New digital platforms enable people to earn a livelihood in a way that highlights their individuality. These platforms give providers greater ability to build customer relationships, increased support in growing their businesses, and better tools for differentiating themselves from the competition. In the process, they’re fueling a new model of int... See more

Key questions to ask:

1. Is the initial invitation compelling?

2. Do members land in space that’s easy to understand and navigate, and also fun to spend time in?

3. Are members individually welcomed into the space by a human (rather than a bot) and introduced into the conversation?

4. Once introduced, do community members feel compelled to participate ... See more

Increasingly, building a successful startup involves not only building a product that people can’t get enough of, but also building an engaged, loyal community around that product.

The people who interact with your product generally fall into one of four buckets: Customers/users buy and/or use your product. Evangelists tell everyone they know to buy... See more

Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built. 

My purpose here is to point out a logical third option, one that can and should be tested out on a platform such as Twitter. In this approach, a platform would require users to form groups through free association, and then to post only through those groups, with the group’s imprimatur. Why this simple, powerful notion could help us escape the dile... See more