Newspaper web sites are scrambling to become more community oriented. Anyone thinking of building an online community would do well to listen to this podcast from Boagworld.com, a UK site devoted to advice on building and managing web sites. Hosts Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington cover the basic dos and don’ts of community building. It’s all common sense. But it’s worth repeating and hearing over and over again.

Paul also explains the underpinnings of social participation - why people get involved in online communities in the first place. Again, it’s common sense, but important. Because the better you understand why people like to particpate, the better service you can build for them.

“We’re social animals, we require a sense of belonging,” Paul says. “We like to be associated with a group. And to some extent we gain our identity from being associated with a group. There is a degree of ‘cool-by-association.’ It’s about a feeling of contributing and perceived to be of worth. We’re looking for approval of our peers.”

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