Amplified Leicester is a city-wide experiment in social media. The project began as a network of 100 small local businesses and how now grown to include anyone wishing to be a part. An amplified indivdual is described as someone that ‘uses social media and the web to enhance their abilities to sense their world, create shared resources and act collaboratively’.
Today I was fortunate to meet the group and give a chat called DIY Community. It’s a horrible name for a talk if I’m being honest, but I couldn’t come up with a better name.
There are a lot of places now trying to identify connectors; community builders; fans; networkers, whatever term you’d like to call them. Malcolm Gladwell in his novel the tipping point talked about social connectors and there is also the 1,000 true fans. Kevin Kelly wrote about how having 1,000 true fans to make a living. The thinking behind both Gladwell’s social connector theory and Kelly’s true fan model is that having a community around a project, or a artist or a company contribute to its livelihood and success. The more people you have who act as nodes and spread the word, the better your chances for making it.
Today at amplified Leicester, I got thinking a lot about how communities are able to rally around something and was really inspired having met the group. While there are many different types of communities, Amplified Leicester are working very hard at creating theirs and maintaining it both online and offline.