What is hub community affiliation and how is it useful?

Hub community affiliation pertains to an affiliation model centered on a central figure or icon in which the members of the community have a strong perceived connection to. Members in this type of community have weaker peer to peer affiliations and most commonly congregate to share appreciation and information on the specific topic. This is a top down approach where the influence in this assembly belongs to the subject or icon of affiliation.

For tactical business application hub community affiliation can be useful for recommendations or endorsements of goods or services especially those naturally falling under the topic structure of the central voice. For example, if the central figure is an acclaimed author, the audience may be especially receptive to book recommendations, authoring services and software choices of that individual.

A good example of a hub community affiliation is Michael Arlington’s following at Tech Crunch. The community is assembled under the common interest of insider technology news and hearsay, or more pointed, Michael’s spin on the subject. His is a technical audience and visitor loyalty is retained first because of the central figure’s notoriety, and secondly, because of topics covered.