[Sigia-l] Online community best practices for business

[Troy Winfrey]

> Message: 13
> Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 08:01:41 -0700
> From: "chris chandler" <chris.chandler at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Sigia-l] Online community best practices for business

> I'm currently struggling to find good examples of communities beyond
> the obvious (Flickr, del.icio.us) and locating good reading materials
> on the subject.  I'm trying to figure out how to build a sense of
> community on a company site. I know Dell has been trying with some
> recent efforts, but I don't see anyone else really doing anything like
> this.  Have you?
> --
> Chris Chandler
>

In my opinion, a lot of the best work in this space is being done by
marketers. The savvy ones are starting to really understand the power
of networks. I'd start with imedia and clickz.com for a beginning
take. There was also an outstanding Best Ideas of 2007 in the February
2007 Harvard Business Review--check out the "worknet" article.
Basically, some tips on designing a network before you put it into
play. There are a number of "soft" criteria, many business-focused,
that work together to make the network successful. Try meetup.com;
ivillage; Yahoo! Games communities; and boardgamegeek.com for some
examples. The article is brief but really worth tracking down IMO.

Troy