Over the past few months we have covered different theories and strategies for building and designing online communities. We've talked about everything from discovering the reason for interaction within your community to creating a user-centric design that empowers the community to collaborate and engage. Now we'll explore how to put the right technology behind that strategy.

All companies have differing levels of technological capability that shape the decisions they make for choosing software. The key for developing any successful online community is software that acts as a conduit for people to connect to each other on a similar premise. So check into the different software below and see which one might fit your need. Also, there is a pre-flight checklist to give you the basic must have features when creating an online community.



What do you think about these technologies? Do you use others? Add them to the Ninthlink blog and we'll include them in next month's newsletter!

Are you or one of your team members savvy with programming, but on a tight budget? If so, then Drupal is definitely the answer you are looking for. According to Drupal, it is a free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. These are the fundamental actions that a community website needs to offer in order to create an environment where people connect with each other. They currently have tens of thousands of users, which mean there is a great support community out there too.

Drupal can also be used with many other sites beyond communities as well, including:

Have you used Drupal for community sites? If so, share your cases with us on the Ninthlink blog.

Don't have the resources to create an online community from scratch, but have a need to? Build your own in the Ning network and have all the available community technologies right at your fingertips for a fraction of the price and time.

Ning is a free social networking platform that gives offers all kinds of online community tools in an easy to use interface. Depending on your skills, you can also create new tools or integrate any existing technologies you currently use into your Ning network.

While the technology is there for anyone to use, you still must be aware of who your users are and have a solid understanding of how they want to interact with your company's community.

Visit Ning for Businesses to get additional information on how you can use it.

What do you think about Ning? Add your thoughts to the Ninthlink blog.

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