What are the types of online communities?

Community Management
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  • What types of online communities are there?
  • What are their differences? Why do we need to know about the differences between communities?
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Primary types of online communities

If you look at various sources, you will find a huge number of types of online communities. At the same time, I would suggest focusing only on the following four community types: support communities, communities of practice, social communities, and brand communities.

The two most popular communities nowadays, if we are talking about the web, are support communities and communities of practice.

  • Support communities are places where people come to seek and/or provide assistance, solve problems, and exchange information about specific issues or products. These communities are typically built around a shared goal of helping individuals resolve challenges, find solutions, and improve their experience with a particular product, service, or topic.

  • Communities of practice are built around a common interest, profession, or domain of knowledge where people come to exchange knowledge, share experiences, and collaborate around specific practices or topics. These communities are often driven by a shared goal of improving skills, solving common problems, and advancing collective learning within a particular field.

There is no data on exact numbers but according to my personal “back of the napkin” estimate, support communities and communities of practice are somewhat 80% of all online communities. Two other popular distinct types of online communities are social communities and brand communities.

  • Social Communities are places where people come together to interact, share content, and engage in discussions on the topic of their interest. I personally call them “entertainment communities”. People who participate in such communities have no other goals than to participate in discussions.

  • Brand communities are places where people who are passionate about a particular brand, product, or service come to interact, share experiences, and engage in discussions. These communities are typically built and facilitated by the brand itself, although they are often managed by both the brand and the users.

What are the main differences between the types of online communities?

The main difference between the types is the value a person gets from participating in a particular community. People come to the Apple product support forum to understand how to set up their devices, while people come to the hobby airplane modeling forum to talk about how to improve their latest airplane model. Even though they both come for information, the way they interact with others and reasons why they came to the communities in the first place are different.

We need to differentiate the type of communities in order to understand what is the main motivator that drives a person, and this in turn affects the design of a community, the rules of the community and subsequent moderation.

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