a single source, nothing corroborates it

Count participation, not signups

Paying a subscription and sitting on a list is not membership of anything, so measure whether people are actually doing something. Participation is also what buys you room to make decisions: someone who helped shape an outcome will accept a version that was not what they asked for, while a passive audience treats every change as a reason to leave.

The method

1. 01

   Paying a subscription and sitting on a mailing list does not count as participation, so measure whether people are actively doing something rather than counting who has signed up.

2. 02

   Participation is the thing that produces buy-in, and where there is none a member's attachment to you is weak or simply absent.

3. 03

   Participation buys you room to make decisions, because someone who helped shape an outcome will live with a version that was not exactly what they asked for, while a passive audience treats every choice as a reason to walk.

What it returned

• Hillman's test is the farmer whose boots are dirty all over versus the one with dirt only underneath.

Sources

• The three necessary ingredients for community. Do you have them?Alex Hillman · dangerouslyawesome.com · Factor #1 Community Participation · 2012-11-01