When agencies represent communities (article by Jeremiah Owyang)

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Permalink Reply by Dan Lovejoy on March 30, 2009 at 12:08am

It seems to me that online communities lack three important aspects of traditional organizations and companies: unitary or near-unitary command structure, an internal (non-public) dialog, and common self-interest. None of these are deal killers, but I wonder if they won't create enough friction to keep online communities from becoming real players in the market and engaging professional help to meet their needs. Here are how those weaknesses play out, as I see them:

1.) Right now, most online interest communities don't have a governance structure that would allow them to hire such an agency. Developing such a structure requires sub-interest groups to form - leaders and opposition. Then the agency is dealing with a meta-community - a sub-group that's concerned primarily with the politics of the community. It's not hopeless, but it's messy - akin to dealing with a trade union. Except for Wikipedia, I don't know of any grassroots communities with such a structure. But it's not as though these structures can't develop - they just don't exist right now. As SM reaches critical mass, will such structures develop?

There may be several of these diffuse, ungoverned communities. How would one represent all these communities? Would the agency pick the largest one? What about the most influential? Or does the agency bid to represent all of these groups? If so, they have to create a super meta-organization to handle these bids.

2.) What's the revenue model for representing a community rather than a company? Consumers have proven reticent to pay for online services, and online advertising doesn't seem to cut it. If it's a commission-based service, it seems to me the commission will have to be based on patents;any company is free to steal an idea from a social community without paying. (Ideas can't be patented) How does one develop a patented process or product in public?

When a community develops a patent, it holds real assets. When a community has a financial motive, many of its good qualities are in danger. Encumbering an online community with contracts, a governmental structure, and a financial motive could destroy it. It's a sticky wicket.

3.) As @mthinker pointed out in the comments to the original article - communities aren't very good at filtering and executing detailed plans like filing patents. It seems to me that communities can inspire and can be inspired to move, but it's very difficult to get them to come to a consensus. But this is also an opportunity - could the agency take over where the community is weak?

What do you think? Am I completely stuck in the past? Do the advantages of online communities outweigh my objections? These would be fascinating and exciting problems to overcome, to be sure.

If I were in charge of exploring this idea for an agency, I'd map out the objections here in detail, exhaustively research a few of these communities. I'd also engage these communities directly, asking them questions like:
How do you see your community wielding more influence in the market (or marketplace of ideas)?
If you knew it couldn't fail, what task would you undertake as a community?
How are organizations or companies affiliated with your community failing to meet your needs? How are they succeeding?
What tasks has your community undertaken to influence the market? How has it failed/succeeded? What was missing from your efforts?

Then I'd write case studies for each community, setting benchmarks for action. When, if ever, will this community be ready to engage a PR firm? When it has a board? When it declares a mission? When it reaches a critical mass of members?

To make this a reality, the agency would have to set up a real-name community site that could handle elections, financial details like revenue sharing, idea filtering, private discussions, and the like. Members would have to be credentialed in some way to prevent ballot stuffing, trolling, and straw men.

How would you approach such a community to sell them on the idea? It's a fascinating concept, to be sure.

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