Presentation of the 2004 Online Communities in Business Study findings to The Hague Virtual Communities Conference June 2004

1. Online Communities in Business: Past Progress, Future Directions Presented by Jenny Ambrozek, SageNet LLC [email_address] Joseph Cothrel, BTC [email_address] Prepared for 7 th International Conference on Virtual Communities The Hague, Netherlands June 15, 2004

5. VC2004: Who Responded? TYPE OF COMMUNITY PRIMARY ROLE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE n = 135 GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION

6. VC2004: Organizations Responding (Partial)

9. A Brief History of Online Communities 1968 ARPA PAPER PREDICTS EMERGENCE OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES 1992-93 "THE VIRTUAL COMMUNITY" 1996-97 INTRANETS 1986-91 LOTUS NOTES INTERNET RELAY CHAT LISTSERV WEB CROSSING 1978-79 BBSs USENET NEWSGROUPS MUDs 1973 FIRST E-MAIL MESSAGE 1979-85 ONLINE SERVICES [COMPUSERVE, PRODIGY, AOL, THE WELL, MINITEL, ETC.] COMMUNITIES ONLINE [BLACKSBURG, ETC.] 1994-95 COMMERCE COMMUNITIES [EBAY, AMAZON.COM, ETC.] HOMESTEADERS [GEOCITIES, ETC.] BLOGGER 1998-99 2000-01 B2B COMMUNITIES [CISCO, SAP, ETC.] 2002-03 "THE CLUETRAIN MANIFESTO" "COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE" RSS "LINKED" "SMART MOBS" TEXT MESSAGING " THE STRENGTH OF WEAK TIES " IDEAS TECHNOLOGIES INITIATIVES KEY: SIXDEGREES.COM SOCIAL NETWORKING [FRIENDSTER, LINKEDIN, ETC.] GOOGLE GROUPS CAMERA PHONES "NET GAIN"

20. VC2004: Technologies Instant Messaging Discussion Forums Social Networking Text Messaging Chat Email Discussion Teleconferencing Web Conferencing Newsgroups Expertise Location RSS TODAY Teamrooms Weblogs Webcasts 1 YEAR FROM NOW 5 YEARS FROM NOW Increase KEY: Unstable Decrease Wireless/Mobile Wiki FOAF = 25 respondents

23. VC2004: Mapping the Influence Network The chart shows the connections inferred from responses to the question, "Who do you look to as an inspiring example or a good source of advice regarding virtual communities?"

24. VC2004: Mapping the Influence Network  Online Community Rheingold, White, Kim, Online Community Report  Collaborative Knowledge Management KM Cluster,Gurteen, Basex  Communities of Practice Wenger, KnowledgeBoard, Harvard  Internet Studies AOIR, RCSS  Social Networks Linked In, Orkut  Intellectual Capital/Innovation St. Onge, Amidon  Consumer Online Services AOL, Everquest       

25. VC2004: Most-Cited Influences INDIVIDUALS Howard Rheingold  Nancy White Jenny Ambrozek  Joseph Cothrel Jim Cashel  Amy Jo Kim  Etienne Wenger David Gurteen  Lisa Kimball  Lee LeFever  Hubert Saint-Onge  Jonathan Spira ORGANIZATIONS IBM  BBCi  Harvard COMMUNITIES KnowledgeBoard KM Cluster  Yahoo Online Facilitation Group AOIR  Community Roundtable  CPSquare  eMint  IBM IKO NETWORKS Friendster  LinkedIn OTHERS COP  Multiplayer Games  Online Community Report  Open Source  None

26. Five Strategies 1. THINK LOCAL, AND REAL 3. EMPOWER THE PEOPLE 2. GET NETWORKING Real and virtual, and local and global, are merging. What opportunities exist for your community? Social networking software is the latest community tool. Try it, and apply your learnings to your online group. People want to participate in new ways. New media and mobile are only the start. Your community knowledge has value. Find ways to better articulate what your community is and does. What data are you currently capturing? Don't stop at ROI—insights from discussion can be just as important. 5. ADVOCATE AND EDUCATE 4. RAISE THE BAR ON DATA