Presentation given Medicince 2.0 at Harvard in Boston on Sept15, 2012. Winner of the 2012 JMIR Award.

1. Community management that works
How to build and sustain a thriving
online health community
Colleen Young

2. Peer-to-peer health care
“PewInternet Project data shows that if
you can enable an environment in which
people can share, they will and the
benefits will entice others to join.”
~ Susannah Fox, Pew Internet &
American Life Project
Excerpt from Susannah Fox’s Medicine 2.0, 2011 Keynote address

3. My story

4. What is an online community?
A group of people who share a
strong common interest, form
relationships and interact online.

5. Why some succeed and others fail
To succeed:
• Establish and understand your domain
• Develop a strategy, according to the
community’s lifecycle stage
• Build a sense of community
Wenger E. et al., 2002
Iriberri A. and Leroy G., 2008.
Blanchard and Markus, 2004

6. Sense of community
• Membership: a feeling of belonging
• Identity: goals of members match those of the
membership as a whole.
• Influence: members feel they can influence and
be influenced by the community
• Attachment: members share an emotional
connection.
McMillan and Chavis, 1986
Blanchard and Markus, 2004

7. Community life cycle
Millington R. The Pillar Summit, 2012.

8. Inception
• Focus on growth
• Develop relationships with potential
members
• Nurture an active core group
• Foster tone and style
The community reaches critical mass when > 50%
of growth and activity is generated by members.
Millington R. The Pillar Summit, 2012.

9. Establishment
• Focus on activity
• Deepen sense of community
• Broaden outreach
• Create content for and about the
community
50 to 90% of growth and activity is generated by
members.
Millington R. The Pillar Summit, 2012.

10. Maturity
• Focus on scaling the community
• Maintain sense of community
• Assess and optimize processes
• Co-create content and develop
collective value
More than 90% of growth and activity is generated
by members.
Millington R. The Pillar Summit, 2012.

11. Mitosis
• Focus on division and expansion
• Monitor for subcommunity
developments
• Consult community
• Conceive and establish new community
Repeat life cycle process for each new community.
Millington R. The Pillar Summit, 2012.

12. Measure for success
Measure:
• Growth
• Activity
• Sense of community
In order to:
• Grow
• Improve
• Report value

13. What is community management?
Community Management
≠
Moderation
(it’s far more)

14. Acknowledgements
• Wenger et al. Cultivating Communities of
Practice, 2002
• Iriberri and Leroy. A Life Cycle Perspective
on Online Community Success, 2008
• Richard Millington, The Pillar Summit
• Rachel Happe and Jim Storer, The
Community Roundtable

15. Thank you
@colleen_young
www.colleenyoung.com
@VirtualHopice
www.virtualhospice.ca