Community Strategy Insights

The latest insights on community strategy, technology, and value by FeverBee’s founder, Richard Millington

15 Examples Of Thriving Online Communities

Richard Millington
Richard Millington

Founder of FeverBee

We don’t have enough success stories, that’s a shame. Here are 15 thriving online communities you might want to explore. Note, now you can also find 1.3k more examples of thriving online communities here.

    1. Mumsnet. My favourite community. Highly active, highly ambitious, highly important to members. Has interviewed 2 Prime Ministers and companies clamour for their attention.
    2. Teachers Connect. 4,279 posts in the last 24 hours. The community for teachers. A great example of why forums still succeed where other platforms fail.
    3. Barista Exchange. A great example of clear, effective, Ning design creating a decent online community for today’s Baristas.
    4. Threadless. Designers unite, this is the coolest community for one of the coolest audiences. A true example of building a business for a community and not a community for a business. Buy the book too.
    5. SK-Gaming. Game-mechanics overload and a very active online community for today’s top gamers. If your custom designing a site, this isn’t a terrible design.
    6. ModelMayhem. Models and photographers have a place to meet. Again, simple forum software reigns supreme.
    7. CommunityCare. A place for social workers to meet. Does a good job of mixing content and community. Note: Since this article was published, Community Care have closed their forums.
    8. Triiibes. Seth Godin’s juggernaught, based on Ning. Highly active. Expanding further. Stays exclusive and keeps high activity. New members are added when activity drops.


Online community resources

    • StudentRoom. Is fighting a winning battle to retain members in the Facebook age. Very active, very useful, very good example for keeping activity high.
    • FIFA. Almost 10m posts and counting. Why is a community about a video game so much more popular than any other product? Figure that out and you’re on to a winner.
    • TripAdvisor. They don’t get much more successful than this travelling behemoth. An amazing influence on the travelling community and a staggering collection of knowledge.
    • Geneva Web Communications. I wanted a simplicity example. This is a highly active group for people that work in web communications in Geneva. It’s a simple Google Group that works because it’s simple. Try it for your profession in your city.
    • MyGarden. The place to be for the UK’s gardeners. Highly active and very useful. The dominant UK gardening community.
    • PoliceOne. You wont be able to see the private forums, but they’re busy. This is the community for USA’s law enforcement officers. Each member is confirmed by badge number. The only place where they can talk privately.
    • HSBC. Strangely, a branded community makes the list. HSBC is becoming a good place for local business owners to chat. NOTE: Since the time of writing, HSBC no longer functions as a community.

Look carefully at the platform they use, how they arrange the landing page, what topics consumers talk about and the types of discussions that generate conversations. Can you spot these 3 types of interactions in action?

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