“What motivates dozens, thousands, even millions of people to come together on the Internet and commit their time to a project for free?”

That’s a good question! It was posed by a brilliant professor (Clay Shirky) in a fascinating “TED Radio Hour” program on NPR called, “Why We Collaborate.”

I suppose occasionally all of us who participate in TalentCulture #TChat events ask ourselves that same question. But this week, we didn’t need experts to tell us why.

Crowdsourcing: It Takes a Village

If you ask our founder, Meghan Biro, she would say that the #TChat hashtag is a living metaphor for the social workplace — a virtual gathering place for purposeful knowledge sharing and co-creation. And this week, our purpose was two-fold:

1) To gather input for a new “Resources” section on this site;
2) To capture feedback that will help us map topics for future #TChat Events.

In other words, in the spirit of Dorie Clark’s recent “Reinventing You” 360 brand review advice, it was an ideal time for a reality check from our trusted community members. So, rather than inviting a special guest to share expertise, we tapped into our crowdsourcing roots, asking for your thoughts. And, of course, you blew our minds with thousands of comments and recommendations! (See highlights in the Storify slideshow below.)

But Wait, There’s More

Now we have a rich “starter” collection of reference ideas and guidance for #TChat planning. And unexpectedly, we’ve learned something else — how much our participants value the community relationships they’ve developed, over time. I think Steve Levy and Dave Ryan said it best:

A5 its not the topics, its the people; think of #tchat as an online skunkworks operation

— ???????????????????? ???????????????? (@LevyRecruits) July 24, 2013

A5 It is not the topics It's the #tchat ers that have helped me the most. #Community

— Dave Ryan (@DaveTheHRCzar) July 24, 2013

If the medium is the message, then at #TChat, the connections are the content! Thanks to each of you for generously participating, so that together, we are better, indeed.

#TChat Week in Review: Sources of Insight

SAT 7/20

Watch Tim’s sneak peek Hangout now

#TChat Preview: Our Community Manager, Tim McDonald, introduced this week’s topic by sharing a slice of his own life in a great G+ Hangout video. See “Where Do You Find Ideas and Insight — and Why?

WED 7/24

#TChat Twitter: A diverse crowd of participants hopped on the Twitter stream, as social learning expert, Dr. Nancy Rubin led us through questions designed to capture “best of…” ideas, from books and blogs, to helpful tools and thought leaders who are active on social media. For a taste of the action, watch the slideshow below:

#TChat Twitter Highlights: “Where Do You Find Ideas And Insight — And Why?”

Closing Notes & What’s Ahead

NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about your experience as a community member or your favorite “go to” resources? We’d love to share your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture), or insert a comment below, and we’ll pass it along.

WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat events, we’ll continue our crowdsourcing discussion with special guest Nick Kellet of Listly fame. Check for details in a preview post this weekend.

In the meantime, the World of Work conversation continues each day. So join us on the #TChat Twitter stream, or on our new LinkedIn discussion group. And feel free to explore other areas of our redesigned website. The gears are always turning at TalentCulture, and your ideas and opinions are always welcome.

See you on the stream!

Image Credit: Pixabay