Last Sunday OneUpMe was mentioned on the CBS Sunday morning news, both on television and their website.  As you could probably guess the site went down immediately and remained down for a while.  But what happened next was truly touching.  OneUpMe was built almost entirely by Eric.  (I do some sysadmin work and batch/asynchronous processing around scoring and trending.)  Prior to Sunday’s press OneUpMe had developed quite a strong community of regular, very skilled members, each very grateful for Eric’s effort to build a fun website.  The Monday following Sunday’s press was Eric’s birthday.  And on his birthday many of the regular members made him a video, each introducing themselves and sharing a clever, funny story or play on words.

Eric was moved to say the least.  I saw him that evening and he was still high from the joy the OneUpMe community had brought him.  Words can’t describe the look on his face.  And this morning I read Fred Wilson’s reaction to a request he made for desired blog topics.  Fred’s reaction was “simply [amazed].”  Eric and Fred have made me realize that there’s joy in community.

Eric and Fred have built a community of people that are passionate about a certain topic, where members feel a sense of worth and purpose among the group.  These communities have brought joy to their respective leaders.  And I’ll bet that joy in community is very sustainable.  As long as the mediums by which the community interact–word playing and startup discussion in this case–are sustained, the community will sustain, and so will be the happiness inspired by said communities.

I would argue that creating a community that instills a sense of purpose will bring happiness more so than an impressive buyout or liquidation.  A big payoff will bring immediate excitement to its recipients–”HOLY SHIT I’M RICH”–but after the boats and vacation homes have been purchased the recently rich will long for their next million, ultimately burying their dreams and hopes for happiness in their dwindling pile of money.  So when you’re thinking about why you come to work every day, find the community that you’re enabling and realize you’re providing a wonderful service that brings joy, a sense of worth and purpose, and, really, an online home to everyone involved.  That’s way more awesome than a boat that will get dirty or a house that sits vacant for most of the year.

Update: I think Eric said it best in his recent tweet:

Social Design 101: Community fuels identity. We see ourselves when we see ourselves in others.