A Conversation with Bob and Diane Hessan | How to Make Online Communities Work for You

You might think that the only communities that thrive are “bubbles” of like-minded people. But think again. Award-winning entrepreneur and researcher Diane Hessan joined us on Tuesday, May 12 for a Kitchen Table Chat to talk about her experience building diverse online communities that stay together over time and discuss just about everything. Diane has followed voters from all parts of the political spectrum since the 2016 election, and she will share what she’s learned about bridging seemingly impossible divides.

Diane Hessan is an entrepreneur, researcher and author. She is the founder of C Space, which was the first company to build online communities for market research. She is also CEO of Salient Ventures and is engaged in a wide-ranging longitudinal study of the American voter as a columnist for The Boston Globe.

Talking online and video conferencing have been surprising sources of happiness to people during this COVID-19 crisis.

With that in mind, I talked about the importance of building a community in a time of crisis, isolation and deep polarization with Diane Hessan, who has been in the business of building relationships online since the start of the Internet era.

Hessan is the founder of C Space (formerly Communispace) and the CEO of Salient Ventures, which help companies get insight and inspiration from their customers. She also runs a longitudinal study of 500 American voters since 2016 and is a regular column contributor for the Boston Globe.

During the pandemic lockdown, technology has helped foster new kinds of community relations.

“The biggest surprise to me is how much people enjoy being online,” Hessan said. “So many are embracing technology and it’s moving us forward in so many ways.”

Hessan said online communities have one major advantage over in-person encounters – asynchronous dialogue. Instead of needing to respond immediately in a live conversation to avoid awkward silence, online forums allow time for more thoughtful discourse.

“In a classic online community, you have breathing room and time to think before you comment and that makes all the difference in the world when you’re looking for real richness,” Hessan said.

In her decades of experience creating connections, Hessan reveals some of the core ingredients for building a thriving online community.

• Make it matter. Letting community members feel important is crucial.
• Be purpose driven. The mission of the community needs to have some significance for people.
• Social glue. Is this a club I want to be a part of and what will we do together? Building relationships within community is critical.
• Ask community members to do work that is interesting. Build tech to give feedback, collages, videos, etc.
• Circle back. Make sure the community knows you’re listening and considering, even if you don’t use their suggestions.
• Size matters. A community of 300 consumers and customers yields more participation and richer information than a group of 3,000, where people feel less connected.
• Build trust. Really trying to understand people means being open to and accepting of people’s irrational behavior.
• Use real identities. It makes participants more accountable and fosters higher trust and honesty than anonymous communities.

“It’s all about trying to experiment,” Hessan said. “There’s so much out there now. There are things out there that people can do to feel less lonely. The worst that can happen is you turn it off and you’re done.”

Diane had this advice for people who are more reluctant to engage with others socially: Seek communities that are organized around your particular interests. If you’re an introvert or feeling isolated, find communities where you can feel safe and connect with others around a particular shared passion.