The Past, Present, and Future of the Community Industry with Jono Bacon

On today’s first ever live podcast, we’re joined by Jono Bacon, Community Consultant and Author. Jono was 17 years old when he discovered the world coming together through the operating system, Linux, and a light bulb went off that he should start joining and learning everything he could about community. He has since become one of the most influential and talented community builders out there, specializing in open-source communities that contribute actively to create an experience or product. Jono gives a glimpse of his new book, People Powered, where he shares the methodology for building community. 1. Be intentional about who your audience is and what your purpose is, and 2. Provide value by serving their best interests and solving their problems. In order to get buy-in for your community, start with casual members who find value in the community, build a habit of them coming back, and then they become regulars and shape your community. He also dives into the renaissance that community is experiencing with the shift to online. People are now sharing what they are doing in communities through books, seminars, social media, events, and more. Whereas, previous to the online community explosion, the platforms and products for building community were nonexistent. Jono talks about the future of community metrics and hopes to reach a point where he can measure happiness and sense of community, instead of obsessing about data and graphs. But at the end of the day, some data metrics of community are better left unknown and that’s the beauty of it. Who is this episode for?: In Person & Online. Scaling. All types of communities. 3 key takeaways: - Jono’s methodology for building community is: 1. Be Intentional about who your audience is and their needs. 2. Provide value by serving their best interests and solving their problems. - Community is going through a renaissance with the societal switch to technology, and community is now talked about on podcasts, social media, in events, and more. - The true metrics of community are happiness, the sense of community, and trust - but these metrics may always be better left unknown.