最近发现，互联网和过去确实越来越不同了。伴随着炒作，许多东西确实变成了现实。这个变化不是一天两天形成的。如同Web2.0，许多特性逐渐变成现实，但Web2.0的愿景也许永远无法完美实现。作为Web2.0的一种表现形式，SNS就体现了很多特性，以人为中心，以人们现实生活的需求为网络服务的目标，人们上网也不再象以往那样以虚拟的身份参与，而是更加倾向用真实身份参与到网络中获取现实中的需求，比如社交、娱乐、交易。以匿名的上网形式已经是过去时态了，因为基本不解决什么实际问题。SNS在早期有两种雏形，一个是BBS，大家互相谁也不认识谁的瞎子社交；另一个是egroups（后来被yahoogroup收购），以真实身份在网络中结成的圈子，但功能仅限一帮认识的人互相之间发发邮件联络一下感情。如今的SNS已经不可同日而语。
以前，写博客也就是随便记记流水帐。现在发现，更多的是参与。刚才加入了一个网络圈子，虽然什么也没做。前些天，我把自己的博客也改用自己的真实姓名了。与时具进一把，标致着我也进入2.0时代了。

以下是我跟一个过去的朋友谈到managing and exploiting user communities online的我的一些想法。懒得再翻译成中文了，有兴趣的就读一下，能给提些建议的就更好了。要转载可是要收版税的啊：）要么就注明出处.

Nowadays, successful online communities are well involved with each other. One online community to succeed must be well connected/referenced/promoted by and interact with others, particularly those well recognized. One could never be successful if never being part of the others. So does the shortlisting prioity regime of Google search engine to display a list of webpages, which is to compute the ranking of how well one webpage is referenced by other websites particularly the globally well recognized ones. Therefore, to better manage and exploit user communities online is to deal with their connections and interactions among one another. This needs the knowledge of understanding of the common interests of users within a single community and among different ones, how the common interests form the architecture of the community connections, and how user behaviors and interests affect the changing fashion of the connections within one community and among multiple communities. Recommender systems help in this endeavor. To simply put, a recommender system is one that correlates peoples' interests and forwards the common ones among one another. Unlike online search engines offering recommendations based mainly on objective properties of items, recommender systems base their suggestions mainly on experienced peoples' subjective opinions to the recommendations. This makes recommendations more meaningful and effective in terms of targetting directly to users' real needs. Typical recommender systems have been populated in the Americans, such as Ringo and Lifestyle. These online services recommend people with their daily life interests, which are hard to find with a search engine. Similarly, in the Chinese market, 口碑网, so called "the web of word-of-mouth", is a typical example that how recommender techniques help in peofessional search engines in some particular vertical markets, and how recommender techniques affects connections within and among communities.
Connections among users and communities depict more about how users are attached to one site or shifting to other sites when sharing similar things on other sites. But why users are willing to attach with one site and still trust using its services still relies on their true needs in real world life, such as consumption, entertainment and sociality. Considering managing and exploiting user communities online, focusing on users' real life needs is the essential key.
The Web in recent years, so called Web2.0, is much different from that of years ago. The main difference is that, the recent Web is people-centered whereas the past is service/application-centered. In the past era, web portals with loads of classified information are very popular and successful. They normally deal with general needs to the mass, not to individuals. People find themselves embarrassed with loads of general information and hard to seek their personal interests. Therefore, it is difficult for a user to pay his/her loyalty to one website and its services. Also difficult to agents that are trying to assist people. Therefore, users often shift sites from one another. In recent years of people-oriented era, personalized services are prent. Users needs are segmented into many personalized ones that are able to cope with people's real life needs. More sites in various vertical markets are easier able to survive. They serve individuals in more professional fashion. Therefore, people are willing to use their real name and real identity on the Web. This changing situation must change the way of managing and exploiting users and communities.
In the personalized era, how well a website or community (a website can be deemed as an online community because its specialized services relate a group of people) serves its users significantly affects how possible it is able to survive. It is common that, if an online community can thrive twenty times bigger within six months at its beginning, it will possibly be successful to survive. Thus, to manage and exploit user communities, it is important to get understood how a website with its services thrive twenty times shortly, and how these websites with their services satisfy their user communities. A taxonomy of different websites and different needs of communities could be a helpful start. Regarding to websites, they can be classified in different aspects, such as service types (games, auctions, socialities) or charging types (through direct selling, advertising, trading). Regarding to community needs, this could be in many kinds and varies significantly. So, how different websites get involved with existing and emerging users, and how users interact with the websites will significantly affect the success of the online communities.
Additionally, aside from the very details of user communities, if we look at the trend of the entire industry, more online communities (websites) will emerge. With respect to an individual, with large number of communities out there, given that one person's energe is limited and not able to well manage his/her involvement with so many communities, one needs to be effectively assisted to search/seek right few ones to get in. With respect to the Web, a common infrastructure is in need to host various communities and coordinate them in an effective manner to maximize their potential of the most users. This does not mean the centralized system, which does not belong to today, but in a decentralized and modular manner. The study of the changing industry also directs the management of online user communities.