Creating Online Content Communities

There are four atomic units of a 1.0 flywheel:Acquire: how users are acquired into the community (e.g. they sign up)Consume: the mechanisms that drive content consumption (e.g. a newsfeed)Create: the mechanisms that entice users to create content (e.g. social status)Harvest: how new content created leads to more inbound growth (e.g. SEO)

There are many reasons to be on the prowl for the next great online community, either as an investor or operator. A leading reason is that the winners tend to be massive. Another reason is that successful online communities seem to grow perpetually through organic growth, which is the holy grail in startup land.