Cultivating Online Communities that Mirror those of Real-life — seeking to focus on growth, empathy, healthy conflicts, and safety
When creating an online community, we can often forget about the importance of implementing what a healthy and well-functioning community looks like in our “offline” lives. We have to develop these communities with important baselines in order to make a safe and self-sustaining community that flourishes and produces better members of society as a whole.
First, we must look to the real-life communities we are a part of and figure out what makes them great and keeps us coming back.
For me, I look to be involved in communities that are:
- A place where every member can feel safe
- A place where relationships begin and grow
- Filled with individuals that are eager to be selfless, empathetic, and vulnerable
- Filled with individuals that are willing to face challenges, hardship, and work through disagreements in a respectful manner
- Empowering, educational, and inviting
I believe that these are fundamental to having a well-functioning group online and offline. But how to we translate these things through a screen?
In order to have the above aspects a part of your online group or community, you have to be willing and able to model them yourself. If you and the moderators of the group go in with this understanding and mindset, the members of the group will too follow along.
Beyond leading by example, setting a list of “ground rules” is a simple and great way to get started on this journey. Looking to a few of the online groups I’m a part of on Facebook, I can see those that promote healthy conversation and growth verses the ones that unfortunatley do not.
This image below is taken directly from a Facebook Group that I’m a member of — a group for students in a specific graduate level course. While this list is short, it is effective and promotes an environment of kindness, safety, privacy, and ultimately, growth. The reason for this group is to continue to grow alongside each other as communication professionals all while presenting educational resources that allow each of us to expand our knowledge in the topic. This group’s discussions are respectful and allow for its members to pose questions and challenge peers in a way that is positive.
Another group that I follow, relates to a city in which I’m affiliated with. From this one rule pictured below, you can get a sense for how this group functions. From this rule alone, there is no room for healthy discussion or the opportunity to be vulnerable — which impacts the “offline” version of this community. My experience from viewing and partaking in discussion in this group have always been negative. Never allowing for freedom of expression, education, or growth as members or a community.
When developing online groups, you may often overlook the step of establishing rules, but the way in which you do so will severely impact how the members perceive it and interact amongst it.
But of course, we can’t expect a list of rules to allow people to feel safe, vulnerable, and have the desire to be a part of something bigger than themselves. For this to happen you need to have dedicated moderators, that enforce these rules while still allowing healthy discourse to take place. This can be a major challenge of building online communities. Setting up an online environment that allows people to feel vulnerable and connect honestly is what you should be aiming to create — even though there may be difficulties. Annie Wright, of Evergreen Counseling, shares that “vulnerability is critical to feel close and connected in our relationships, both at home and at work” — and I too would add, online.
She further shares that this can cause individuals to often feel uncomfortable because it opens up the chance to be hurt, not necessarily physically but emotionally (Wright, 2018). But by being vulnerable, “we increase [the] chances of actually connecting with other [people,] which is the only way we truly can feel that deep sense of closeness and nourishment in relationships (Wright, 2018).
Again, this all goes back to leadering and participatingin this group or community by example. When the “leaders” or Admin of the group set up a “safe haven” its members will feel and know they can trust this group.
Ultimatley, if you’re looking to create a group or just join one, be a person that demonstrates vulnerability and trustworthiness. These two things will go a long way into making members of the community feel safe and welcomed into bringing their thoughts and ideas to the space.
If you’re looking for more information on how to get started with creating an online group, Stacey Politis, Growth Strategist at Honeycomb, has compiled a great list of resources to get you started
References:
Wright, A. (2018, June 10). Why Is Vulnerability So Important In Work and Relationships. Retrieved September 13, 2020, from https://www.evergreencounseling.com/why-is-vulnerability-so-important-in-work-and-relationships/
