Is the fact that "community" has become a defined term across many industries is it limiting itself in encompassing more experiences? e.g. "forums" where the thing 20 years ago, but have lost a lot of their hotness since. What'll be following on "community"? - Claudius Henrichs, Dataiku
Hmmmmm.....this is a very good question that takes me into more philosophical waters.
In the old days (1990s) we did not even call Online Communities, 'communities'. They were mostly called boards, message boards, BBS (Bulletin Board Systems), or forums. When Blogs came along (with their accompanying 'comments'), I think people started to loosen their grip on what was called a 'Community' in net speak. When Dell came along with the Idea Storm, I think that was another shot across the bow for how we as a culture, define 'online Community'. Last but not least, KnowledgeBases that allow commenting can be considered 'Community' now.
And to add even a little bit more chaos to the nomenclature; when Brand Communities really started arriving on the scene (as opposed to classic 'hobbyist' communities that were the most well-known), a lot of these brand's already had a concept of what 'Community' meant for their brand and how they defined it on their website...and those definitions of 'Community' had more to do with what the brand was doing to assist struggling. neighborhoods and assisting non-profits.
Language is an ever-evolving thing, and so is the internet. It probably only gets even more complicated when somebody like yourself, Claudius, that speaks 3+ languages tries to make sense of all this. Personally, I regularly clarify with our customers and/or prospective customers from the outset that when I am speaking about Community, I am primarily talking about 'forums', but I am also tangentially including all those other interaction styles I cited above as well.
Thanks for the question, and thank you for attending, Claudius. Always great to cross paths with you. 🙂
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