A cellular theory of communities | thesephist.com

The same goes for understanding individuals. The people within our 500-person community don’t exist as isolated minds. Each person is an individual organism, an “organ” in the mini giant of their family, a piece of tissue in the larger giant of their small community, a cell in the 500-person community giant, and an organelle, molecule, atom, and su... See more

Building these types of environments isn’t easy. Unlike an app, your members can’t be programmed to consistently deliver valuable experiences for one another. That’s why it’s critical to thoughtfully design your community’s social architecture to maximize the value that gets exchanged between members.

1) Start small and slowly. Nothing kills a budding Community like trying to cram 500 people into one place quickly and telling them to "connect". You need to bring people in 5-10 at a time: introduce them to one other, start discussions and tag people with applicable expertise.