The problem: Failure to launch. New moderators do not know what to do once they create a new community. Often times they simply make a few posts but do not do anything else to gain traction.
Nearly all communities just fizzle out and only gain a few followers. They can not establish themselves because moderators do not know what to do to make a successful community or how to gain a following. Many times, there is not rhyme or reason as to why certain communities are successful.
As it was, moderators had to find a tiny UI component that allows them to make edits using a slide out section of the web page. This was not only undiscoverable but also difficult to use. To edit anything about the community, the user first needs to click a small icon that is difficult to find and then choose the correct option within the long complicated menu.
To allow for moderators to make simple changes to their community without having to use complicated tools.
We wanted moderators to make changes to differentiate their community such as inline editing tools and a simple way to upload a community icon to brand their new community.
While uploading a community icon and editing descriptions were useful, these were not going to teach moderators how to continue a successful community. We began to lean into our data science department to understand which actions will make communities successful. From this idea, the idea of new moderator community education was born. This module was to appear on new communities to assist moderators in making sure moderators knew actions to make to make sure the community was successful.
First, moderators needed to create a distinct look and style to their community. Styling and giving the community an icon were important to make these sites look unique and interesting. We build WISIWIG tools for this and had designed simple and easy to use.
We began to look at what other action as can a moderator take in order to assist the community in being successful from the start. We found that the first thing after they style and ad a description is to fill it with posts.
Just as importantly, these communities need to get exposure by being talked about. The best thing to do is to start crossposting your own community posts into more established communities on Reddit.
Talking about your community and tagging within the comments section of posts brings users back to your community. Our data shows that the more a community is discussed throughout Reddit, the more users will come back to it.
First the WISIWIG tools were built and the community education module was tested on 10% of new communities. We found that moderators who completed the tasks within this community education module had a higher success rate than those who did not. This makes sense as moderators who put effort and energy into their community often see varying levels of success.
Below you can take a look at a demo of the UI component. You can also play with the community education prototype yourself.
