Today, I’m taking a break from writing about marketing. I want to share a story about community. But first, pay a visit to WereYouThere.com.
WereYouThere.com is the creation of former Time journalist Jonathan Hull. The online community brings people together to recall the vivid memories of our collective history from a first-person perspective. The site’s tagline says it all: Were You There? Chances are, you weren’t alone.
I remember my own “Were You There?” story. It was almost seven years ago. I was a green and over-exuberant staffer for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with a cubicle overlooking the back lawn of the White House. My wedding was two weeks away and all hell had just broken loose. The date was September 11, 2001.
In the aftermath of 9/11, America remembered that we were a community. American flags hung on cars, from bridge trusses and construction cranes. You went out of your way to help a stranger. Neighbors became friends again. We hugged each other and cried.
Events have a way of disrupting the continuity of our lives. They rattle us out of our habits and create a single point in time, an anomaly on the line graph of life, around which we form a shared memory. It’s that shared memory which brings together people in community. How is your company creating points in time around which your customers can come together?