Overview
This book is available as an Adobe Reader eBook on the publisher's website: newriders.com
Communities are part of all successful web sites in one way or another. It looks at the different stages that must be understood: Philosophy: Why does your site need community? What are your measures of success? Architecture: How do you set up a site to createpositive experience? How do you coax people out of their shells and get them to share their experiences online? Design: From color choice to HTML, how do you design the look of a community area? Maintenance: This section will contain stories of failed web communities, and what they could have done to stay on track, as well as general maintenance tips and tricks for keeping your community “garden” growing.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewWhy do some web-based communities thrive, and so many fail? Sure, some topics just don't lend themselves to community -- try building a thriving circle of, say, tinfoil users. But all too often, community sites fail because they haven't learned the lessons taught in this book.
Derek Powazek -- who's worked on community features for sites ranging from Kvetch! and SF Stories to Nike and the super-hot Blogger -- covers every aspect of web-based community building. That includes design, policies, tools, chat, Webcams, the role of email in supporting community, and lots more.
Some of this is common sense: You need to jump-start your site with great content, and the tone of your content will drive the tone of the content you'll get from your site's visitors. But even when presenting the obvious, Powazek can usually offer a helpful twist. For example, he shows how to integrate your existing content and your community far more thoroughly, avoiding the tendency to treat content and community practically as separate sites.
Most of what's in here is the fruit of experience -- and some of it's counterintuitive. Powazek's learned that the more clicks between the entrance of your site and the "post" button, the more thoughtful your contributors are likely to be. (The thoughtful folk have run a gauntlet the flamers won't bother with.) The stuff Powazek hasn't done himself is covered through case studies and interviews -- Slashdot, Metafilter, Tivocommunity.com, and others. Whether you're creating a personal weblog or an enterprise-class product support site, you'll find this book invaluable. (Bill Camarda)
Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced software, computing, and networking products and services. He served for nearly ten years as vice president of a New Jerseybased marketing company, where he supervised a wide range of graphics and web design projects. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.
Both Amazon and eBay brag about the "communities" that participate on their websites. Defining online communities as situations in which users have one-to-one communications with other users enabling them to build emotional relationships overtime, the author explains how to build community features into websites. Chapters include discussions of building content, website design, setting up communication policies, successful communication moderating, and financial matters. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)