Although it’s amusing, I’ve been uncertain about how important the Snakes on a Plane phenomenon would be. Now Jake McKee has an excellent analysis. When the company takes the ball and builds on what the fans have done, then we can have something better than ever before, but it’s a delicate balancing act, as Jake explains.

Community Guy: Snakes on a Plane: The Community Ecosystem, 2006-Aug-20, by Jake McKee

When in balance, ecosystems are surprisingly robust, growth happens, species flourish, everyone grows. …
But when an ecosystem is thrown off balance, it can easily and quickly fall apart. This is what happens when marketers think of the fan community as nothing more than “free marketing”. This is what happens when fans forget that businesses need to make money in order to stay in business.

In an “Community Ecosystem”, much of the burden for maintaining that balance falls to the marketer, whether they like it or not. Marketers have the budgets, they have the time, and they have the vested interest in ensuring that the ecosystem stays viable….