Microsoft on Online Communities

Microsoft have always done developer communities really well, I reckon. Have a look at this interview with Sean O’Driscoll, Senior Director for CSS Community and MVP Worldwide, Microsoft Corporation- in full over at informit.com.

This week, Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P. has an exclusive interview with noted Senior Director, Sean O’Driscoll.

…The last part of this question was “why should business care?” In the end, communities are a virtually limitless source of knowledge, expertise, experience and content in addition to providing a very powerful method for peer interaction – I think businesses have to care. Businesses, and more importantly the people that run them, succeed based on the quality of the decisions they make. To me, communities are a breakthrough in terms of broadening and deepening that source of inputs for decision making. Beyond that, communities are more than a fad; they are changing how people make decisions and who influences those decisions. No matter what business you are in, there is or will be a community of users – you have three options and only one real choice: Resist it, ignore it or embrace it.

Microsoft acknowledges it’s gurus:

Q: What traits do MVPs generally have in common?
A: I think I can boil this down to three things.

1. They are independent experts in one or more Microsoft technologies.
2. They have a passion for actively sharing that knowledge and expertise with others in communities.
3. The community participation motivation for them is the process of learning, sharing and helping others.

He also has some interesting pointers on *flame warriors*.

Technorati Tags Online Communities, Microsoft, Sean O’Driscoll, Stephen Ibaraki, informit.com