NEW BOOK

THE COMMUNITY IMPERATIVE

Transforming Audiences Into Allies

The Community Imperative explores the public's shift from content consumers into co-creating content citizens. It tells marketers, leaders, and anyone concerned about our fraying public life why it's in everyone's interest for enterprises to engage with—or build—problem-solving online communities.

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Key Pillars

Core analytical arguments

From Fandom to Fatigue

The Identity Inc. model—monetizing news, entertainment, and content as purchasable forms of belonging—is reaching both its financial and emotional limits. Yet leaders remain attached to it because its risks and returns are familiar, legible, and immediate.

The Case for Community

Online communities offer a more durable alternative. Advocates can make the case in terms leaders understand: lower acquisition and support costs, stronger retention, greater trust, better innovation, cultural relevance, richer data, and resilience.

The Architecture of Trust

Communities create value when they are intentionally governed. They need rules, roles, moderation, shared purpose, and leaders willing to distribute power while protecting the health of the commons.

CRITICAL RECEPTION

"David Lieberman has watched the media fold, spindle, and mutilate itself through hundreds of its phases over the decades. Now that every single person can be a media competitor, The Community Imperative identifies a brand new stage with essential advice. The winners must understand and engage with their communities."

Fred Seibert

Legendary animation producer, media entrepreneur, original creative director and founder of MTV

"The strongest brands I've worked on, from Broadway to entertainment franchises to public media, didn't succeed because they had the biggest budgets; they succeeded because people felt like they belonged. David Lieberman makes a compelling case that community is not a marketing tactic. It is one of the most valuable assets an organization can build and a powerful driver of trust, resilience, loyalty, and growth."

Amy Wigler

Vice President of Marketing and Multiplatform Content at PBS

"Essential reading . . . David's framework for shifting from extraction to participation, from 'eyeballs' to citizens, is revelatory. He shows us why community-first platforms are skyrocketing in value while traditional media giants struggle, and more importantly, he explains exactly how to make that transformation . . . If you're a leader who senses the ground shifting beneath the old playbook, this book is a gift."

Devashish Sarkar

Former CEO of BBC Worldwide Media

"This brilliant and easy-to-read analysis of how best business practices and community-building go hand-in-hand is not only compelling for managers everywhere but also for students in business and communication."

Patricia Aufderheide

University Professor at the School of Communication, American University

"The shift from audience to community is not a trend, it is the most consequential strategic decision a brand can make right now, and The Community Imperative makes that case with the rigor and clarity that executives need to hear. David gives leaders the language, the metrics, and the evidence to stop chasing eyeballs and start building something that lasts."

Shannah Miller

Vice President of Marketing at Fathom Entertainment

"Anyone who has tried to make the case for community inside a large organization knows the struggle: it's poorly understood, and it asks for more patience than most executives are willing to give. What makes this book matter is that it explains why. David connects community's slow adoption in corporate culture to the broader cultural forces around it — and shows why people, tired of being treated like a number, are starting to demand a role as cocreators."

Todd Nilson

Founder of Clocktower Advisors and president of the Community Consultants Collective

"David Lieberman's deep experience and recognized excellence as a journalist and educator shine through in this clarion call for a shift to strategies focused on building enduring relationships rather than on one-way communication from a past media age."

Carol Wilder

Emeritus Professor and Dean, The New School/Parsons