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Who's doing a good job creating community today?

The following sites will show you a cross-sampling of existing on-line communities. This is by no means a complete list, but I've intentionally left off sites with just plain stinky interfaces. While each are good at one or maybe two things, few bring together all of the key elements to make for a compelling community experience. I also chose not to include screen captures here because it's hard to get a feel for a community by just looking at a picture. If you see that I've missed a good site, please let me know so I can include it in updated versions.

Following the site lists are a series of questions about what you saw at the sites. It would be wonderful if you when you look at these sites you would observe what attributes and features they use to create the key elements. For instance, does a site encourage member participation by providing the ability to post comments or even documents directly to the site? If so, what kind of form do they use? Is it helpful? Does the content then get indexed? I encourage you to look through these sites for both your own interest and the benefit of us all.

There is a list below of some of these key attributes and features that we will be building out. Any additions you'd like to make to the list are very welcome!

For clarity, a number following a URL indicates that it also meets a second or third key element, signified by that number. For instance, Prevention's OnHealth provides both a mass of content from participants but also creates a sense of discovery.

*These sites come closest to incorporating all elements

(1) Strong connection between participants

*Parent Soup http://www.parentsoup.com (2-5)

*Motley Fool http://www.fool.com (2)(5)(6)

*WomenCONNECT.com http://www.womenconnect.com (2)(5)(6)

Golfweb's Players Club http://www.golfweb.com

Net Noir http://www.netnoir.com (3)(6)

SeniorNet http://www.seniornet.org

Asian Avenue http://www.asianavenue.com

ConvoNation: http://www.maniax.com

Moms online http://www.momsonline.com (2)

What did they do to build connections? Did their overall design support making connections? What did you think of these sites? tell us

(2) Critical mass of content from community members

Tripod.com http://www.tripod.com (6)

Prevention's OnHealth http://www.onhealth.com (6)

Utne Reader's Cafe http://www.utne.com/cafe/

AOL.com http://www.aol.com

Geocities http://www.geocities.com

Between a rock and a workplace http://www.hardatwork.com

Institute for Global Communications http://www.igc.org/igc/ (1)(3)

The Well http://www.well.com

How did these sites encourage people to contribute? Was the process of adding content easy or awkward? What did you think of these sites? tell us

(3) Integrated rich content and transactions

Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com (5)

Quicken.com http://www.quicken.com (5)

Ebay http://www.ebay.com

Charles Schwab http://www.schwab.com/SchwabNOW/ (5)

Women.com http://www.women.com (5)

The Body http://www.thebody.com (5)

What kind of content and what kind of transactions did they integrate? Did this combination work for you? What did you think of these sites? tell us

(4) Choices between competing merchants alongside unbiased consumer testimonials

Zagat Guide http://www.zagat.com (2)

Comparenet http://www.comparenet.com

Edmonds Automotive's Town Hall http://www.edmonds.com (2)(5)

Audio Review http://www.audioreview.com (2)(5)

Do recommender systems help build a sites credibility? Could others sites benefit from this service? What did you think of these sites? tell us

(5) Timely

ESPN Sportzone http://www.sportzone.com

Sky Sports http://www.skysports.co.uk/skysports/

Garden.com http://www.garden.com/

Turbotax http://www.intuit.com/turbotax/index.html

What does timeliness means? When is timeliness vital and when is it unnecessary? Do you quickly leave sites that haven't been updated recently? What did you think of these sites? tell us

(6) A sense of fun and discovery

Lego http://www.legos.com

Purple Moon http://www.purple-moon.com (1)

Swoon http://www.swoon.com

Electric Minds http://www.minds.com (1)(2)

Disney http://www.disney.com

Seussville http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/

Others we should know about? tell us

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