The Business of Belonging Book Summary - The Business of Belonging Book explained in key points
Listen to the Intro
00:00

The Business of Belonging summary

David Spinks

How to Build Communities that Grow the Bottom Line

4.5 (79 ratings)
27 mins
Table of Contents

    The Business of Belonging
    summarized in 6 key ideas

    Audio & text in the Blinkist app
    Key idea 1 of 6

    Building a community can give your business a competitive advantage.

    Community. It’s a hot topic right now – all sorts of businesses are talking about creating communities of users. But what are the actual benefits?

    Author David Spinks has been deeply involved in communities since before his career even began. When he was a teenager, he ran an online community for players of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, a skateboarding video game, and found himself taking it quite seriously.

    Later, he realized that his passion for online community married perfectly with his interest in business. He eventually launched CMX, a networking platform for community professionals – and hasn’t looked back since.

    Communities aren’t just online phenomena. Spinks’s own CMX platform, for instance, has many online components but also hosts a yearly in-person summit. (At least when there isn’t a global pandemic.) But – surprise, surprise – it was personal computers that prompted the rise of virtual communities. In fact – and this probably won’t shock you either – the company at the forefront of community-building was Apple.

    Let’s go back to 1985. Apple is pivoting to the Mac, but its users are confused by the new product. They’ve grown used to its predecessor, the Apple II. So they write letters (remember, it’s 1985) to Ellen Petry Leanse, Apple’s communications specialist. Leanse eventually spots something weird about these letters: a lot of them feature a mysterious code. She’s amazed to discover that they’re online access codes. 

    That’s right – as early as 1985, Apple users were gathering online to discuss and solve their tech problems, completely independently of Apple! Here’s the thing: Back then, businesses didn’t care very much about users. Once you’d bought a product and leafed through the instruction manual, you were on your own. Customer support was little more than an annoyance to businesses. Customers were a cost, not a benefit.

    But Leanse realized there was an opportunity here. So she set up the Apple User Group Connection, making the online community official. She took the users’ feedback seriously, and she shared updates with them.

    Guess what? This move was good for both the users and the business. Apple’s support costs dropped, and customers ended up spending more and staying loyal.

    Plenty of online communities still give companies competitive advantages in exactly that way – just think of Salesforce’s famous Trailblazer community of users helping and teaching each other about the product.

    Want to see all full key ideas from The Business of Belonging?

    Key ideas in The Business of Belonging

    More knowledge in less time
    Read or listen
    Read or listen
    Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
    Find your next read
    Find your next read
    Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
    Shortcasts
    Shortcasts New
    We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

    What is The Business of Belonging about?

    The Business of Belonging (2021) explores how businesses can harness the power of online communities for the benefit of both themselves and their customers.

    Who should read The Business of Belonging?

    • Community professionals seeking to hone their craft
    • Businesspeople who’d like to tap into the power of community
    • Marketeers on the lookout for new approaches

    About the Author

    David Spinks cofounded CMX, a network for community professionals that has over 20,000 members. He is also Vice President of Community at the enterprise software platform Bevy, which acquired CMX in 2019.

    Categories with The Business of Belonging

    Books like The Business of Belonging

    People ❤️ Blinkist
    Sven O.

    It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

    Thi Viet Quynh N.

    Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

    Jonathan A.

    Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

    Renee D.

    Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.

    People also liked

    Start growing with Blinkist now
    26 Million
    Downloads on all platforms
    4.7 Stars
    Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
    91%
    Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
    *Based on survey data from Blinkist customers
    Powerful ideas from top nonfiction

    Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.

    Start your free trial