Each morning I bound out of bed eager to start the day talking with customers, prospects, partners, analysts and fellow employees about what's new in social media and how we can use it. While I have always enjoyed both creative and technical projects, there is something different about social media that drives me (and indeed quite a few others) that goes well beyond other web-based applications.

The attraction to social media is not accidental, but is based in the solid foundations of understood psychology within Maslow's Hierarchy. Assuming first that most of us with access to social media have the first two psychological and safety needs addressed first, I wanted to outline how the next three Maslow needs are addressed through social media:

• Love / Belonging: Social media draws everyone into larger communities. Even individuals that 'lurk' and don't contribute, feel like a part of the community and feel as if they are part of a group. That social media is available in many different forms; blogs, commenting, rating, message boards, chat, micromedia - makes it very accessible to all.
• Esteem: Social media provides esteem in many wonderful ways; whether it is a simple comment on a message board, feedback in a chat room or whether you see the number of subscribers to your blog going up - all can provide a huge boost of confidence.
• Self-Actualization: Social media is actually at its best when online communities build on the belonging and esteem tiers to self-actualize as when they work together to solve problems both small and large. While we all know examples - some quick ones are when the fans of the show Jericho rally through the message board to bring the show back, when the FrozenPeasFund raises well over $7,000 through awareness on Twitter or countless others.
  

Why is this important for community managers? There are two primary reasons. First, it is great to understand why you are so eager to jump out of bed in the morning (if you are not, check your pulse... you may be a corpse). Second, it is critical to understand why people like to participate in your community and to do everything you can to ensure that all members of your community are meeting these higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy.

I am going on vacation for two weeks so this is the last post here for a while. However, as you may have gathered from this post, I have a passion for social media and I will be blogging about my vacation adventure in Antarctica! I invite all of you to virtually join my Mom and I as we visit the Frozen Continent !

-Colin