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Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?

#41

Post by tonystubblebine »

I worked on Twitter from the time it had six users (me) to the time it had 500.

A thing that stands out to me is that it worked at every size.

On day one, it was just the Odeo team that Twitter ended up spinning out of, maybe 15 people. And it worked that way as a group messaging thread where we felt more connected to the people we worked with.

Then we let in close friends and family with a stern warning from our CEO not to let anyone from Google see it. So that was 50 people and maybe each of us had 3-4 close friends on the platform.

To someone else's point that the community already exists, you're just building the communication platform: this was still when Facebook was locked down. I invited in close family (existing community) and learned stuff about them that sounds trivial but was meaningful to me (communication platform).

Then the community ballooned again to maybe 500 people and suddenly there were interesting tech luminaries to follow.

And on and on.

Re: Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?

#42

Post by at_a_remove »

I am going to come off as a smart-ass here when I do not intend to be when I say, "Learn how communities die." Having seen many become moribund, wither, stagnant, or simply fall apart, and such, the causes of death are many and the sources of illness plentiful.

You have a minefield to pick through and compromises to make. Each choice is a tradeoff and you may find that getting what you want can kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.

Think of the places you used to hang out online. Why aren't you there anymore? Remember the other people you really liked there: why did they leave before you did?

Re: Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?

#44

Post by bikeshaving »

tonystubblebine wrote: post #41

I worked on Twitter from the time it had six users (me) to the time it had 500. A thing that stands out to me is that it worked at every size. On day one, it was just the Odeo team that Twitter ended up spinning out of, maybe 15 people. And it worked that way as a group messaging thread where we felt more connected to the people we worked with. Then we let in close friends and family with a stern warning from our CEO…

What was the reasoning behind not letting anyone from Google see it? Was the startup kill zone known and in full effect at that time as well?

Re: Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?

#45

Post by punnerud »

frank2 wrote: post #43

My guess is that the most important factor in the success of HN is Paul Graham's essays, and the only reason https://lesswrong.com got any traction is Eliezer Yudkowsky's essays.

For me it is the moderators and all the algorithms to keep the Troll’s away (that you first notice have a good effect after a long time usage, if you are looking for them).

Examples: Up/down-vote, flag, push down posts with a lot of discussions without new up-votes, republish posts that gets votes late...

Re: Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?

#46

Post by paulpauper »

tonystubblebine wrote: post #41

I worked on Twitter from the time it had six users (me) to the time it had 500. A thing that stands out to me is that it worked at every size. On day one, it was just the Odeo team that Twitter ended up spinning out of, maybe 15 people. And it worked that way as a group messaging thread where we felt more connected to the people we worked with. Then we let in close friends and family with a stern warning from our CEO…

so you were involved with twitter from day 1. what happened to odeo then. I remember reading a story about early employees being bought out and later regretting it when the company became worth billions.

Re: Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?

#47

Post by frank2 »

punnerud wrote: post #45
frank2 wrote: post #43

My guess is that the most important factor in the success of HN is Paul Graham's essays, and the only reason https://lesswrong.com got any traction is Eliezer Yudkowsky's essays.

For me it is the moderators and all the algorithms to keep the Troll’s away (that you first notice have a good effect after a long time usage, if you are looking for them). Examples: Up/down-vote, flag, push down posts with a lot of discussions without new up-votes, republish posts that gets votes late...

OK, but you need a stream of comments and submissions to moderate, and most attempts at creating on online discussion site never achieve that.

Re: Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?

#48

Post by 6510 »

I imagine the not-dying part goes something like this: Keep the long well researched quality contributions in sight and the [what I call] "guaranteed audience" type of submissions out of sight. Some people just make a ton of noise. One should probably encourage that but limit exposure (not let them drown out the rest of the users) or make quality posts hard to find.

Re: Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?

#49

Post by nwsm »

andreasklinger wrote: post #21

I helped building producthunt.com and overclockers.at (and other less successful ones) Here a few learnings: 1. the community already exists, you just create a communication platform for it 2. make it clear what the community is about [positioning/marketing] 3. make sure the communication/content is interesting [quality] 4. make sure there is enough engagement [perceived critical mass] (encourage people to post, post…

How do you "make sure the communication/content is interesting"? Are you talking about moderation or talking about making sure there is good content posted?

I've read the Reddit origin story of founders submitting content under several usernames to give the appearance of a forming community, while also dictating the initial content and therefore the audience and culture.

Re: Ask HN: How do you create a successful community from zero?

#50

Post by marcosdumay »

tootie wrote: post #32
KhalPanda wrote: post #5

I've launched and grown/run a few forums over the years and the key for me was to always seed it with as much quality content as possible. Fake it until you make it. I believe reddit did the same.

How do you fake it while staying plausible? Did you just create a dozen sock puppet accounts and post yourself? Or pay/incentive for content?

I don't think one can fake an entire community with sock puppets. Reddit famously paid for some content (professional redditor would be the most seeked job today).
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