Comments on: Technology is not community

By: Neil Gorman

Neil Gorman — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:55:10 +0000

Mark,

This is a great post (and to Eden, Connie, & Jay: great show!)

I really think that it is VITAL that we realize / remember that PEOPLE make up a community. A company can make the best communications tool, but if no people use it than… well… it does not matter how good it is.

I think that many people in the new media community are to quick to give credit to the services, and the people who create the, and too slow to give credit to the users who are really the heart, soul, and fuel of any community on the web.

-N

P.S.

I can talk more than Jay. Did someone just get told? Yeah? OH SNAP!

By: Eden Spodek

Eden Spodek — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:52:15 +0000

Mark, Thank you so much for your kind words about Community Divas. As you know, we’ve been part of the “pod” community for a long time and this is the first time either of us have been involved in a podcast we can call our own. We’re still trying to figure out our grove. Luckily, we have amazing people like you and Jay to support us and interview right off the bat.

I don’t want to give too much about our next episode away. Suffice it to say, you’ve given us our discussion topic. And get ready because we want to interview you (and Bob and you and Andrea) soon.

Cheers,
Eden

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:16:37 +0000

Stevie… I would argue that your description of Facebook as a community is more reflective of a community that is dependent on a single tool or gathering place. A community should be resilient and portable. Certainly, a strong community should be resilient and portable. This of course opens up a bigger discussion on how many tools/gathering places are too many in the quest for a strong and engaged community.

By: Jay Moonah

Jay Moonah — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:18:34 +0000

Didn’t you mean you mean “not _just_ because there’s a running joke that Jay talks a lot”? ;-)

Thanks for the props Mark, and I wanted to say again that it was an honor to be on the first episodes of Community Divas — it’s shaping up to be a terrific show!

By: Stevie Z

Stevie Z — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:04:20 +0000

Mark:

Good points – I think people tend to forget that there are people behind these tools, and start worshipping the tools instead – that’s why conferences like PAB and NOTL and Podcamps are so important – because they remind you that there is a person behind that text, and people are far more interesting then words. Especially when you consider that web-based communication tools are even FURTHER removed then, say telephones, because at least with a voice-based tool you get inflections and meaning that cannot be easily conveyed otherwise.
Of course having said all that, some of these tools such as Facebook ARE communities unto themselves, they never existed before Facebook, and they WOULD collapse if Facebook went away. Some would regroup around another tool, such as Myspace, but I think that many communites built around the tools would cease to be if that tool were taken away. Does that make them any less of a community then, say, a group that also gets together at a pub the first Friday of every month?

PS – If there WAS a podcast called “Community Tools” who would be interviewed first ? :)