Social Interest Groups: They are like virtual campfires
In the Fall of 2017, we beta-tested an idea called “Social Interest Groups”. We started holding conference calls every day of the week. We talked about the difficult, provocative, fascinating topics we always do. But we really talked about them, in one hour group phone calls moderated by trained leaders. The leaders worked hard to make the calls both episodic and serialized—so you could easily join in any one call at any time—but if you attended all of them you would find there was a story arc, a build of momentum, just the way there is with your favorite TV shows.
And you know what? We learned that we really were realizing the goal of “participatory media”. Everyone on the calls gets a chance to talk. Anyone can share insights. Each group call forms its own community that is always growing and changing. You get to know the people who show up on the calls over and over. They become like characters in a TV show—you come back to the calls because you like to see how the characters develop. But then…YOU can become one of those characters. YOU become one of the people that other callers show up again and again to listen to.
How? The full story is on our IndieGoGo Campaign…check it out.