Thinking Past the Community’s Launch: A Warning from “The Candidate”
by Matthew Lees
I’ve been working with a few clients on upcoming online community deployments. As with the launch of most any technology endeavor, particularly Web-related ones, the energy and excitement become palpable as the launch date approaches.
The weeks and months preceding the launch are full of planning meetings, discussions of issues that inevitably arise, all kinds of decisions by a dozen different people wearing a dozen different hats, technological configuration and development, graphical work, customer outreach, testing, and much more. Most of these things are geared toward getting the community looking and functioning the way everyone envisions it will, so that it’s ready when the flip is switched and it goes live.
But the community’s launch is just the beginning. It comes after a great deal of work by a dedicated team, but it’s really just Day 1 in terms of what the community is fundamentally about. All the effort is put ahead of time in because, starting on Day 2, people will be asking questions, giving answers, solving problems, holding conversations, voting in polls, sharing ideas, getting to know each other, observing, learning, and providing some value to each other and to the sponsoring organization.
One of my roles in working with clients is to prompt them to be ready for what will happen after launch. But not every community team is prepared for Day 2.
The laser-sharp focus on the launch of a community, sometimes to the exclusion of what will happen afterwards, always reminds me of the ending of the 1972 movie “The Candidate.” The film stars Robert Redford as Bill McKay, the son of a former popular governor who has never had any political aspirations of his own. Prompted by veteran campaign strategist Marvin Lucas (played by Peter Boyle — I sure miss him) to run for the California senate seat, he takes on the task with conflicted intentions. The movie follows the race from announcement to primary to election, into the first few moments after the outcome is decided.
It’s a brilliantly perceptive and energetic film with a lot to say not only about politics of the 1970s, but also about politics in any era. And it has a lot to say on paying too much attention to short-term objectives, potentially to the detriment of long-term goals.
The final scene is a classic. There’s an excellent overview of the movie at the Film Night at the Park site. This excerpt is from the last paragraph:
“And then there’s the final scene, considered by many to be one of the most powerful political statements made in a Hollywood film. When the circus is over, and everyone packs up to leave, only one question remains. And it remains to this day, hanging in the air…”
I can’t spoil that line here, of course. Best is to watch the entire movie, to get the full impact. (If more instant gratification is required, you can view the final scene on YouTube or read about it on Wikipedia. Do watch the movie at some point, though.)
But that question remains, too, hanging in the air after an online community launches. If you’ve done your planning for Day 2 and beyond, you’ll know the answer.
[Fade to black]
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Best Practices. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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