Special Report: E-Commerce & Catalog Technology: Take a Page From Facebook

Diverse Community
Generally, online communities break into three categories. Most popular are open communities — simple social hangouts that attempt to attract as many members as possible by replicating MySpace and Facebook with as many community features as possible.

In the case of Hewlett-Packard, the computer products marketer has focused its social networking efforts on the digital photography community. The computer marketer’s “HP Community Wiki” (www.expressioncenter.wetpaint.com) features ongoing customer discussions on crafts, creative projects and ideas for printing at home. “It gives us a look into consumers’ lives and experiences through a series of snapshots over time,” says Tanya Maurer, HP’s customer experience program manager.