Years before TOG Solutions was created, I spent some time building communities online for other interests that ranged from reading of college newspapers to hunters seeking cooking advice. This, of course, was at a time when blogging was just getting popular, and all of the current popular social media sites did not exist.

Today, while the idea of online community has grown exponentially, thanks to the light-speed emergence of social media, the concept still remains the same: Build your own online presence in hopes that others like you will join you.

The necessity of an building an online community, though, depends entirely on the reasons behind it. Team fan sites are a good example of a person filling a need of a community. Here, a person, or a group of people, take their devotion to a team and build a site around it.

However, some may find that building a community might not be the right move for them. For instance, the community you may want to build caters to people who don’t typically spend much time online.

Size, however, should not be a consideration of need. True, the community you want to establish may only attract a dozen people. But if those people are regular users and contribute a great deal, it won’t matter.

Coming up with a plan to build a community is one thing. But it is equally important to understand why you need to build it. Determining need will be a key part in your overall success.