Active Engagement as Seen Through the Instant Pot® Community
Personal opinion (that I think many people could agree on): there is nothing that brings people together more than FOOD! It just brings people together in a way that nothing else can…would you agree? I am a big foodie and love to cook with my family, so I instantly was looking through Facebook groups related to food and cooking. I came across the Instant Pot® Community; as an Instant Pot user, I thought this would be a great one to cover for this article as it is something I am really interested in. The Instant Pot® Community is a public group with a little over 3 million members. It is a community where people come to share their excitement, unique recipes, and get inspired through this innovative multi-cooker. They also help with troubleshooting and guiding members to additional resources that will make the learning process of this product easy, fast, and fun.
Prior to joining the group, in the “About This Group” section, they make a point for anyone going to post, to review an “Official Instant Pot Facebook Community Posting Guidelines” page. It discusses its vision for users and stresses the point of making this Facebook community a positive experience for all members. Not everyone in the group is going to have the same level of expertise with their Instant Pot® or technology, so to just always be mindful and respectful about that, which I think is a great thing to point out prior to people posting. Since it is an open group, you can only control so much of the narrative. Additionally, they offer links to new users, support contact, their social media handles, and a page for Instant Pot® users in the UK.
The group is made up of 22 admins and moderators, at least half of them have their job titles on their profiles and they are employees of Instant Pot. I think it is good to have people that work in the company being admins and moderators because they can set the tone and kind of control what direction they want the activity of this group to go in. There are around 260 posts a day in this group, which means leaders and members are giving people a good reason to continue tuning in. it also helps that these recipes are short and concise. They give you a couple of ingredients that you throw into a pot and have an entire meal in a couple of hours with the press of a button.
The leaders in the group give members the liberty to post whatever recipes they wish, and the last part — it is a politics/Internet-free drama space. This open and safe space is made up of a diverse group of active and supportive members who all share a passion for not only their Instant Pot® but also share a passion for cooking at home and community building. Even if it is the simplest recipe, these fans still show so much support, which I admire. It is quite comical too, one member had a hard time figuring out how to make hard-boiled eggs with his Instant Pot®, and the community members became so genuinely invested in helping their virtual neighbor figure out the right settings to make the perfect hard-boiled eggs. It is instances like this that I feel keeps the community so active. Community members are always giving words of encouragement, and showing compassion for those looking for comfort in food (yes, even on an Instant Pot® page), which I found to be very touching. Overall, I enjoyed this group and will continue to follow along with posts, and one day might even make a post with a recipe! As Donisha Roberts stated for a successful community, “a compelling purpose, present leadership, well-established setting, and the feeling of being surrounded by like-minded individuals will always lead to powerful engagement,” and I have seen just that in the Instant Pot® Community (Roberts, 2019).
Sources:
Roberts, D. (2019, September 28). How one Facebook Group Nails Engagement every day. Medium. https://medium.com/@donisharoberts3/how-one-facebook-group-nails-engagement-every-day-4fe44133482d
