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Site Blog » Community is not a catch all - reflection on the webjam event of Jan 29th

Back to Home Written on 30-Jan-2009 by griffter

I'm posting this largely in response to the Webjam event I attended briefly last night. I didn't get to see all the presentations but the evening began with a talk by the founder Yann Motte which was an overview of the business model behind Webjam. The idea behind webjam is that allows companies to develop branded communities. So instead of getting developers to construct your own Facebook at immense cost just use the cookie cutter elements on Webjam - add your own CSS stylesheets, point your domains and away you go. Which is great. I buy all that.

Where I started to get concerned was with the argument that this kind of web structure monetizes easily and naturally. The example given was a wedding magazine which would create content and an community context which visitors would want to sign up for (as paying subscribers) and some would create their own webjams using the content from the host weddding magazine webjam and build their own community using that. With revenue coming in from ads and ecommerce.

wj_logo My problem is this. What kind of community does someone preparing for a wedding actually want to set up. There's the need for a period of up to a year where you can post lists of things to buy and tasks to do. There's the need for online present buying for those attending the wedding. But the administration of a wedding doesn't in itself require an online community - what is needed is a transactional site with some editorial. There is the social side - hen nights and all the rest - but do you need a dedicated private community for that. Wouldn't Bebo or Facebook work just as well? And what of the hobby element - lets say that someone loves weddings or loves to look at wedding photography. Are there enough hobbyists to get any scale to this? Wedding are transitional.

Bad example you say. Well no it isn't a bad one - weddings are a good example because a ton of money is spent in a short time so for a marketer there are undoubtedly business opportunities. But for the social marketer -is there one? the point of this is not to attack webjam's business model but to reflect on the way online communities are developing. They are layering - and increasingly applications allow data to be shared across platform. So I don't have to go to Amazon to buy or browse books - I can often do it from a blog or social media site. I can share music from blip, or twitter that I have posted a blog. If anything communities are simplifying according to purpose. We're not putting all our eggs in one community basked. Facebook for all its efforts isn't getting all our online activity.

So the challenge for webjam is to find the killer app the specific purpose I cannot live without. For me at presnt the best use is for online temporary meeting places where you can assemble with all the paraphernalia - and the people over a period of weeks. Quick to set up and quick to dissolve. Confidential too. I've struggled with online conference meetings which are far too like boardrooms on a computer screen. I think Webjam have discovered something much simpler. Planning a surprise party for a parent which you can keep secret? Set up a webjam. Are you running a squash club? Set up a webjam - you don't want anybody and everybody barging in. Doing any work with children or teenagers? You need a safe environment that can be protected. Set up a webjam. There's huge potential. But community is not a catch all - we use them for specific purposes.

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Tags: webjam,community

Comments

written on 04-Feb-2009
ym [http://www.webjam.com/ym] says:
Hi there griffter ! first, thanks for coming to our party. Hope you had a blast like we did and met interesting people. Appreciate you commenting on the event and the presentations. A bit puzzled by your comment though as a wedding could be considered "a transitional online temporary meeting place" to use your words and is definitely a temporary social network with a purpose, especially as you usually (re)connect with a lot of people at a wedding. Are there any examples you could thing of where a business or organisation could provide website and community templates like a wedding magazine could do (see http://www.webjam.com/branded_services/prototype ).
Yann, Webjam CEO
written on 05-Feb-2009
albertob says:
Hi giffter,
Very interesting thoughts. You are right, in many senses: who needs a community?.
Community sounds like a very heavy word, it seems to imply lots of commitment from the community managers and the members.
But what are we trying to do here at Webjam is to let the editors and the audience to decide the level of engagement with the site. Webjam can be used like a simple publishing tool, in that case the "community" is not a requirement. There're lighter versions of communities built around one personal site, with people just willing to get updates from the site activity. And of course there're closed communities that require membership.
We are agnostic on the way people or clients set up their webjams. The flexibility and scalability of the platform will help brands (like in the wedding scenario), to decide the level of engagement and services they offer to their audiences or communities.
Again, it's all about letting people to decide what "community" means for them.

Thanks a lot!!!

Alberto, Creative Director Webjam
written on 05-Feb-2009
redhead says:
Hi gifter,
Following Yann and Alberto's response regarding the more 'high level' aspects of your argument, I would like to make one small point myself, regarding the example of the wedding site. As a soon-to-be-bride (it's a scoop, don't tell anyone ;-)), I have to say I think you underestimate the sharing element in the planning of such an event. It's not just about lists and shopping items, it's about sharing all of this with people you love or who have shared the experience.
And that's the magic of Webjam for me - you can create your little 'community' for each one of these. My girlfriends who I share all my wedding plans with, are not quite interested in my thoughts about products and web 2.0. On Webjam I find a place for both, and people intersted in both. Some of them may be my friends from before (the wedding is quite a personal thing to me), and others very open and general. Withouot mixing between them, I can be who I am and have others to share it with.
I agree with you the wedding will come and go, but in the mean time Webjam provides me a great tool, and hopefully it will be my photo album for years to come. And if we think of life - I assume (and hope) there will be many more occaisons and interests that will justify being a part of an online community.
Finally, regarding the issue of monetisation - I agree with you there is a challange here. But I think that the way in which you and I find completely different uses of Webjam, that's our killer app. Like Alberto said - it's an agnostic platform, and anyone can use it the way they find suitable. And that's the killer for me!

Thanks again for your feedback.

Hadas
Webjam Product Manager
written on 06-Feb-2009
Lupa says:
Hi there John!
I´ve got the same thoughts as Hadas... although I´m not a soon-to-be-bride (´cause I´ve still got to find the groom...).
Your post reminded me of a beautiful blog of a friend of us: http://www.webjam.com/leonraj
There, our friend Phailanx tried to share with us all the unforgettable moments of his baby´s birth.

Cheers from the bottom of the world!

Lupa
(not a member of the Webjam team, but a quite big argentine-fan!)

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