many brand/topic/interest communities are 'emergent' -- no outside organizer forms them -- they are self-organizing. amazon.com has many such emergent communities around their products. the data to map these communities is available from the buying patterns amazon tracks makes available on each page. a 'community of interest' around a book: http://www.orgnet.com/buzznet.html Valdis Krebs valdis@orgnet.com http://www.orgnet.com air-l-request@aoir.org wrote:

Message: 4 From: "Dorine Andrews" <dca4@georgetown.edu> To: <air-l@aoir.org> Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 16:56:55 -0500 Subject: [Air-l] Re:Company vs. community Reply-To: air-l@aoir.org

Might want to read something on brand communities (organic non-commercial communities organized out of an interest in a particular product but having no association with the product manufacturer or dealer). It appears that the concept of "mutual benefit" and online extensions of offline social networks apply.

Muniz, Jr. Albert & O'Guinn, Thomas. (March, 2001) "Brand Community." Journal of consumer Research Vol.27. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dorine Andrews, DCD Research Professor Communication, Culture & Technology Program Georgetown University www.georgetown.edu/faculty/dca4 email: dca4@georgetown.edu or (202) 784-4338 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------