What makes Web 2.0 companies different? It’s all about the people. Web 2.0 companies and their technologies lower the barrier to membership, empower and engage community members, and develop a two-way communication channel between the community and the decision makers of the company. Online communities can vary from personal interests and hobbies to businesses building closer relationships with their customers, and even doing good for individuals and communities in need.

This panel will take lessons from the leading Web 2.0 community innovators, including community managers from Yahoo!, Dell IdeaStorm, salesforce.com IdeaExchange, and Kiva.org. What are the best practices for developing and fostering an online community? What can entrepreneurs learn from these pioneers? What beyond individual technologies do communities managers need to know when facilitating constructive communication with members? After you’ve built a successful community, where do you go from there? What challenges do managers face as a community expands internationally and how can these issues best addressed?

In this talk, you’ll hear from:

Matt Warburton, Director, Community Management, Yahoo!, Inc.

Warburton is the community manager for Yahoo!’s Communications & Communities products heading up community efforts for Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Mail, and Yahoo! Messenger. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Warburton spent eight years at eBay where among his responsibilities included managing the Voices of the Community program, community events, and community forums (discussion boards, groups, etc.) for the company’s community management group.

Caroline Dietz, Manager, Dell IdeaStorm

IdeaStorm is an interactive web site that enables customers to generate ideas about technology they would like to see, along with suggestions for current and future Dell products, services, and operations—and ultimately challenge the way Dell does business. Customers post ideas and the community “promotes” or “demotes” their suggestions, causing the most popular ideas to rise to the top. The community also discusses ideas with one another to ultimately see how Dell is putting their ideas into action.

Kingsley Joseph, Senior Product Manager, salesforce.com IdeaExchange

The recent winner of Forrester’s Groundswell Awards for excellence in business uses of social technologies, IdeaExchange has changed the face of product development by giving the salesforce.com community a voice in shaping future product releases through an ongoing, live public debate. With the goal of harnessing the power of community to drive business innovation, members of the salesforce.com community submit, vote, and comment on everything from new product features and branding to company strategy.

Sam Mankiewicz, CTO, Kiva.org

Recently featured on _Oprah_ and the _Today_ show, Kiva has revolutionized microfinance by using the power of the Internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Kiva let’s anyone connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back. Approximately 95% of the loans are paid back in full.