A Recipe for Creating a Web-Based Virtual Community

The Internet has fundamentally changed the way people communicate, creating a means to reach vast audiences. Generally, on-line communication can be informational, transactional, and/or communicational. The Internet can also facilitate complex technical information sharing. Transmission of ideas and information in an on-line mode is rapid and available regardless of how geographically dispersed people may be. In other words, unlike physical communities, on-line communities do not require spatial proximity for members. In this article, we break down the general steps required to ideate, create, and launch a successful on-line generic Internet-based community.