100 Online Community Ideas

Looking to start your online community? Need some ideas? Here are 100 to get you started. Some are personal, some are business, some are something else entirely.

1. A community for entrepreneurs in Riga.
2. A community for users to talk to the product development team.
3. A community for residents to meet past and future occupants of their house, and share advice.
4. A community for people of all religions who want fiercely moderated, intelligent, debates.
5. A community for local marketing agencies to talk about billings.
6. A community for Manchester United supporters under 16.
7. A community for Manchester United supporters over 70.
8. A community for your former employees.
9. A community for prospective employees/interviewees.
10. A community for teachers at your school.
11. A community for Ohio farmers to arrange meetings and discuss trade agreements.
12. A community for major industry players to agree standards.
13. A community for lottery winners.
14. A community for residents in your building.
15. A community for your family members.
16. A community for people that have visited every country.
17. A community for space tourists.
18. A community for women’s magazine writers.
19. A community for customers who have bought every product of a product line, or one product from every product range.
20. A community for customers who can prove they’ve visited 75% of your stores.
21. A community for residents who want to clean up the local area.
22. A community for financial experts that want exclusive advice from experts.
23. A community for clubbers in your town.
24. A community for people attending an upcoming festival.
25. A community for your favourite author.
26. A community for a major issue issue in your town.
27. A community for your moderators/admins running your community.
28. A community for attractive people only.
29. A community for wives/husbands of famous people.
30. A community for the 100 most important people in your city.
31. A community for tourists to receive advice from resident experts.
32. A community for those that want to be one of the first 50 to see your new product.
33. A community for celebrities.
34. A community for your clients.
35. A community for companies that have decided to reduce their waste by 25% in your town.
36. A community for people on your flight to New York.
37. A community for customers that answer questions about your product online.
38. A community for a young politician who you believe in.
39. A community for people that hate all the newcomers to your community.
40. A community for customers who want cheaper versions of your product, with less features.
41. A community for customers to interact and receive training from your customer service team.
42. A community for people that want to teach others about your product.
43. A community for recovering addicts.
44. A community for people looking to tackle a maybe challenge; travel from London to Auckland without flying.
45. A community for bloggers with 1000 subscribers or more.
46. A community for people looking for accompanying products to your own.
47. A community for people with unique and matching dating interests.
48. A community for fans of your favourite businessman (Steve Jobs, Richard Branson etc..)
49. A community for people that want to bring back a good television show.
50. A community for people that hate your products.
51. A community for your graduating class of ‘97.
52. A community for your company’s elected ambassadors/evangelists.
53. A community for people with 100+ recommendations on LinkedIn, and the top head-hunters.
54. A community for billionaires.
55. A community for expats in your country.
56. A community for recent victims of redundancies in your industry.
57. A community for survivors of natural disasters.
58. A community for published authors in your sector.
59. A community for people that can speak 10+ languages.
60. A community for customers moving abroad and need alternatives to your product/service.
61. A community for people who want to enter tags, find likeminded people and start their own communities.
62. A community for former reality-show contestants.
63. A community for your top amateur filmmakers (people who upload related YouTube videos about your product).
64. A community for your top photographers (people who upload pictures related to your product).
65. A community for people that run communities about your industry.
66. An unofficial community for a major organisation that really should have it’s own community.
67. A community for a club/group you used to belong too but no longer exists.
68. A community for each of your classes.
69. A community for freelancers/consultants to discuss how to invoice and get paid from difficult organisations.
70. A community for programmers that can write something that only a handful of people can do.
71. A community to give feedback and discuss academic articles.
72. A community for people that want to create the next Twitter.
73. A community for fans of one member of your staff.
74. A community for one product or advert of your company.
75. A community for patients of a doctor/dentist.
76. A community for people that have received a link from Seth Godin’s blog.
77. A community for the top 10 experts in your field.
78. A community for your former customers or clients.
79. A community for people who have given blood.
80. A community for people to resell your product to customers that can’t afford to buy it.
81. A community for disgruntled members of a corporate-controlled community.
82. A community for people that want to learn a new skill.
83. A community for people that refuse to join Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace or other mainstream sites.
84. A community for the designers of products in your industry.
85. A community for everyone in your supply chain, from sourcing materials to the consumers.
86. A community for everyone involved in planning your wedding, party or social event.
87. A community for an idea/law that needs greater political attention.
88. A community for people to submit pictures of the biggest fish they’ve ever caught.
89. A community to co-ordinate bus-runs, school transport, car-pools.
90. A community for people struggling to pay their bills and want to share advice.
91. A community for relatives of a disability to share best advice.
92. A community for people training to be a chef/lawyer/police officer.
93. A community for a Facebook groups/e-mail list that’s outgrown itself.
94. A community for people saving up to stay in a water bungalow.
95. A community for your employee’s friends and relatives.
96. A community for very young children to learn about the positives and negatives of the internet, together.
97. A community for your friends/employees/customers that want to eat healthier, go on a diet, save money or another self-improvement.
98. A community for people that want to bring a famous VIP/event to their town.
99. A community for products and services that haven’t been invented.
100. A community for people planning vacations to the same areas at the same time.

If only executing ideas were as easy as brainstorming them. Be sure to read up on:

• How to find your community’s first members
• Ideas for launching your online community
• 20 ways to start an online community