The New Community Rules

Chapter 8. Informing Your Public: The Informational Social Networks

There is more to social networking than just connecting users who have the same taste in food, music, and authors. Most of our online interactions are likely communal. We often search for a product on a website and read user reviews. We may try to define a word or find out more about a type of cuisine, and the first result that comes up on the search engine is likely a social site such as a user-generated answer site or even a user-contributed encyclopedia. Indeed, the Web is becoming increasingly social, and we’re seeing these interactions in our everyday lives even if we’re not cognizant of the fact.

Social media has penetrated all different sorts of online tasks. Collaborative community sites are at the forefront. Community members enjoy helping other community members, and valuable and repeated contributions are rewarded. Therefore, we reach another category of social media that relates to informational social networking sites. Users flock to these sites to share and contribute their knowledge, and in turn, they feel as if they’re contributing to the greater good. Of course, there’s always some benefit to users who get involved, as those who are active and consistently engaged often receive accolades and are recognized in their communities as valuable contributors. In the end, community members win by getting updated information, and contributors win by being recognized as the people who have provided the community ...