I'm looking into website communities and wonder if anyone has any good (or really bad!) websites I should look at.

I am looking for websites that bring together large numbers of like-minded people who use the site to facilitate the sharing of information and ideas BUT which also add value to the community in other ways. For example the site might make money. it might facilitate 'real world' meetings of the community too etc.

Any ideas?

Ashley, do all of these communities allows consumers to talk to each other? For me the definition of a true community is where the consumers are as a minimum able to talk to each other and better still able to determine the direction of the site as a whole?

I know Motley Fool has forums (mostly where Sam get's his finance advice I think!!) but does Amazon or Virgin Wines allow consumer to consumer interaction?

S
On 12:41:48 26 July 2001 Ashley wrote:
>Hi Shilen
>
>I've just talked to Virgin Wines, iVillage and Motley Fool
>precisely about these issues. Virgin Wines is a good
>example of where community is being used to facilitate
>commerce (Amazon arguably still being the best example of
>this) and iVillage and Motley Fool being good examples of
>where community is being used to drive loyalty which in
>turn helps all sorts: advertising, sponsorship, content
>sales of user-generated content, book sales, seminars,
>training sessions etc.
>
>Watch out for this month's E-business Briefing to find out
>more about Virgin Wines and subsequent months to get more
>from iVillage and Motley Fool.
>
>Ashley
>
>On 11:50:54 26 July 2001 shilen wrote:
>>I'm looking into website communities and wonder if
>anyone
>>has any good (or really bad!) websites I should look
>at.
>>
>>I am looking for websites that bring together large
>>numbers of like-minded people who use the site to
>>facilitate the sharing of information and ideas BUT
>which
>>also add value to the community in other ways. For
>example
>>the site might make money. it might facilitate 'real
>>world' meetings of the community too etc.
>>
>>Any ideas?

I think Motley Fool is as good an example as any (www.fool.co.uk). Most people should have heard of it - I'm sure many here already use it for getting investment info.

It has an interesting slant. All the info is provided in 'demystified, unintimidating' form & tone, taking away that gobbledygook obstacle most of us have when a Financial Adviser talks to you or you open an investment brochure. The best chunk is the message board section, which attracts a huge critical mass of users - most of whom are 'amateur experts' in a particular field, giving you, their fellow user, the benefit of good & bad lessons they've learnt.

I know they make money - how much, I don't know. They also publish a number of investment books in conjunction with the info & topics on the site (I think this is a pretty decent revenue stream). Not sure if they hold real-world meetings, but I think they might. Go have a look.

Another effective community site operator is Magicalia, who operate a number of activity sports communities, eg BikeMAGIC.com, GolfMAGIC.com, etc. Some of the user volume they have through their communities is awesome.

Sam

On 09:03:06 27 July 2001 Barney wrote:
>Shilen - A few thoughts:
>
>Cycosmos.co.uk was one such community, but this has closed
>down. It's German parent is still runnning @
>www.cycosmos.de
>
>Your question also reminds me of the origins of the
>internet - that of academic communities sharing
>infomration , research materials etc... unfortunately I
>don't know of many sites here.
>
>I am a member of Oxiana - a group of people interested in
>the current situation in Cnetral Asian countries. It's an
>e-mail group, but it performs the functions that you ask
>after, even though it lacks a formal site home.
>
>
>
>
>On 11:50:54 26 July 2001 shilen wrote:
>>I'm looking into website communities and wonder if
>anyone
>>has any good (or really bad!) websites I should look
>at.
>>
>>I am looking for websites that bring together large
>>numbers of like-minded people who use the site to
>>facilitate the sharing of information and ideas BUT
>which
>>also add value to the community in other ways. For
>example
>>the site might make money. it might facilitate 'real
>>world' meetings of the community too etc.
>>
>>Any ideas?

Perhaps you're no longer interested, but I'm a newcomer here and if I have to (Have to? It was love at first "site" so how else can I participate?) start somewhere, perhaps it can be something uncontentious.

So I'm going to suggest you might want to look at http://www.beyondbricks.com which is sponsored by the DTI (ie not money making - quite the contrary, there was wine and sticky notes in abundance at their launches) the aim of which (I'm not sure if they have a mission statement -perhaps I should check) is to encourage entrepreneurs in the Age of the Internet.

There are obvious echoes of the philosophy of the Washington "netpreneurs" site and, in addition to the information and pointers to resources made available (not much propaganda as it's not actually operated by the government) it has a "Discussions" board which is fairly busy (I would guess 20-30 new posts a day) and occasionally gets fairly animated - principally if the "veterans" think someone is trying to advertise their wares too overtly or if somebody is rude about accountants (actually that's just me!)

One of the frequent contributors is Chris Macrae, who seems to believe that 'net communities are likely to be the cause and the consequence of the 21st Century socio-economic revolution (in part repeating the thoughts of his father, Norman Macrae, one-time Economist futurist) and he might prove a useful contact if you're still pursuing this issue seriously.

I have also been "propositioned" via Beyond Bricks to join a fledgling new world order initiative called Cubos Community Partners (the example site given was http://www.e-ITall.com/cubos but there were a lot of "Content Needed" signs up on the pages when I visited) with respect to which I would prefer that you form your own value judgments.

Beyond Bricks does qualify in terms of facilitating real-world meetings (although not enough I reckon - but perhaps the members should be undertaking more personal initiatives in that respect) which have taken the form of regional events including elevator pitch competitions and inspirational (well . . .) presentations from successul entrepreneurs.

Perhaps I should say that this post is not a plug for BB, quite the reverse in fact, although the denizens usually spit blood at the sight of the word "consultant".

I must say though, by analysis and observation, I haven't yet worked out how communities can remain solvent, much less make money, in the short or long term - although in the medium term, maybe.

Gareth (I usually say something fairly flippant in these brackets) Lewis

On 11:50:54 26 July 2001 shilen wrote:
>I'm looking into website communities and wonder if anyone
>has any good (or really bad!) websites I should look at.
>
>I am looking for websites that bring together large
>numbers of like-minded people who use the site to
>facilitate the sharing of information and ideas BUT which
>also add value to the community in other ways. For example
>the site might make money. it might facilitate 'real
>world' meetings of the community too etc.
>
>Any ideas?