The fact that you can be anonymous probably is a catalyst for some people’s dark/non-creative side and they quite soon start plagueing the community. Their popularity takes a hit though in all cases. I have seen some almost hitting as low approval ratings as George W. Bush did towards the end of his presidency. The good thing with a working community is that is becomes quite self-policing. If the community ower or the reason for the community really is an integral part of and player in the community there will be a very strong sense of respect between the members who have an honest and real interest in the longevity of the community. And the anonymous driver can make people have a great time as well. You can be someone else or a better self or a funnier self without lowering the quality of the community. Shy people dare more. I have seen people meet and get married in some of our mobile communities. The feedback we get from these people really make a strong impression and gives us in the team a reason to go on. Long live the Force in communities!

I fully understand Trent Reznor becoming fed-up with it all since he must have dedicated considerable time and effort with his online community. When the pile of bad stuff gets too big it is easy to cave in. However, seeing the reactions in the comments to his “I quit” post, he clearly have a majority of peers who speak up for him. In itself a proof of a well working community. I hope he’ll get back to it when the tour is over and he has had time to recharge.

So, I choose the Good Side and see a very positive trend here: The niche communities with one clear subject and reason to connect have a bright future. The large more generic communities with very large corporate goals like monetization of the user base and exit strategies risk loosing their purpose. Here I want to say that I have nothing against making money with communities. I say that that money makeing has to be intimately linked with the interest of the community and the members. And it must be made clear to the community. Do not hide the fact that you are a business. Well, if you are. Many communities are not there for profit and should not.

Irrespective of what community you build, have a purpose and reason to connect people around a subject. This is extra important in the mobile industry where some communities have been created because it is technically possible. Those are not long-lived alternatively have very high acquisition costs and churn.

Lastly a congrats and push for my friend Beata Wickbom who is featured in an article on social networking in this article (Swedish only).

It is clear that the established communities have the upper hand over the Nokias of this world in terms of being able to attracting users. Participating in a community and tribe is a social activity. Even though Nokia has the excellent tagline “Connecting people”, it is not the brand people think of when they think social network. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. One of the tags I will track in the news flood next week from MWC in Barcelona.

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So, FINALLY!, at the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment 2008 event in San Francisco they brought seven youths up on the stage. They are between the ages of 13 and 19 answered questions about their mobile digital lives. Some nice factoids from this panel and a survey made by CTIA together with Harris Interactive:

- 1/3 of teens now play mobile games or browse the mobile web

- 1/5 use the mobile for social networking.

- 47% think their social life would stop without mobile communications

- 1/3 said they’ve used their phones to help others in trouble.

- Most desired features include shock and water proofing (81 percent), endless power (80 percent), privacy screen (58 percent), flexible material that folds into different shapes and sizes (39 percent) and artificial intelligence (38 percent).

Read the entire story over at Fierce Wireless.

I am pleased to see this happening. We are lucky enough to have a vivid dialogue with users in our services through the feedback function directly in the mobile interface. We owe much to our users for many of the great features in services like Lifestylers. It is frustrating to feel that we sometimes can’t keep up with the users comments and feedback though. The pursuit of creating great services and experiences is a job that is never done. Kids are the best source of inspiration and requirements here. Talk to them, sit with them, learn from them!

Who provides the biggest obstacle to bringing social networking to the mobile?

Mobile Network Operators: 43%

Service Providers: 27%

Content Developers: 12%

Mobile device manufacturers: 12%

Publishers: 3%

Other: 3%

Two observations:

1. MNO’s need pull their weight here. Age and ID verification and flat fee data traffic should be the key ones in order for the masses to come. Walled garden approach and exlusive deals with web-based social networking sites are counter productive and the ones going down this road will soon realise and open up.

2. Service providers and content developers rank surprisingly high. So are there not good enough services out there today? Is this a sign of the limitations and challenges inherent in just porting a web service to mobile? I am intrigued by this and I will keep investigating this more.

Stay tuned for the continuation. If you have any leads let me know here!