Building an Online Community That People Trust

When a community gathers online, it's tempting to think it needs an entirely different set of organizing principles.
I don't think this is so.

The same needs arrive whether we're sitting around a table or participating through a screen.

People still need to understand why they were invited.
They need clarity about who belongs in the gathering.
A meaningful path should help them move from visitor to committed member.
They also appreciate rituals, places, stories, symbols, and pathways that invite deeper participation. 
In a conversation with Seth Resler, we walked through seven principles of community and explored how each one translates into an online environment.
Some principles come naturally online.
Others need more intentional application.

1. Boundaries still protect the community

The boundary principle works online much like it works in physical communities.
People need to understand the values and purpose of the gathering.
They also need to know whether they should participate.
If someone doesn't fit the purpose of the community, you will need a way to invite that person to recognize this.
The boundary isn't simply about keeping people away.
Boundaries protect the people inside.
Imagine an online community where anyone can enter at any time simply because someone posted the link publicly.
That might increase the number of people who can access the community.
It can also reduce the safety people feel when they want to discuss something specific and important.
An online gathering often gives you a natural boundary.
Someone may need permission to join.
Perhaps they need a link.
Maybe someone needs to approve their participation.
Those mechanisms give you an opportunity to protect the community.
Use them intentionally.

An announcement isn't the same as an invitation

Online communication makes one mistake particularly easy.
We can send an announcement and mistakenly believe we've sent an invitation.
An announcement says: "Hey, this is happening."
An invitation communicates something more personal.
It communicates that their presence matters.
Think about hosting a dinner at your home.
If you're making a dish that takes hours to prepare, you probably won't invite hundreds of people.
Your house has limited space.
You have a limited amount of food.
The invitation itself carries meaning because you've chosen particular people to join you.
Online communication can lose that quality.
A mass email can reach thousands of people in seconds.
That convenience doesn't automatically create the feeling of being personally invited.
If you want an online community to feel meaningful, think carefully about whether you're announcing something or inviting someone.

2. Initiation gives membership meaning

The second principle is initiation.
At some point, someone who has been visiting needs an opportunity to choose deeper participation.
I think of this as a movement from visitor toward membership.
A visitor needs space to look around.
They need to ask themselves: "Is this a group I want to spend time with?"
Once they've answered yes, there should be some clear action that communicates a greater commitment.
Online communities can create this transition in several ways.
You might give someone an online token.
You might provide access to a more private level of the community.
Perhaps they gain access to smaller conversations with people who have demonstrated a commitment to learning and growing together.
The specific mechanism can vary.
The important part is clarity.
Someone should know:
"I'm no longer simply visiting."
Now I'm participating in something that isn't open to everyone.
That distinction gives membership meaning.

3. Rituals can work online

Rituals may seem harder to create through a screen.
In a physical space, you can shape the environment in countless ways.
Lighting can shift the mood of a room.
Colors can create a different atmosphere or draw attention.
A normally quiet room can suddenly fill with sound, while a loud room can settle into silence.
You can even raise something and place it at the center so everyone notices it. 
Online, many of those physical changes aren't available.
The principle still works.
Several people have explored how to create rituals online, including Kursat Ozenc from Stanford's Design School.
One useful approach starts with a clear intention.
Then you create an act or shared experience that differs from how participants normally spend their time online.
That difference signals something important is now happening.
This time is set aside to honor something.
The community is doing something meaningful together.
Even online, people can recognize that distinction.

4. An online platform can function as a temple

When I talk about temples in community building, I define them as places where a community goes to enact its rituals.
An online platform can provide that kind of space.
People gather and participate in activities that carry meaning for them.
Those same activities might look silly to someone outside the community.
That's normal.
For years, I've advised people who were designing the Twitch platform.
Twitch has a massive global community built around many different interests in gaming.
Within that larger platform, members understand activities, symbols, and responses that might mean very little
to outsiders.
Those shared meanings help create smaller spaces within the larger platform.
People can find others who share their specific enthusiasm.
The platform creates the larger environment.
The community creates meaning within it.

