The Currency of Engagement

Currency in any society is backed by something whether it's seashells, gold, or simply faith in a government... in theory it can be anything of value (hopefully). As new societies have sprung up online - new, virtual, currencies have sprung to life as well. But really many of these virtual currencies are just borrowing from their physical cousins. So this isn't so much a case of creating new wealth as it is transferring existing money between realms - the real and the virtual.

What is wealth in an online group?
Online group members value quality discussion - it is their equivalent to wealth. In essence quality discussion is the capital backing group currency. So by that definition all groups have inherent capital, though it is not quantified. The capital is embodied in the perspective of it's members. Those members who contribute engaging content, whether in the form of original discussion items, articles or comments, are held in higher esteem within the group. These top contributors are making the environment richer for everyone and as a result have a wealth of influence (or currency) within their group.

The distinction between wealth and currency
How does a group's capital become something transferable, fungible and a store of wealth? How does it become a currency? Since the capital is not physical (e.g. a bag of rice, an ounce of silver) there's a requirement for a 'let it be so' approach - but only to the extent that an accounting system is needed and that the group 'currency' be considered valid tender for any virtual goods and services. Ultimately a group's wealth can only be generated by it's members as a result of their engagement. Communities with lots of interesting discussions that garner thoughtful comments are 'wealthy'. Any currency used by a group can only be a representation of wealth not wealth in and of itself. In other words if you take away the discussions and engagement the currency has no value - or even meaning. Given the right mechanisms by the platform provider, a group could create lots of currency but have little in the way of member engagement (which is after all the real purpose of a discussion). As a result the groups currency would become debased. The tricky part is quantifying what types of engagement are worth more or less than others. Sovereignty over this question may best be left up to the groups themselves and not the platform provider simply because the culture / value system from group to group will be different.

How do you destroy wealth in an online community? Simple. Use any means that successfully destroys discussion or in another words - dampens engagement. For example any online group that consists largely of spam is by definition poor. Members may tolerate some level of spam, and even actively fight it, but at a certain level they will leave the discussion and engagement will stall. Without active members contributing quality content, that encourages others to engage, a group will tailspin into insignificance.

How is wealth created and tracked?
Quantifiable things are track-able and if a members influence is surfaced then game dynamics automatically kick in - it's human nature. Surfacing specifics about just how much influence member's have may be anathema to many groups exactly because of the 'gaming' that would result. An alternative would be to keep the accounting specifics hidden from users but surface extra options based on their wealth. For example someone with enough influence might be able to award special recognition to a discussion or comment. The influencer would, in theory, be especially qualified to recognize useful content because they themselves had previously contributed content valued by the community. Just as 'liking' and 'commenting' create wealth in a community - this special recognition would be another way to contribute to the group. Perhaps both parties involved would gain some amount of group currency. However currency is awarded it must always be tied to some form of engagement - and at a deeper level it must be tied to some benefit for the group as a whole.

What's the use of having currency unless it can be spent on something?
Here's just a few ideas. The concept of gifting is common in social applications. Giving yourself a gift, such as a decorative icon, doesn't seem appropriate in professional, online communities. Giving others gifts, or rather some form of recognition as mentioned above, would seem more appropriate. Buying real estate within a group in the form of an "influencer's pick module" to promote a given topic might also be of use and add value to the group. Of course posting to such a module would still be subject to all the normal voting buttons and if ultimately considered inappropriate by the group there could be a price to pay in the form of lost influence. Perhaps some groups could restrict write status to those with enough influence to meet a minimum monthly payment. Such an approach would go a long way toward stopping spam. There are lots of ideas left unexplored but hopefully all goods and services for sale would in some way add to the wealth of the group. The very existence of a group currency could in and of itself spur product innovation lead to richer communities.

A new beginning

Linkedin has rolled out a new look and added functionality to about 10% of it's groups with changes rolling out to 100% of groups throughout the next week.

I'm the web developer who owns Groups which means I build the UI, fix the bugs and if I'm lucky have a small amount of influence over the design.

The changes are dramatic in places... and as you might expect the feedback (from those who have actually used it) has been filled with emotion as well. We've spent a lot of time thinking about each and every feature as well as implementing feedback from the beta users... I fully expect the feed back to keep coming in and our changes to keep rolling out. For example we originally removed the chron sorted view of discussions altogether but brought a newer version back when we heard it was missed.

I'll post some of the insights from building Groups here... Stay tuned