For any group or association of peers to have longevity and to be capable of producing value there must be a bonding of mutual ideas, an ideal, or goal. A purely social network evolving within a circle of vague common interests or connections is easily dissipated by changing relationships. In creating an effective network of peers to promote business, grow a non profit,build a corporate culture, the loose connections of a social network must evolve into a community.

“The concept of a circle stems from how most peer groups (small social network) start: with a small group of folks. This is the very old idea of clans, tribes and even villages.
[..]
a social network exists when the members know each other and have a vague or a definite idea of why they want to meet, but do not formalize the group with an identity. This means that the group in a social network tends to fall apart as enough people leave, since it only exists based on the individual relationships between the people; once those relationships are broken, the group breaks apart entirely. A community however, has an identity separate of the individual relationships, so the chances are that it can exist without the original members as long as there are enough people who know how to carry on the community.”

An associate has been able to participate in the complex process of virtual community building with her participation in developing a new non-profit that evolved from the loose social network of commentators on one influential blog.

It is an international group encompassing many diverse and sometimes conflicting ideologies, united around one ideal, the ideal being the identity that, for the purpose of accomplishing mutually established goals, trumps the value of individual relationships. It is not a gathering of professional peers so much as of ideological peers.
Unlike peer networks that are cemented by common geography and that are supplemented with actual physical meetings,growing a virtual community network requires some variations of the prerequisites needed for an “in-person” community.

“There are some prerequisites, many of which are obvious when it comes in-person circles, but harder to implement in virtual circles:

• regular meeting times
• easy ways to communicate directly with other members one-on-one
• easy ways to communicate directly with others as a group
• understanding nuances, facial expressions, body expressions, etc.

By having these prereqs, the circle is able to stabilize around what each member may know about the others, and thereby the basis for building relationships. Obviously, you still need the other elements like Catalysts, Champions, Ideology, etc. but those either initiate the group (catalyst) or emerge from the group (champions, ideology).”
(Source)

By experimenting with a myriad of Web2 tools, the group has grappled with those “harder to implement” prerequisites such as time zones, virtual meeting “venues”,conferencing,file sharing and brain storming to name a few. And emoticons , at this stage, is the virtual substitute for facial expressions.

Be it for a non-profit,a mentoring group, a who’s who of networking professionals, growing a virtual community is an absorbing and daunting, ultimately rewarding endeavor.