Channels and tools
An online community is a group of people who gather voluntarily online around a brand, a product or a shared interest, and interact there on an ongoing basis.
It is recognised by five traits: communication in every direction, among members and with the company; a sense of belonging; mutual exchange of help and information; the chance to co-create the offer; long-term relationships. The American writer Howard Rheingold gave the first description in The Virtual Community (1993), telling his experience on The WELL, one of the first online communities, born in San Francisco in 1985. For a company it is an asset that generates loyalty, word of mouth and ideas; it differs from community marketing, which is the use of that asset for marketing purposes.
An example
A bicycle brand's forum where customers share routes and maintenance tips, and report the defects the company then fixes.
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