108. Building Community with the Wicked CoolKit

Nowadays, the internet is so huge that it can be hard for people to find others who share their niche interests. But when they do find that rare kindred spirit, it can feel like a magical moment. Lynn Fisher and design agency &yet have been exploring ways to help people build community around their passions (which can sometimes be a little “weird”). The team launched a project called “Find Your Weirdos” that incorporates different tools, sites, and techniques for helping people connect with their fellow weirdos. Their project also helps companies connect with customers through niche interests.

Inspired by the Weirdos project, the &yet team envisioned ways to help Heroku developers connect — and the Wicked CoolKit was born. The kit harkens back to the earlier days of the internet, when simple, fun web widgets and tools helped people connect without all the noise of today’s mega social platforms. The initial version of the kit offers a new take on a few nostalgic web widgets, including:

• Developer trading cards — Echoing the retro joy of collecting baseball cards or playing card-based games, this widget allows developers to create their own profile card. They can specify their personal bio, coding skills, niche interests, “feats of strength,” and more, and share it within an elegantly designed UI.

• Themed stickers — A perennial favorite, stickers are a colorful way to identify interests, such as baking or woodworking. Users can download stickers to use as they wish, or add a sticker to their trading card that links to other people’s cards that have the same sticker.

• Webring — Years ago, fans and friends would use a webring to share a collection of websites dedicated to a specific topic. The kit brings the old school webring into the modern context and allows people to easily share and access web resources.

• Hit counter — Everyone wants to know how many visitors came to their site. The old-fashioned hit counter is a fun way to track and display page visits. The higher the number, the more likely people will want to engage with the site (and the developer behind it).

The Wicked CoolKit is fully open source and available to use.

Links from this episode

• Lynnandtonic.com — Lynn’s personal website.
• wickedcoolkit.com — Home of the Wicked CoolKit
• Show, don’t tell — the story behind the Wicked CoolKit.
• Find.yourweirdos.com — a series of essays on how companies connect with customers through sharing mutual niche interests.
• Face.camp — an app that connects to Slack for people to capture and post animated gifs.
• Wegotchu.cards — digital cards that people can pass around and sign.