Ignore Online Communities at Your Peril Says Rubicon Consulting

Rubicon Consulting’s new report, “Online Communities and Their Impact on Business: Ignore at Your Peril,” is a must-read for any company that thinks it can safely ignore the changes taking place online via social media because “that stuff doesn’t impact our business.”

As the report authors point out, while “80% of the user-generated content on the Web, including comments and questions, is created by less than 10% of Web users . . . online communities have enormous influence on almost all Web users [with] online comments and reviews posted by the enthusiasts second only to word of mouth as a purchase driver for all Web users.”

The report also covers:

** How online discussion is theater and what it means for companies

** The top online community destinations (the data will surprise you)

** Why social sites have a much bigger impact on young people

** The strategies required for each type of  community

** The implications of social sites for companies

I found the data about social sites fascinating. (Social sites include those that get the most press, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, and those that don’t, such as Classmates.com.)

For example, most social site members tend to ignore invitatons to join new social sites. I know this is true for me. I receive invitations for social sites such as Plaxo and ignore them.

I have a profile on Classmates.com only so that I can be alerted about upcoming high school reunions, but I view the email I get from the company as spam and delete it without reading it. I’m not sure why.

More than half of those responding to the survey reported they have not made friends through social sites. This is true for me, too, although I have made a number of business connections due to social media and blogging.

Most interesting, however, is that few respondents said social sites play an important role in their business lives. The report authors believe “this may be an opportunity for a new type of social site focused on business.”

I would say that business professionals have not been taught how to network online or how to effectively use the tools available.

Over the years I’ve read many books on how to effectively network face-to-face and feel quite comfortable walking into a business meeting and introducing myself to people.

Few books or manuals exist, however, on how to network online. This is is because it’s all very new and the “rules” haven’t been set (i.e. how many times should you Tweet per day before you drive people crazy? Should you Tweet about what you’re cooking for dinnner or your political views or stick to business? Should you use a professional photo, an avitar, or a picture of your dog?).

As the report authors conclude, social sites have huge implications for any business — if not now, then definitely in the near future.

The power of social media can be seen with this blog post. I found the Rubicon report via a Tweet posted by David Meerman Scott.

P.S. to Rubicon — The title of your report should match the title on your whitepaper download page. It was a little confusing. It would also be great if you had a gif made of the report cover — I could have included it on this post. Otherwise, great job!