Online communities extend the benefits of being an association member far beyond traditional boundaries. For associations, this new tool presents a golden opportunity to assume the role of industry leader. In reality, plenty of companies are jockeying to perform the services associations have traditionally offered their members. However, try as they might to woo association members, commercial Web sites ultimately value commerce over community because they do not have their visitors' best interests in mind. Nor do they have the ready cache of interested visitors that associations bring to the Web through their memberships - and this is where associations really gain important footholds online.
Members are the glue that holds an association together, whether online or offline.
Associations that recognize this will likely make the transition onto the Internet more efficiently than the competition for this very reason. Associations are uniquely positioned to serve as the online leaders in their respective industries, largely because that is the role they have served in the decades before the World Wide Web, cell phones, and e-mail. Trade and professional associations have long since been the respected authority on their industry's dealings, and this should not change simply because a new medium exists. If anything, the Internet should further enhance an association's ability to serve as a trusted industry leader, and this must be done through careful consideration of the audiences being served. In the case of associations, such enhancement means mapping its Web presence to the needs and concerns of its core constituency.