Starting a Community #6

There are so many social platforms out there and there are so many people use multiple platforms to be part of different communities. So if I were a community manager of my new social platform, who would be my community?

QUTGAMERS

"Where studying is second to gaming"

Now you could only understand this if you have been to QUT's S block level 5. But this place is renowned for students using their "free time" to play online games. So the platform's proposed purpose is to bring together a large community of gamers specifically at QUT and to occupy every computer there with something game related. No one wants to be playing a game at university all alone with no one to laugh with because that's not what university is for. QUTGamers will be a social platform which allows users to do a number of things:

• "Help me get into the fishbowl (S515) so I can play while it's empty."
• "Anyone want to play games aka League of Legends? I have no classes today."
• "Does anyone have the copy of the game on USB for me to borrow?"

So what are the stage 1 benefits of this community?

The value of this community is that they are part of this community for the same reason, to play games whilst at uni. The concept of finding other gamers who may play the same game as the user is practically an ice breaker for making new friends at uni. Everyone wants to be a part of something like a club without actually being part of it. So the benefit of this community is so everyone can enjoy game-like activities with new friends and to make each other feel comfortable.

What are the start up costs of your community and how can they be reduced?

There are no start-up costs for this community as there already is a community of gamers based at level 5 S block. So the platform is made for this community and technically the cost is reduced since the community does not need to be created. This is a community based on making friends who play the same games. Major costs would be advertising and luring in students as clubs and other social platforms already exist. However, if one club were to make full use of this social platform, then the numbers would be sufficient enough to lure in other students.

What are the early adopter benefits?

Generally, early adopters receive benefits like discounts or simply the satisfaction of one of the first to the platform. With QUTGamers, the benefit of being an early adopter would be the chance to get to know everyone and to create a social status among the community. A possible benefit that can be offered to early adopters could be a higher status in the community, the ability to monitor posted events or the ability to take action on reported individuals. Again, this would be a social platform with the goal of reaching out to all QUT gaming students.

So how could I increase success expectation?
Simple, the more you use this social platform, the more people you'll get to know and thus make the community a friendlier place. Users will be able to say hi to practically anyone on  that floor instead of the general walking pass and peaking over to see what's going on. Everyone who plays games enjoys the interaction among other gamers and this is enough to create a positive expectations.

That's my basic idea of social platform. It will be a very small community as it is focused for QUT students but a community where everyone will know everyone. If this platform were to evolve, then it could be extended to every university where each uni would have their own group on the platform and anyone can travel to random events.

Thanks for reading and I hope the people at S block level 5 don't disturb you too much!