Work with the willing

When asked how a brand or business can create a social media community, Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg, declared ‘you can’t’.  He then went on to suggest that the role of organisations is merely to provide ‘elegant organisation’ for communities that already exist.   The RSA’s Matthew Taylor, made a similar point when talking about the importance of ‘voluntary mobilisation’ as a force for social change: find out what people like to do and help them do it better, rather than attempt to make them do something they don’t want to do.

I was reminded of these simple truths when I heard about Mastercard’s attempts to reinvent the street party.  The Mastercard Big Lunch, scheduled for Sunday 19th July, has the grand ambition of wanting to “breakdown the walls of anonymity between British people” and laying “the foundations for long-term intimacy between the people of Britain.”   A bold attempt at repairing ‘broken Britain’ or simply a publicity stunt, dressed up as social marketing?  

It strikes me that the people at Mastercard (and the Eden Project, who came up with the concept) are guilty of ignoring Zuckerberg and Taylor’s sage advice.  They are trying to start a community initiative from scratch, rather than providing ‘elegant organisation’ for an existing movement.  If Mastercard truly believes that people want to have lunch with their neighbours, then they may be on to something with the Big Lunch, but without some overarching purpose (a national celebration, a charity appeal) the motivation to socialise with a bunch of relative strangers (who just happen to live on your street) seems pretty weak.  There again, I could be wrong and the 19th July might see a return to Royal Jubilee-style street parties, with bunting and community singing around the piano.  Sounds like a good weekend to go on holiday.