Knowledge is the members' desire to know something. The web system behind the online community needs to support affiliation and knowledge. If you run an online community, then you probably don't need anyone to convince you of its business value. Forum managers and community staff know that the communities build loyalty, give valuable feedback, and contribute to increased sales. But corporate management wants quantifiable statistics to demonstrate that the community effort is paying its freight.
Most Web developers are familiar with the technical and design aspects of creating a great site.
This article builds on that knowledge, and provides an overview of the social aspects of creating a thriving, successful Web community. These 9 Timeless Design Principles are drawn from my experiences designing Web communities for a wide variety of clients. These ideas can help you address the range of social issues that you ll encounter as you create, build and run your own Web community. We here discuss how a comprehensive and flexible strategy for building and maintaining a high-value community web portal has been conceived and implemented. The strategy includes collaborative information provisioning by the community members.