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Online communities are interactions between people.
This white paper shows why choosing web communication tools should not be the first step in building a successful web community. Purpose, Identity, Reputation, Governance, Communication, Groups, Environment, Boundaries, Trust, Exchange, Expression and History. First and foremost web communities must be based around applications that enable the community to fulfill a useful Purpose. Members of the community must have a persistent Identity so that other members know who they are and they must build a Reputation so that members can assess the value of each other's contributions to the community. These core principles must be supported by Governance to allow the community to manage itself, a rich set of Communication tools to allow members to communicate, Groups to allow the community to subdivide into meaningful and manageable sub-communities, and a supportive and integrated online Environment complete with relevant content.