Arguably the most useful resource for writers is their writing community. Having a writing community certainly distinguishes one from others who choose creative isolation. To have reliable feedback from peers is invaluable. Community is equally important for other good reasons that have less to do with writing and more to do with life.

I’ve recently begun investigating web-based writing network systems. More specifically, I’m currently trying one on called “Urbis,” and another called “The Next Big Writer.” I am interested to see how they work and I intend, at whatever point my experiences begin to round out, to share some impressions.

While one can’t really expect, from an on-line writing community, to have the sorts of benefits afforded by a local, in-the-flesh (and in-your-face) community, such as grabbing several pints at the local Irish Tavern, there is no reason that true community can not develop through the on-line medium. To say that such a community is virtual is mistaken — it is quite genuine. The artifacts of community are conversations, and that it is somehow (and this is the miracle) through such shared conversations that the mutual understanding and appreciation requisite to a real community develops. I am not saying that true community necessarily emerges from on-line social networks; just that it is possible.
In examining how these writing-based social networking systems work, the questions below will provide the lens through which I will see:

• How are they structured to manage writers and reviewers at different places in their development?
• How do they enable communities to emerge within their overarching social network?
• How do they generate and reward interest in participation?
• How do they connect into the business communities which rely upon writing?

Wish me luck. If you care to join in on the fun, feel free to visit my profile on Urbis, or my profile on The Next Big Writer.