Communities on the Web today have a wide range of descriptions and are increasingly confused with interest-based markets. But effective community is about relationships between people and Hosting Web Communities emphasizes the technologies and customer relations techniques necessary to engender quality relationships and trust in the Web environment. The book begins by defining community in terms of its benefits and describing the range of community profiles. It then explains the roles of the site provider and staff in establishing an identity and a working relationship with the site's users. An exploration of the tools, platforms and interfaces that support interactive communities follows, and the book wraps up with chapters on revenue models, the future of community-based activity on the Web, and a description of three of the author's most formative experiences hosting communities in cyberspace.
Community is, in fact, a key business element in the modern online world.