Creating an Online Community is Like Parenting

In the next couple weeks, we'll be launching two very interesting community sites for major clients, one in a private beta and the other ready for prime-time. I'll post a bit on why I think they're interesting as they come out.

Over the past months, we've been working hard to prepare our newish-to-community clients for the level of attention that's going to be required from them as their new community sites start to wake up. If they don't know what they're getting into, well, I'd have to say that's our fault--and on the other hand, it's probably also true that nothing can really prepare you.

The run-up to launch has been typical, with mysterious bugs, conflicting ideas about what decisions are most current, sudden late-night panic attacks--the works... just like with any site. But there's a difference. In these cases, the real work is just about to get started.

Yes, your first community site is like your first child. You spent months preparing for the birth. You thought pregnancy was pretty tough. Then the baby arrives....

And like a child, your community will exhaust and frustrate you, but it will also amaze and delight you. It will reinvigorate you and fill you with a new sense of purpose. It will remind you why you're here in the first place.

Your community will rebel against you. It will rage against and defy you. It will call you on every little mistake you make. Ultimately, you'll sense at certain moments, it loves you and wants to be with you (unlike a real child, it has a choice about whether to pay attention to you at all), and it wants you to love it back.

Companies launching into the brave new world of online community and Web 2.0 need to remember, your community is not your web site. Your community is made of humans, and your web site is where they have relationships with each other and with you. Be prepared to nurture those relationships.

The worst thing you can do is throw the switch and walk away, unless you want to see your neglected kid, for the first time in a week, on the nightly news. Goodness, imagine what the neighbors would say!

So my advice is the same for aspiring Web 2.0 corporate marketers as for starry-eyed young couples considering parenthood: "If you feel moved to it, by all means go for it. Just be ready for your business model to change forever."