Social movement is something you cannot tinker, only recognize. Precisely for this reason it is worth realizing. It is a bit slower and larger phenomeon, in academic sociology the term usually refers to such a historical societal phenomenon as the temperance movement, for example.

Thus, it combines grass-root level’s activity such as women against alcohol use and state-supported semi-official organisations as local temperance societies having direct links to national central administration. Or, a consumer movement, trying to stress the legal rights of consumers against the industry.

In the context of online communities we can talk of such a phenomenon as an active audience: a fandom culture trying to redirect, say, the publishing policy of the Star Trek producer. Or, the phenomenon of making modifications (see project colleague Tero Laukkanen's Introduction to Modding), or mods of popular online game creatures, say, Sims.

Even if the social movements in online context were smaller in scale, they are still implicit changes that are negotiated within the social worlds. In a way, social worlds can be taken as homes or platforms of social movements since social worlds are plantations of informal changes. Needless to say, social movements not only affect existing social worlds but also do create new ones. From a community managers' point of view, one community can only seldom include - and thus manage - the whole social movement. Instead, the movement may cause several phenomena in or around the community.

Fashion, then, could be taken as much lighter versions of social movements. And them you can, at least try to, manage. They are more or less shortlived forms of consuming a certain product, presenting oneself or acting in a certain way. Somebody may try to formulate and start them, but even if affluent individuals and groupings might be effective in their manipulations, after all the fashions are still rather emergent phenomena. The obvious example would be the chosen (if possible) avatars’ outlook. Furthermore, a general example is of course all the software usage because of its “coolness” at the moment, i.e., because it is fashionable.

Examples from Habbo and Geocaching

Social movements related to Habbo: The fansite phenomenon is a good example of a positive social movement in the online community scene - as a part of movement of free publication (being able to publish what ever without the resistance from publishing houses or editors in newspapers.)

Habbo fashion: A fansite may present what kind of clothes and outlook in general are fashionable at the moment. Also some types of games may be fashionable in certain times.

Geocaching fashion: certain new GPS device models are fashionable at a certain moment.

Social design strategy

Allow, support, and encourage many types of fansites around your core community, typically your main site. If your probable users are very young or otherwise incapable to create fansites by their own hands, help them to get some sort of fansite starter kits. If your users are adult, (esp. technically) educated people, be careful that the most popular fansites don't look as if being manipulated by the management of the official (or main) site.

In smaller scale and in less serious tone, we can talk about fashions. A fansite author may present what kind of clothes and outlook of avatars in general are fashionable at the moment. Or, announcements of new GPS device models that are the most fashionable at the moment also create an anti-movement of rugheaded "older type GPS"-lovers. This kind of trials to take the power of definition, especially if there are several voices, are fruitful in the sense of collective conversations.