you a “Facebook” or a “Google”?
No, I’m not talking about whether you should “move fast and break democracy” or “don’t be evil” and set up a panopticon.
What I mean is: “what does your typical user want to do: hang out or get a question answered and move on?”
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