Community Catalysts – The Spark In Social Networks
Jan 6th, 2010 by David Svet
What attributes come to mind when you think of a leader? The characteristics I hear most often are charismatic, powerful, dynamic, confident, outgoing, and assertive. This is great if you need a military general or CEO. But these aren’t necessarily the characteristics you need to lead your social networking efforts through social media. I’m not saying that your CEO shouldn’t use social media since I firmly believe that CEOs should do so. I’m saying you need another kind of leader to create social networks.
So, if we don’t want Jack Welch to lead our social media effort, whom do we want? How about Mr. Rogers? Maybe Norm Abrams from This Old House? Possibly Bob Ross from The Joy of Painting, or Skeeter your old camp counselor? What you need is an infectiously approachable teacher and cheerleader who can lead by doing.
Why, you ask? Because a leader will develop a following but you need a catalyst to create a community. Leaders form top down hierarchies, or centralized systems that operate through command and control. Catalysts form distributed systems like social networks that function through consensus and imitation. If you are starting a social media effort you will get farther faster by enabling a gregarious teacher to start and permitting others to follow suit. They will learn from each other and share. They will form their own community within your organization. Then they can be seeded as catalysts to form more groups within your organization as your effort grows. It’s the same process that they will use to engage with your customer/constituent base. It’s also very foreign to most organizational structures. Community catalysts are formed in an environment that encourages the practice of see one, do one, teach one. I don’t think it’s a process that can be commanded from the top down. What do you think?
Photo: Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower talks with Lt. Gen. Lucius B. Clay at RAF Gatow in Berlin, Germany during the Potsdam Conference. Gen. Omar Bradley is in the background., 07/20/1945
DUDE!!!!!! Bob Ross?! Cut it out. That cat rocked. You had to love the ‘Fro!
“Ahh, let’s put a happy tree right here. Oh, that is a happy little tree. He’s happy sitting this next to this quiet little brook . . .”
Bob Ross, well done Svet! Well done!
. . . and yes, I agree with you. Specifically with this line;
“Because a leader will develop a following but you need a catalyst to create a community.”
Bob Ross was awesome! He had a simple style that helped a lot of people paint who otherwise wouldn’t have started. That’s community building. If he’d had a way to interact with his followers he’d have been huge — bigger than the ‘fro!
Thank you for the praise and for chiming in. Much appreciated.