we did it. our rainbow weblogs project is taking shape, and it seems bound to succeed. what will really determine our success, however, will be our ability to foster a community. i plan to attack this problem with these measures:

• Integrate Instant Messaging
  Shared experiences, instant support, quick tossing out of ideas are just some of the more obvious uses for instant messaging. to avoid the creation of yet another “ghetto”, its important to integrate IM tightly with the web by having web clients, and archiving discussions on the web.
• Integrate Mailing Lists
  Because email is such a handy tool, many valuable discussions are taking place via email. it is therefore important to bring these discussions on the web, to make them searchable, archive them, and accessible to a wider audience.
• Communicate transparently
  Be it support, be it ongoing development, be it fresh ideas, most things gain value when they are unlocked from some private audience. the rule is to make it public in general, and private exceptionally.
• Leverage RSS Content Flows
  Because activities and content are distributed,
  it is important to aggregate that content so that other can learn about it.
• Increase Network effects
  By really pouring valuable content into the community, we hope to lower the threshold for others to participate. as more and more people participate, it becomes increasingly lucrative to do so.

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