the value of “building a community”

I’ve studied online communities, I’ve joined them, created one and I often think that most companies just want to jump on the social media bandwagon without really questioning its meaning or the actual value that it has for the members.   (Ew…”value” – what an arbitrary term….I shall post my views on that term soon too)

I love the ideologies behind mass collaboration (re: wikinomics) so here’s one example of a community that I thought had those principles. Mind you, the group is a little too techie for me – I think it hits the ‘value’ point.

“Intel has quietly launched a new online community that it plans to use to take feedback and suggestions from OEMs and end users for new features in its vPro chips and management software. Intel envisions that the community will grow to allow users to get answers from other community members faster than Intel’s support group can answer questions.”

You want a better product? Open up the design for discussion and collaboration from its users. That’s smart marketing.