People naturally come together in groups for a variety of reasons. With the explosion of social media sites, people around the world are finding more and more reasons to form groups around a particular interest.
SCIENTIFIC PROOF
It’s long been known that people form groups. Last year, Kurt Gray of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and David Rand of Yale University teamed up with some other colleagues to put this notion to the test. The study’s results? Yep, people like to form groups. What they found was:
• People form groups of “us” and “them”
• When people have a reason to cooperate and do so, they become closer
• When there is no reason to cooperate, people drift apart
EVEN MORE PROOF
The University of California San Diego also studied this idea of grouping. Those results are the same as the study at UNC and Yale. This report says, “The way people share information is changing the way we communicate with our target audiences. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are just the tip of social media iceberg; there are more applications out there and more to come, which means more ways for you to personally connect and engage with your constituents.”
MAKING CONNECTIONS
That line, “more to come” should be a wakeup call to people and brands trying to find a way to connect to other people who share the same:
• Ideas. Want to discuss black holes? NASA has discussion groups for that.
• Wants & Needs. AirBNB is making a fortune connecting people who travel with people who are willing to rent out a room in their home for a night or two.
• Hobbies & Activities. Like to crochet? Then Ravelry has a place for you.
YOU CAN REACH OUT
If you have an idea for a custom social network, we’re ready to listen. It doesn’t matter what your idea is or what your community is. There are other people out there, just like you, looking for a way to connect to like-minded people.
Send us a request at our Enterprise Request Form for us to help build your custom branded community.
