I think online communities for consumers of a product/service are a great idea - for the right product/service; it's got to be one that your customers are highly engaged, and need a high level of support and desire to give the company/community feedback. Kitty litter, is NOT a good product for this kind of thing.

Also interesting that the WSJ was suckered into a really big blunder on the "research study" - but the error is corrected online with a strike out in this post.

Quoted: One of the hot investments for businesses these days is online communities that help customers feel connected to a brand. But most of these efforts produce fancy Web sites that few people ever visit. The problem: Businesses are focusing on the value an online community can provide to themselves, not the community. Most corporate-sponsored online communities are virtual ghost towns That’s according to Ed Moran, a Deloitte consultant who just completed a study of more than 100 businesses with online communities. Not surprisingly, these sites failed to gain traction with customers. Thirty-five percent of the online communities ...