5. Stories translate especially well online

Stories may be one of the easiest principles to carry into an online community.
Blogs have existed for years.
Podcasts give people another way to share stories.
Online communities can make important stories public and allow members to encounter them repeatedly.
Stories can also emerge through private conversations.
When people gather for intimate experiences, stories naturally come out
Online platforms give communities an opportunity to preserve those stories and make them available to others.
A new member can learn how the community started.
They can learn why certain traditions matter.
They can discover what other members have experienced.
Those stories help people understand what holds the community together.

6. Symbols give online communities shared meaning

Symbols work online too.
In fact, online communities have developed entire systems of symbols that communicate things far beyond ordinary emojis.
Symbols can indicate seniority.
They can communicate authority, show experience, and express emotion.
Twitch provides a useful example.
The platform developed symbols that members understand internally.
Those symbols can communicate rank, authority in managing a space, seniority, and emotion.
Someone outside the community may see a simple image.
A member may see something much more significant.
Physical tokens can also work in an online community.
An organization might send someone a medal or T-shirt when they reach a meaningful milestone.
The person can display that physical token at home.
Then they might photograph it and share the photograph online.
Something interesting happens at that point.
The physical symbol moves back into the digital community.
That photograph can function much like lifting an important object into the center of a physical gathering and illuminating it.

The community recognizes that something matters.

7. Inner rings create pathways for participation

The final principle is inner rings.
We see this clearly in online communities.
Different people often have different roles and different levels of authority
Someone may have permission to create an event.
Another person may have authority to uphold the rules.
Someone else may create a new subgroup.
Another member may have permission to invite people in or remove them.
Large online communities can have thousands of people holding these different responsibilities.
Inner rings aren't simply about holding authority, though.
They also represent maturation within a community.
Not everyone needs access to every conversation.
Not every discussion needs to remain open to everyone.
Online communities can make these distinctions visible.
People can understand which inner ring they're part of.
They can also see what someone else has earned their way into.
That creates a pathway.
Participation can deepen over time.

The principles remain human even when the community moves online

When we move a community online, technology can distract us from the underlying human experience.
Platforms, features, and links start to dominate our attention.
Access levels, badges, channels, and notifications all play a role.
Each one can support the community.
None of them, on its own, creates the community. 
The deeper question remains:
What kind of experience are people having with one another?
Do they understand why they're invited?
Can they trust the boundaries?
Do they know when they've moved from visitor to member?
Does the community have rituals that carry meaning?
Does it have a place where those rituals happen?
Can members learn its important stories?
Do its symbols communicate something meaningful?
Can people see pathways toward deeper participation?
Those questions remain relevant whether your community meets in a room or through a screen.

Design the online experience intentionally

You don't need to recreate a physical gathering online.
Start by understanding what the physical experience accomplished, then find an appropriate online expression for it.
An invitation can replace a public announcement.
Initiation might take the form of private access.
A shared online activity can create a ritual.
The digital platform itself can serve as a temple.
Podcasts and blogs can preserve community stories.
A digital badge can communicate status.
Deeper conversations can happen within an inner ring.
Technology gives you different tools to work with.
Your responsibility is to use those tools in service of the community. 

Online doesn't mean less human

The internet can connect enormous numbers of people.
That scale creates extraordinary possibilities.
It also creates a temptation to treat people as numbers.
A link can replace an invitation.
Follower counts can stand in for membership.
An emoji can substitute for meaningful recognition.
Public channels can take the place of intimate conversations.
Those substitutions don't always serve the community.
People still need to feel that their participation matters.
Understanding the values and purpose of the gathering gives that participation meaning.
Meaningful pathways can help people deepen their participation.
Places, stories, symbols, rituals, and relationships can carry that meaning forward.
The seven principles give us a way to think about those needs.
Even with a screen between us, human beings remain on both sides of it.
That is why these principles still work online.


Get free resources on building the community you long for at www.charlesvogl.com

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