The ABV pilot has been exploring community-building for the past month. Part of our research and learning has been finding thriving online communities and understanding what makes them work so well. A few interesting communities that we’ve identified:

• Rosa Say’s Joyful, Jubilant Learning Community. Notice the use of providing a topic–movies–that anyone can contribute on.
• www.soulemama.com. It reminds me of a twist on the Yarn Harlot lady, using food, kids, and sewing as the themes. One posting that has over 1000 comments, based on a contest to give away a single cook book!
• www.deadspin.com. Pointed out to me by a friend who "has the sports gene," (of which I am seriously lacking), this site gets 10 million hits per month.
• www.carrieanddanielle.com. They’ve used a similar tactic on asking questions that people can easily answer—like what’s your favorite movie—to get readers to contribute. And the profiling of someone who has experienced their work (in their terms, “Style Statement”) is very savvy. Double duty in terms of giving recognition to a community member and marketing their work. More of a commercial site but still very community-oriented.

And finally, an article by Consumer Reports shows that health care has started using a virtual community, SecondLife, to provide patient support. The possibilities are pretty astounding.

Provide your own examples of thriving online communities along with what you think makes them tick.