Evolution of a virtual community: understanding design issues through a longitudinal study

Although the potential impacts of virtual communities have been widely recognized in business and academia, little research has been done to provide guidelines for design of such communities and to improve the understanding of critical events and interaction patterns that arise during their evolution. This paper reports the results of two years of participative longitudinal study that led to the creation of a leading web site that has attracted more than 300,000 visitors since its inception. The patterns of interaction which led to growth and stabilization of the site are described, the impact of design choices are discussed, and typical events which occur during the gradual formation of community are analyzed. The site is dedicated to football at one of the major academic institutions in the United States. It consists of several interactive fora as well as over 50 pages pertaining to different aspects of the football program. The community was studied through initiation, adoption, and successive design changes. Issues and conflicts that arise in the course of life of a virtual community are traced. Among others, the study found that interactive fora entail a trade-off between “participation” and “signal-to-noise” ratio. Based on this study, implications for communities of practice found in organizational settings are developed.