Presentation given to documentary film makers at Sheffield Docfest Nov 2010 about cults, communities and movements.

1. How do you
make
SOCIAL GLUE?

2. 2
“People live in groups. Every human being enters the
world as a member. From the earliest known history,
people have lived together in families, clans and tribes,
have assembled in neighborhoods, communities,
villages, towns and cities and have operated in gangs,
clubs, unions, associations, and congregations and
innumerable other groups…

3. 3
“…The person and the group are not separable
phenomena but are simply the individual and collective
aspects of the same thing.”
Dr. Loren Osborn and Dr. Martin Neumeyer

4. BELONGING AND BELIEF
JOIN STAY RECRUIT

5. 5
CULTS

7. CULTS
ONLINE/OFFLINE COMMUNITY
MOVEMENTS
MOVEMENTS

9. 9

12. Yackit

13. 13
CULTS

15. COMMUNITY CHECKLIST
Q: Does it satisfy a real need? Do its members learn more,
have more fun, get more done or get support?
Q: Does it have a clearly articulated purpose?
Q: Is it clear about who belongs and who doesn’t?
Q: Is there interaction between members?
Q: Are there enduring relationships formed between members
that go beyond the original reason for connecting?

16. COMMUNITY CHECKLIST
Q: Do they contribute, do they participate, do they work
together to achieve the common purpose? Being an audience
is not a community.
Q: Do they feel responsibility for each other and the
community at large?
Q: Are there roles, responsibilities and jobs performed by the
membership?
Q: Is it self-policing? Do people censure or eject unruly or
unreasonable members?
Q: Are there guidelines, rules, or norms of behavior?

17. DO YOUR MEMBERS…?
Identify with the community? Does it reflect, in part ,who they?
Have a sense of belonging?
Be who they really are without fearing rejection?
Have a sense of confidence, safety, even protection?
Feel part of something bigger than themselves?
Have a sense of purpose and meaning?

18. A FAN PAGE OR A FOLLOWING IS NOT A COMMUNITY

21. COMMUNITY
PLATFORMS
SHARING
PLATFORMS
?

22. DOES THE PLATFORM ENABLE…
1. clear articulation of the purpose?
2. rich interaction?
3. contribution and response?
4. offline?
5. lovebombing?
6. feedback loops?
7. roles?

23. MOVEMEMENT-MAKING

24. OPPORTUNITY MISSED!

25. WHAT IS A MOVEMENT?
A community
that’s
mobilized to take action
driven by a
shared vision
of how the world should be.

26. …Large Numbers
…Taking Action
…To Make Change
21c MOVEMENT-MAKING ENABLES...

27. THE COMMITMENT CURVE

29. • 5+ million members
• 20+ million actions
• 10k+ offline events
• $10m raised

30. Active list: 300k to 600k in on year
Over a million actions

31. PARALLEL CASCADING CAMPAIGNS BUILD SCALE
+53,000
+122,000
+49,000
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34. Big issue…
…small change

36. A 21c Movement A Campaign
Action Not just
Not just
Identification +
commitment
An Audience
Aggregation of
large numbers
Not just
The committed few
‘Conversations’
The longterm Not just A one-off

37. THE MOVEMENT CHECKLIST
1. Need, opportunity or crisis?
2. Population that can be mobilized?
3. Asks/calls to action?
4. Plausible Story on why action will make a difference?
5. Resources for sustained action?
6. Rapid response capability?

38. Are you
A Film-maker with an issue?
OR
An Activist with a film?
38