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2020/2/5 What does “community” even mean? A definition attempt & conversation starter

https://medium.com/together-institute/what-does-community-even-mean-a-definition-attempt-conversation-starter-9b443fc523d0 1/7

What does “community” even mean? A de�nition attempt & conversation starter

Fabian Pfortmüller Follow

Sep 20, 2017 · 7 min read

2020/2/5 What does “community” even mean? A definition attempt & conversation starter

https://medium.com/together-institute/what-does-community-even-mean-a-definition-attempt-conversation-starter-9b443fc523d0 2/7

Salad community, anyone?

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While shopping for groceries a few weeks ago, I picked up a pack of salad and flipped it

around to learn about its origin. Immediately something caught my attention: my salad

was inviting me to join its “Facebook community”.

If even my salad has / is a community, what does “community” even mean?!

“Community” has a definition problem As someone who works with communities on a daily basis and has studied hundreds of

them over the last couple of years, I sense a lot of confusion. The term is used as a catch-

all phrase for anything that has to do with a collection of human beings, from the very

tangible to the very abstract.

I see 2 problems:

1) Most “communities” are not real communities I get the sense that the term “community” is really hot in the

advertising/marketing/sales/startup/event space, because it alludes to more than just a

transactional customer-company relationship. But most of the “communities” I come

across, are in my opinion not actual communities. I hear the word being used, when

really the authors mean a series of monthly events, a Facebook page, a group of

customers that has loyalty towards a specific brand, a yearly conference, all customers of

an e-commerce brand, social media followers, everyone who uses Twitter, people who

happen to vote the same way, etc.

2) The dictionary definition is vague and outdated Here is how the dictionary defines “community”:

2020/2/5 What does “community” even mean? A definition attempt & conversation starter

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I think the traditional definition of community is outdated. It is mostly based on

shared location: “a group of people living in the same place”. That’s what community

used to be, historically. But for many of us, our village or neighborhood isn’t anymore

our key definer of identity or fellowship. As this article in the Atlantic points out

beautifully, we have shifted from, traditionally, being born into a community to, now,

choosing our own communities and expressing our identities through them.

I think the traditional definition is missing a key piece. “A feeling of fellowship with

others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals”: this part comes

closer to modern forms of communities. Everyone in it has something in common.

However, I think it’s too broad and vague. I have so, so many attitudes, interests and

goals that I share with other people. But that doesn’t mean yet that I’ll feel a sense of

community with them. For that, it needs relationships. More on this piece below.

We need to update what “community” means With the traditional definition being somewhat outdated and the term being used

broadly by marketers, brands, entrepreneurs, event organizers, social media managers

etc. in so many ways, I think we are missing out on the true power that “real”

communities can have.

We need to update what “community” means in today’s world. And maybe we’ll have to

find ways to differentiate between different kinds of communities. As there is no singular

2020/2/5 What does “community” even mean? A definition attempt & conversation starter

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figure of authority in this space, I imagine this will best happen as a series of

conversations among community builders. To kick off this conversation, I offer an

attempt at defining “community”:

Community = a group of people that care about each other and feel they belong together.

Let’s take that apart:

“A group of people”: in the end of the day, a community always exists of humans.

That seems obvious at first, but I see a lot of use of the word that is dehumanized and

abstract: “the marketing community”, “the international community”, “the St.

Clarke’s Streets community”, the “AirBnB community”. In the end, we are talking

about real humans with real lives, real stories, real hopes, real dreams.

“that care about each other”: this is in my opinion the absolute core of a

community. The individuals in a group are not just random strangers, they have

relationships with each other. They give a shit about each other. They care more

about the people in this group than about the average person they meet on the

street. This is where the magic of a community happens. When people care about

each other, they develop trust. And trust unlocks collaboration, sharing, support,

hope, safety and much more. While most organizations in the world optimize their

performance towards external goals, communities optimize for trust.

“feel they belong”: communities address one of the most fundamental human

needs: we want to be loved, we don’t want to be lonely and we want to know that we

belong somewhere. Real communities give us this sense of home, this sense of

2020/2/5 What does “community” even mean? A definition attempt & conversation starter

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family, this sense of “these are my peers”. This is my tribe, this is where I belong. In

this group, I am being accepted for who I really am.

“together”: a community gives people a sense of shared identity. We are together.

The sum is bigger than the individual parts. This shared identity matters, because it

takes the group beyond individual, 1:1 relationships. It turns strangers into trusted

peers through a proxy effect: even though I don’t know you, I trust you more than

the average person because we are part of the same community, we share the same

identity. Many of us express our interests, ambitions and goals through the people

we spend time with — communities become part of our identity.

What about a community having a common goal / purpose? I see a lot of community definitions that are a version of the following:

A community = a group of people that care about the same goal.

In my personal opinion, this definition does not qualify as a community, unless these

people have trusted relationships with each other. Why? Because there are so many

things in the world where people come together with a shared goal / purpose / attitudes

/ interests: project teams, companies, political movements, etc. They are groups of

people that care about the same goal, but they are not communities.

I argue we need a way to differentiate those goal driven channels from groups that are

heavily relationship based aka communities.

Why does this matter? It matters, because ultimately project teams, companies and

political movements optimize for an external output (aka whatever their goal is). But

communities, in my opinion, optimize for something else: the relationship and trust

among themselves. I think the two entities have very different impact in the world.

Communities, of course, can still have shared goals as well. One way to look at that is to

differentiate between the internal purpose of a community (we take care of each other)

and the external purpose (we have a collective goal). I believe that every community

needs to have an internal purpose first to truly function as a community. Without trust

2020/2/5 What does “community” even mean? A definition attempt & conversation starter

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and relationships, it becomes a project, an initiative, a movement. But maybe

communities with internal purpose are powerful channels to have external purpose?

How do YOU define “community”? I’d love for this to be a conversation starter and would LOVE to hear what “community”

means to you. If you leave comments or message me, I’ll make sure to collect all the

answers and report back. Thank you!

— — — this article was first published on the Together Institute website

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2020/2/5 What does “community” even mean? A definition attempt & conversation starter

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The world needs less gatherings, summits, conferences, events, meet-ups…

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Get in touch Have thoughts and feedback on the writing above? Or are you looking for a speaker for

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