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- Associations
- Community Hubs
- Starting a Blog
- Dating
- Forums
- Friends/Family
- Local Towns
- Religion
- Social Networks
- Making A Difference
The Internet at its best can be viewed as an ever-changing online dynamic community (that is, if you can view, say, the US as a community or Asia as a community or ...)
Let me then amend the above statement. The Internet can be viewed as great big huge bunches of online communities! Yes! That's the ticket! No matter what your interest is, you can probably find a targeted community for it.
Why is this such a great benefit? Well, let's say that you want to remodel your home....and you've heard horror stories about avoiding the Contractor From Hell. Thus, prior to diving into the whole remodeling process, you decide that getting some input might be a good thing.
Did you know there are tons of remodeling/do-it-yourself communities in which you can get rather valuable suggestions for free? Places like:
Visit those sites above - you'll find forums, free tips, plans, business directories, do-it-yourself guides and much more.
That's what an online community hub can be....it's encompasses just about anything you'd like to learn/do/network regarding a particular topic. It can be most valuable in your day-to-day life.
Let's now begin the process of mastering online community hubs.
Before You Begin - What Are Your Needs?
Why do you want to find online communities?
Is it because you're looking for local references for a business or service?
Do you want to network to build possible career contacts?
Are you looking to learn on your own, and want to read other's experiences first?
Or do you just want to learn as you surf?
Whatever your goals are, having a game plan in mind is most useful.
Step 1 - How to Find Community Hubs Online
Finding community hub sites is very similar to finding forums, news and the like...the difference here is we're be using all of the search terms.
Go to Google and search for:
inurl:interest community forum news
or
inurl:interest community board news
or
inurl:interest community discussion news
Couple of things to notice - I'm using the inurl: tag to state that I want my interest word to appear in the address bar (ie, the URL). Why? Because community hub directories often use such a format for categorizing their results.
Also note how I'm zeroing in on the two most popular aspects of community hubs - the actual community (forums, discussions and boards) and also news. The kinds of sites we're looking for should have both items available.
Let's say you want to find community hub sites about basketball. Searching on:
inurl:basketball community forum news
might lead you to:
Click on the Basketball: link at the top of that page and you'll see and direct link to Cahts and Forums. Sometimes effective searching means hopping from one generic site to the specific one.
Now, why didn't I just search on
basketball community forum news?
Because many newspapers online will have a section on basketball news....but their forums/community are for local news specifically. Not simply basketball.
Let's try another idea - what if you want to find community hubs about dieting?
inurl:dieting community forum news
You might find:
- HealthyPlace.com Dieting, Weight Loss Community
- Open Directory - Health: Weight Loss: Support Groups
Now, the above can certainly get you started in finding topical online communities. Wait a 'sec.... what was that word? Online? Ah hah! We've missed something most crucial....
Step 2 - Smart Searching Is Good Searching
What's the difference between a real-life community and an Internet community? Internet communities are online! We have another way now to find your targeted communities!
Instead of using the inurl: tag, let's tack on the word online to our searches.
Maybe you want to find communities that center about Hi Definition TV (ie, HDTV). Let's try another search engine, MSN, and search for:
You might be happily gratified by what you uncover: sites like:
Neat, huh?
Step 3 - For More Information
Want to find more information about online communities, or even start your own? Consider:
- Online Community Toolkit - tools to build a virtual community
- Virtual Community - what is is and how to find them
Want to learn more? Check out:
Building Online Communities With Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress
Customer Reviews — [1] Rating: 4 Date: 2008-02-16 Summary: A great book for web designers. For programmers, not so much. ... Carefully designed and clearly written, this book is an effective introduction to PHP for anyone who has at least a little experience with web design. It is built around simple step-by-step examples which illustrate the principles being explained. These are clearly designed to minimize the trauma of learning a programming language for the code-phobic. The reader can follow along on the keyboard and build confidence by experimenting with variations. For programmers, who already understand most of PHP's basic concepts, ...more
[2] Rating: 5 Date: 2007-11-30 Summary: Building Online Communities With Drupal, phpBB, and Wordpress ... Building Online Communities With Drupal, phpBB, and Wordpress was very helpful. I found the sections very helpful and easy to understand. ...more
Editorial Reviews — ... Product Description | Content management, blogs, and online forums are among the most significant online trends today, and Drupal, phpBB, and WordPress are three of the most popular open source applications facilitating these trends. Drupal is a full content management system that allows you to create any type of website you desire, from an e-commerce to a community-based site. phpBB enables you to set up a bulletin board or forum. And WordPress is the software of choice for the exploding blog community. All...more
Community Building on the Web : Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities
Customer Reviews — [1] Rating: 5 Date: 2005-11-28 Summary: Extremely helpful -- shame it's out of print ... I borrowed this from my local library and found it so helpful that I hunted down a used copy. It's not a technical reference, but it provides a great overview of the elements of online community, with authentic examples from existing communities (some of which, sadly, are now gone, but this was written before the bubble burst). Highly recommended if you are responsible for developing and supporting an online community, or if you are just interested in how thinking in online communities has been developing in the early ...more
[2] Rating: 5 Date: 2003-05-12 Summary: Excellent ... I thought this was an excellent book. Even though technologies change the concepts presented in this book are timeless. ...more
Editorial Reviews — ... Amazon.com | There's been a marked shift in the philosophy of developing successful Web sites. The technologies (HTML, JavaScript, JavaServer Pages) no longer occupy center stage. Rather, functional objectives and the communities that grow up around them seem to be the main ingredient in Web site success. In her carefully reasoned and well-written Community Building on the Web , Amy Jo Kim explains why communities form and grow. More importantly, she shows (with references to many examples) how you can make...more
Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, Communication, and Community Online
Customer Reviews — [1] Rating: 5 Date: 2007-12-28 Summary: Great survey of current internet technologies and applications ... I am not a librarian, but I found this book to be an excellent survey of tecnologies with relevance to anyone with a need to more effectively utilize the internet. I have spent the last year fairly bewildered by Web 2.0; what it means and how it's used. This tiny book cleared the fog considerably, and the examples of how the various technologies and web features are exploited in the library world are probably more informative and stimulating than if they'd been directed at my specific problems. If I had a criticism, ...more
[2] Rating: 5 Date: 2007-09-07 Summary: An outstanding, practical reference. ... SOCIAL SOFTWARE IN LIBRARIES: BUILDING COLLABORATION, COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNITY ONLINE is for any college-level collection catering to library science students as well as practicing librarians: it surveys social software, which lets libraries interact online with the communities they serve. Chapters provide librarians with the information needed to implement blogs, RSS, wikis and other types of social networking systems, even down to podcasting and IM. Tips include how to assess, implement and use such software successfully, ...more
Editorial Reviews — ... Product Description | Here is the first book to explore the growing phenomenon of social software and how these technologies can be applied in libraries. Social software lets libraries show a human face online, helping them communicate, educate, and interact with their communities. This nuts-and-bolts guide provides librarians with the information and skills necessary to implement the most popular and effective social software technologies: blogs, RSS, wikis, social networking software, screencasting, photo-sharing,...more
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