Follow me: seven online communities I’m on right now

If you’re going to have any success building healthy, active and engaging social communities online, you’ve got to be endlessly curious about how they work. Why is it that some communities gain new users every day while some dry up like a Texan graveyard? Why do you suddenly feel like making movies when you’re on Vimeo, while you just feel daunted at the task when you’re over at YouTube? Why do I feel so alone on a travel site like Dopplr, while I’m constantly meeting people all over the world at a photo site like Flickr?

It’s not enough to read case studies or understand the technology behind the multitude of online communities out there to find the answer to those questions – the social interactions, exchanges and content creation will always form the core experience of any community. So the only way to really understand what makes people tick when they join a community is to hit the sign up button and get involved…

Here’s a mix of some of my older and recent discoveries that you might want to explore, too…

7: Second Brain

Hands up if you already broke that new years resolution on getting your online presence organized… (I did). Second Brain promises to get you sorted by managing your files, bookmarks and feeds from the content you produce on other sites. It’s also great for discovering stuff other people collect. Feels a bit like a combo of Twine, Del.icio.us and Stumble Upon all at once…

6: Shopstyle

Ever had an amazing idea – only to discover that someone else beat you to it…? When it comes to fashion, Shopstyle got there before I could. I’m not very sad about it though – I could spend hours here!

ShopStyle lets you put together entire outfits with just a few clicks – mix and match between your favourite brands. You also learn a lot from looking at how other women combine their looks. I’ve only got two faves on my outfit, though (hint, hint!).

5: JustMeans

This is a site I joined before I found my dream job here at MadebyMany. JustMean’s mission is to “provide best in class services that help companies communicate and implement their socially responsible efforts on-line.” They’ve got plenty of interesting job listings if you’re looking for work and you can network directly with companies and other job applicants who all publish streams of great editorials, news and videos.

4: Brightkite

Brightkite lets you share your whereabouts with friends. If you’re looking to meet new people at your current location, Brightkite will let you do that too… Feels a bit like Twitter with a post code locator.. Needs new users to become truly useful. Whenever I try to spot new people near my location, no matter where I am, I end up with Stuart, Tim, Matt or Oli on my radar…. (always glad to see them though!)

3: Trendhunter

Trendhunter is a bit of a mess for my taste. But there are so many interesting things to discover there. For the record, I don’t consider myself a trendhunter – I’m just lurking around, waiting for other people’s finds… such as this fairytale bedcover...

2: Imagekind

Imagekind is an online community for selling and buying art. I’ve stuck some of my photography from Flickr on there. Haven’t sold a single print yet but already gotten 41 fans… hum!

1:  Vimeo

If you’re into making videos, this is the community for you! What makes this community so great is the groups you can join – people create groups based on their interests – such as animation, conferences, random projects .
I’m writing a separate blogpost on Vimeo in the near future – so check back for that if you’re interested – in the meantime, enjoy this poetic piece…

Gorge Fog from Andrew Curtis on Vimeo.

As always – please leave a comment if you’ve got any communities or anything else to share…