Douglas Atkin's Page

• I’m passionate believer in the power of community to make the world a better place.
• I recognize that it’s hard to start, run and grow communities well.
• I know that what will make the difference is for their leaders to be skilled social glue-makers.

To back up a bit, here’s where I’ve been and what I’ve done that has led to these points of view.
I came to see the power of community when I worked at Meetup (where I was Chief Community Officer).

Meetup is the world’s largest network of local groups. Being in Meetup’s HQ, we all got to see how groups changed things, often dramatically. Daily, members told us stories of how they, and the world around them got better by being with people who shared their passions, causes and needs. It made our day when we visited a Meetup and people came up to us spontaneously to say that their lives had changed just by getting out of the house, or discovering that they were a leader, or getting a local environmental statute changed.

But the failure rate of groups was too high. (While most succeeded, too many did not, and frankly any failure is too high in my book). What became clear was that this was not simply software issue (of course it could always be better…as our members never tire of pointing out). It was a skill and motivation issue. Organizers of these groups were full of the best intentions. But too many did not have the knowledge or experience to lead a group effectively. They didn’t realize that how much work it took, and how much technique was required.

I got to understand how ‘best in class’ communities work while researching my book about cults and cult-like communities.

Prior to Meetup, I worked in the branding world.
Curious about how some brands generated cult-like attraction (such as Apple and Harley), I interviewed not only their devotees, but also members of other high-commitment communities including the original: cults. The idea was to deconstruct how all communities work by looking at the most extreme…the ones that create the most social glue…and applying that knowledge to the less extreme.

I ended up questioning not just members of cults and cult brands, but hundreds of members of cult-like communities: religious organizations, sororities, Trekkies, the Marines, Linux fanatics, WWF fans, whatever I and others considered sticky organizations.

What became clear is that whether a cult or a cult brand, people join and become committed for the same reasons. The motivations to belong are universal and thus the techniques that create social glue can be broadly applied. It’s really just a matter of degree of commitment that distinguishes say, a cult and a cult brand.

Tired of the branding world, I was very happy when Scott Heiferman invited me to join Meetup to try and apply some of these insights to improve Meetup Groups. It was in this environment, awash with tens of thousands of groups about pugs, politics or painting that I was able to extend my knowledge of successful community-creation.

Other than the stuff relevant to this project, I live in upstate New York (near to a cult, as it happens) and Brooklyn. I have a partner of twenty years and two beagles.

By the way, if you think the whole ‘deconstructing cults and applying it to community-creation’ thing is ethically dodgy, I’m very happy to defend it. Cults have been demonized in our society…understandably, given how our view has been largely informed by coverage of a few notoriously destructive ones. But cults are normal, in fact essential organisms for a high-functioning society. Without them cultures would atrophy and die. But that’s another subject.