Tips for building online communities in Drupal

Tips and take aways I have from recent projects using Drupal to build social networking and online community sites.

I have recently worked on a number of collaboration and social networking sites for organizations and companies using Drupal. Social networks differ greatly in complexity and information architecture from standard brochure sites in that there are many moving parts that need to connect in order to create a rich user experience. I learned a lot from these projects and wanted to share some tips that may help you in developing online communities in Drupal:

1. Develop clear use cases and diagrams outlining how users will register, access functionality and interact with other users. It is important to understand the process in to make sure all processes are built out to spec. 
2. Decide what social networking functionality will be most useful to your audience. Not every site needs comments on profiles or photo galleries. Pick what will engage your audience most effectively.
3. Offer something new. There are so many online communities out now that you need a niche that will draw people back.
4. Provide tools for ongoing engagement. If a user does not have a reason to come back to your site they won't. Give them something to do that requires coming back for updates or to finish a task.
5. Provide a way for users to interact with each other. This sounds basic, but the purpose of an online community is for your constituents to engage each other, not just for you to engage your constituents.
6. Provide a strong search tool. Information is only powerful if you can find it. Give your community members a way to find each other and relevant information about your organization. Xapian and Apache Solr integration makes this a breeze in Drupal.
7.  Track user data. Allow users to tell you about themselves, their interests and what draws them to your community. Track that data and their activities online to have a better understanding of what your constituency base cares about.

These tips will set you on your way to building a vibrant online community in Drupal. If you have others please share.