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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:
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