It Takes a Community...To Spread a Message

"Community has little to do with proximity."
                                                                                               Aaron Starkey

Mr. Rogers called it the Neighborhood.  Seth Godin calls it Tribes.  Tribal Africans and US politicians refer to it as a village.  Regardless of what you call it, humans form connections.  We are social animals and will form communities in most of the things we do.

Communities, as Mr. Starkey points out, has little to do with physical proximity.  Rather community, or tribes, teams, neighborhoods or affiliate groups, share a proximity of experience and/or beliefs.  Backyard chicken farmers, retired Marine sergeants, and 1977 graduates of Adlai E. Stevenson High School are all communities for one reason or another.

These communities have many advantages. Among those advantages is that they aid and abet communications.  Communities, because of their shared experiences or beliefs, usually share a language and a lingo of common experience.  This language is often unique to the community.  I can mention "The Big Gun Award" and other 1977 Stevenson High School alums will know what I mean, without explanation.  (If the Marine sergeants think they know too, I guarantee they are thinking of something different!)  This common language helps to speed communication within the community.  Members can talk in a kind of shorthand.

Communities can also help speed up the spread of a message.  And help it to spread beyond where you can take your message personally.  Members of your community already understand your message, the implications of it and its inherent importance.  Since we all belong to many communities, when community members start to share your message, invariably they share it with members of other communities they belong to.  This helps spread your message to others you would not have been able to reach on your own.

Communications are possible without communities.  Your communications are just more effective and have a greater chance of having the desired impact if you are communicating from within a community.  Compare the street corner preacher and the pastor of a church with 1000 people in the pews.  Both have a chance of getting their message to someone within earshot, but who do you think has a better chance of generating a positive response?