Frontier Communities

Back in July I wrote "New Construction and Building Community" a story about how Facebook helped our neighborhood come together, build friendships, and facilitate important news. It was also a story about how our online communities are fast becoming similar to the traditional ones we have become so familiar with.


Not much has changed since that post except that more families have joined our community and many of us continue to grow closer. The evolvement of these relationships and the maturation of our neighborhood over the past three months got me thinking about the two communities I participate in and how a Thanksgiving Day event brought some clarity to the importance of both.

On Thanksgiving a few of the guys in the neighborhood decided we should host our first annual Turkey Bowl. These games are played all of the U.S. and in our case consisted of a bunch of men in their 30's who wanted to relive their glory days by participating in a touch football game. We posted the event on our community Facebook page and simply waited to see who would show up.



The game was scheduled for 8:30 and a few of us committed to arrive early to set up for before kickoff. Two tents, a stand for the kiddos, and a cooler and we were ready to go. Sixteen men showed up for the event with many wives and children in tow to watch. It lasted two hours and everyone had a wonderful time. A short time later over 216 photos were posted on Facebook and contestants were sharing war stories on the group page. It was truly a community event, one that reinforced old relationships and introduced opportunities for new ones.


Once home I posted "I survived my first Turkey Bowl" to Twitter, provided a recap on Facebook, and uploaded a few of my own photos to Slideshare. Why? Because I wanted my other neighbors, those I rarely see but communicate with daily, to see how I kicked off my Thanksgiving. Having read Thanksgiving updates from @sonnygill, @SteveDrake, @knealemann, (and many others) I was eager to share how my day was going. I, like many others, participate in the nexus between two communities and enjoy bridging news from both at every opportunity.

These two spheres now make up my collective understanding of community and I enjoy participating in them equally. Through the use of social media and a healthy blend of interpersonal events, I've come to grow as a person, meet an array of interesting people, and broaden my access to knowledge tenfold.

We all have our immediate communities, those we physically interact with on a daily basis. However, our other communities play a new role in our lives and are shaping the way we see and interact with the world around us. I will likely see my friends from the "online world" at an upcoming conference, Tweet (insert holiday here) cocktail party, or random intersection and when I do we'll be able to comment on these and other pictures, postings, and windows into my life.


We are on the frontier of building communities through virtual and physical relationships and we will continue to build and shape them as long as we remain committed to participating in them.

New construction and building community

A little over two years ago my wife and I realized we had outgrown our small rancher and needed to find something bigger to accomadate our growing family. Our second daughter had joined us rather unexpectedly and we needed more space.

We decided we would build a home in a growing but mostly rural community about 30 miles outside of Philadelphia. Our home was number twelve or so of seventy six, five of which are still under construction.

For the first year my wife struggled to find comfort in the new community. We moved in during winter and none of the neighbors spent much time outside. As winter gave way to spring we began to develop a network of friends and then, as if it happened overnight, our entire neighborhood discovered Facebook and the ability to create groups and engage in discussion after hours and beyond our front lawns.

Rather quickly our site was secure and our neighbors began discussing everything from defects in our homes to who needed a sitter. Social media revolutionized the way developments are developed, neighborhoods interact, and how communities are formed.

I've marvled at how these relationships that began online have grown stronger during our early evening walks and how quick those conversations on the front lawns of the neighborhood carry back over to group dicussions.

To this end I began to think about how this same concept, the concept of newness, experimentation, community solidification through social media, and the core value of trust and sharing could apply to non-profits and associations.

Let's imagine for a minute that an association is a suburban community and each house represents a member of the organization. Each homeowner, or member, has a vested interest in the success of the community, each member (for the most part) wants to be heard, and most importantly each member is truly interested in building relationships that are built on trust, friendship, and a common interest.

Organizations, like neighborhoods, will evolve by interacting, trusting, and experimenting. There is value in participating in online communities, particularly with those who you will see at an upcoming event, conference, or professional development opportunity. Social platforms help to fill in the gaps, build trust, and develop relationships between those front yard meetings.