[*Editor's Note: Word purposely edited to be incorrect due to the comment s p a m it was attracting.]

Jason- it’s a deal, we’ll keep the community discussion going, and we’ll welcome you sharing some of your large corporation’s thought processes (note: I’ll leave it to your decision whether to out which organization you represent)

As for your comments, I’d respectfully add facilitate, enable and nurture to your action item list of what you’re desperately trying to accomplish. I’m not sure it’s possible to *build* a community. As you wrote, just because the means to communicate exists, doesn’t dictate they’ll come.

I like the distinction between raw materials and catalysts. Where do passion and common goal(s) (two important pieces of a successful community) fit?

(PS- I think it’s too early to tell. If you asked me now, no, Grok has yet to become a community, though I’ll argue it’s a destination. 3 months from now, we both may be surprised at the answer…)

Brian- if you ask me, you’ve contradicted yourself. As such, I find myself agreeing wholeheartedly and disagree vehemently, all at the same time

I couldn’t agree more- you can’t create a community explicitly, but you certainly can give people the tools to form one on their own, and nurture it while it seeds. Of course, as you correctly point out, when a community matures, those who founded it will inevitably have less (or no) control over where/how it goes. But in the world we live in today, I’ll argue you have little choice but to develop your product or service to succeed in a transparent environment, and not worry about trying to control the masses.

Here’s where you lose me in your argument though- if communities can’t be explicitly created, how can you be so confident that message boards guarantee them? Boards certainly may be a component of some successful communities, but they hardly guarantee anything. Have you spent much time on the new NBA boards? You’ll see much passion for anything other than flaming, and the deepening of relationships is few and far between. Number of posts no better represents “trust” than does number of connections on LinkedIn.

Susan- I tend to agree that most social communities of today haven’t exactly nailed the solution yet… and many will litter the next graveyard. But don’t discount their impact on the rest of the landscape, there is something to be said for acting. The ones who are learning from the early players, and innovating as opposed to blindly copying what hasn’t proven effective as of yet, will be the ones leading the next wave of successes.

Speaking as someone in a large corporation, who is desparately trying to build and grow a community, your definition includes the “raw materials” but not the “catalysts”.

Some catalysts – Value. Connectedness. Individual identity. Relationship.

There has to be a benefit to members of a community. Common interests, locality, or distintiveness are just the raw materials. The community has a value to add – as does each member.

I’d argue that without value – particularly to members of the community – it will never develop. It is not like a “Field of Dreams”. Just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come.

A bulletin board often meets the basic “value” part of the equation, like access to informatino. But is that a community? It seems other catalysts are still needed.

If you keep writing on this topic, I’ll share more of our thought process behind our desire for an online community and can give you progress reports on how it’s going. Here are a couple of elements of our community “value equation”:

1. For us – an opportunity to deepen a relationship with our customers and partners. In some ways, this is as much about changing our own behavior as anything.
2. For our customers – a way to solve problems. Hopefully they also find value in the relationship with the other members too.

Jason

PS. Is this site a community? What makes it so?

A community doesn’t usually arise from a group suddenly deciding to get together and be “distinct” from everyone else. A community is created when a place exists to bring a group together, be it a spot of land where a group decides create a city or a developers’ forum where techies with common interest show off their mental muscle.

No one has ever created a community. We can only create places where we hope communities will develop. The community creates the community, the personality, the culture. MySpace was a place for the LA art scene to get together online. The current community has made it something quite different.

So, why shouldn’t companies be asking “can we create a place that will attract a community?” Well, they may not like what they get.

The answer to your question “Do Bulletine Boards = Community?” is YES. The participants have common interest. There is a trust system in place (number of posts). The community creates something of value–often advice on a category.

Forums are a place–a locality–where communities grow.

I love your mention of communities……

I am in the process of building a fantastic community…..

Please check out http://www.learnandconnect.com and YOU will get an instant feeling of I want to know more about this and how can I join…….

Click on the hot air balloon and listen to my introduction and then scroll your mouse around your village…..

I personally invite YOU to explore all the wonderful possibilites I am creating in this preview and share it with your friends…….

Have a delicius week,

Barbara