Bringing IRL Online

The challenge for Mara’s team at Switchboard was fostering that sense of trust in a strictly online community. People are hungry to connect, to help and be helped. But how much community building can you do if people never get together face-to-face?

Mara shares how Switchboard became a place where people can get what they need from people they trust. By limiting content and functionality. By making deliberate aesthetic choices. And by reaching out to community influencers in-real-life to foster a sense of trust between folks who might never meet face to face.