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"I have written before about Shiv Sena's militant approach towards Orkut communities critical of the party, its leader Bal Thakeray, or its Hindutva ideology. Caste-based communities on Orkut are another disturbing example of online communities mirroring the dysfunctions in Indian society."

Nice article on the right way to create community and integrate social marketing into a web site.

Amy Gahran talks about steps to keep online communities civil and contributing

A Map of Online Communities

I came across this thanks to StumbleUpon which explains the big, red "SU" with the arrow pointing to StumbleUpon island.

The community around Wordpress is excellent providing free themes and plugings in nearly any form ans shape to meet your specific needs. Further on you can achieve amazing things if you know a few Wordpress hacks and have learned some basic programming skills in PHP and SQL. Many programmers have put together solutions that address need on a blog that are not offered out of the box in Wordpress and you can easily use these in your own templates. This articles provides a list of some of the most essential wordpress hacks available.

"Iranians are blogging, posting to Facebook and, most visibly, coordinating their protests on Twitter, the messaging service. Their activity has increased, not decreased, since the presidential elections on Friday and ensuing attempts by the government to restrict or censor their online communications."

In 10 questions or less, Hunch will offer you a great solution to your problem, concern or dilemma, on hundreds of topics. Hunch's answers are based on the collective knowledge of the entire Hunch community, narrowed down to people like you, or just enough like you that you might be mistaken for each other in a dark room. Hunch is designed so that every time it's used, it learns something new. That means Hunch's hunches are always getting better.

"This course is taught at the University of Florida in the College of Journalism and Communications. It is open to any UF student who has completed JOU3101 or RTV3303 with a grade of C or better. You will find it listed under Journalism with the course number JOU4341."

"CoTweet allows multiple people to communicate through corporate Twitter accounts and stay in sync while doing so. With CoTweet, you can: * Engage people throughout your company - Share the job of being on duty. Tap the collective wisdom of people across functional areas like marketing, PR and customer service. Assign tasks and track follow-ups. * Focus on the conversations that matter - Know when you need to jump in. Track your exchanges through simple case management. Schedule updates to make company announcements. * Keep your brand human - Automatically include signatures in your updates to identify who's talking and keep conversations personal."

Probably the most important reading we will do in terms of "foundations" of social networks. Take your time with it and read it closely.

"Social network sites (SNSs) are increasingly attracting the attention of academic and industry researchers intrigued by their affordances and reach. This special theme section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication brings together scholarship on these emergent phenomena. In this introductory article, we describe features of SNSs and propose a comprehensive definition. We then present one perspective on the history of such sites, discussing key changes and developments. After briefly summarizing existing scholarship concerning SNSs, we discuss the articles in this special section and conclude with considerations for future research."

"This paper explores key issues people experience managing personal boundaries within and across social technologies. We look in particular at email and online social networks. We offer a theoretical framework for understanding the errors in assumptions about the singularity of identity that are currently inscribed into the sharing models of social technology systems. Through a questionnaire study we examine how people facet their identities and their lives, and how these facets are expressed through use of technology. We found for more mature users family was an extremely important context for sharing online, and that email was still a preferred form of communication for private sharing across facets of life. Single, working men had the highest level of incompatible facets, and a higher level of facet incompatibility was correlated with increased worry about sharing in the context of social networks."

"Researchers at Yahoo analyzed tweets after the Chilean earthquake earlier this year and found evidence that the Twitter community works like a "collaborative filter," questioning reports that turn out to be fake and confirming those that are true."

"People often think about new technologies in task-oriented ways: how to access information, how to create projects, how to make presentations. But there is a more personal dimension to the role of new technologies in the lives of young people. In this session, Sherry Turkle and Henry Jenkins explore how young people, as they engage with new technologies, begin to change the ways they think about themselves, relate to others, and participate in communities.

Overview of some uses of Facebook in journalism, by Leah Betancourt, digital community manager at the Star Tribune.

"People often think about new technologies in task-oriented ways: how to access information, how to create projects, how to make presentations. But there is a more personal dimension to the role of new technologies in the lives of young people. In this session, Sherry Turkle and Henry Jenkins explore how young people, as they engage with new technologies, begin to change the ways they think about themselves, relate to others, and participate in communities."

"Over the summer, the On-line and Electronic Subcommitee of the Strategic Communication Committee considered official Facebook use. Out of that review, Web Administration worked with UF's General Counsel to craft a policy that accommodates the new opportunities available with the need to maintain a professional presentation and message."

"Welcome to NeighborGoods where you can save and earn money by sharing stuff with your friends!"

Conversation by CNet editors on the features and process of using Google Wave.

"Change.org aims to transform social activism by serving as the central platform that connects likeminded people, whatever their interests, and enables them to exchange information, share ideas, and collectively act to address the issues they care about."