Perhaps you think that social networking via the internet is a fairly new phenomenon.  You could not be more wrong.  Usenet was established in 1980, as a "distributed Internet discussion system," it became the initial Internet community. Volunteer moderators and vote takers contribute to the community.  The WELL was a pioneering online community established in 1985. The WELL's culture has been the subject of several books and articles. Many users voluntarily contribute to community building and maintenance (e.g., as conference hosts).  And, of course we all know about that little private community called AOL.   Simply put, the largest of the online service providers, with chat rooms which for years were voluntarily moderated by community leaders. It should be noted that rooms and most message boards are no longer moderated, however. 

Sure, the kings of the net are MySpace™ and Facebook™.  But, most would argue that these two sites are really online communities that now seem to be about nothing.  I would like to point out that they both started with a central theme.  Unlike other social sites however, they have allowed their communities to morph in the virtual world to become the monsters you see today.  You can argue if this decision was for the good or bad.  I would contend that the best communities are those that strive to maintain a central theme and groom all discussions toward that theme.   

For magazine publishers the reason to build a community is two fold: (1) Grow web traffic and (2) give readers a place to share about their passions online.  Some of the most successful online communities I have been a part of surround a central niche or personal hobby.  I truly feel that people are looking for an escape form the bigger social networking sites so they can have a more intimate discussion about the things that are important to them.     

BarrelHorses.com is a web site all about the equine sport of barrel racing.  This online community began in 1996 and is all about this one single unique sport.  What began as a simple forum with buy and sell exchanges is now used by nearly half a million users each month.  In February we launched http://members.barrelhorses.com and the community grew to 1,000 members in less than 2 weeks.  The hobby of fly fishing recently was put to the test on AmericanAngler.com as we built out http://members.americanangler.com to bring together those people that have a personal passion for fly fishing.  601 members in less than 4 months should tell you that people flock to well constructed community sites that are about a central theme.  These are just 2 examples of sites that have seen tremendous success online by building a community around a small single theme.   

I believe that when it comes to the internet… bigger is not always better.  Sure, we can escape the confines of the printed page, but building a huge web site is not always the right answer.  Remember,  since 1996 I have been preaching, all great sites have three core components:  content, community and commerce.    What are you doing each day to bring people back to your web site?  What are you doing to get your users involved with your site on a daily basis?  One secret to our success is placing paid members on the site to direct the discussion.   

The views of Ryan Dohrn are 100% personal in nature and do not represent the views of his employer, any other person, company or entity in any way.  Any similarly is coincidental in nature.  Please listen to Ryan’s audio version of this blog online at http://www.RyanDohrn.com