“Facebook did not become popular because it was a functional tool—after all, most college students live in close quarters with the majority of their Facebook friend and have no need for social networking. Instead, we log into the Web site because it’s entertaining to watch a constantly evolving narrative starting the other people in the library…I have always thought of Facebook as online community theater."

Alice Mathias, graduating senior, Dartmouth, 2007 | NY Times, 6 October 2007

Truffle rich, this speech act.

Online community as theater: brilliant and incisve. Why? Everything we know about theater and storytelling applies to building online communities.

College dorm rooms remain one of the most strategic markets for consumer goods and services, defining what Adrian Slywotzki of Harvard Business School calls a "share-determining market sector."