Our SolidWorks online community currently seems to be based largely on individual contributor efforts. Discussions regarding SolidWorks are scattered all over the internet in a multitude of forums, a growing number of blogs (though that number does seem to be stabilizing this year), and online resource sites. In the past, these websites were far and few between. Nowadays, they are fairly well interlinked. It is this interlinking that really has started creating the sense of community. A lot of the interlinking of websites comes from the 2006-2007 explosion of SolidWorks related blogs, and through the efforts of SolidWorks (namely Richard Doyle) to provide new resources to its user base. In a way, Richard has been pulling double duty, by being the man behind the curtain for both the user group community and the online community. These are intertwined, but they are different.
SolidWorks is now giving more attention to the online community. One of the earliest attempts was the revamping of 3D ContentCentral, with (in my opinion) marginal success. A new and recent endeavor (this year) attempted to take advantage of “organic marketing” (or whatever it is currently called).  This was the whole Smart Button affair. This new push was even alluded to at SolidWorks World 2008. Of course, like most planned organic marketing campaigns, this project didn’t seem to go very far.Â
Now, SolidWorks is researching how best to proceed. I’ve seen some enthusiastic inquiry by SolidWorks staff. Some of my suggestions and ideas have been previously mentioned on SolidWorks Legion to aid their effort. Perhaps I should be working for SolidWorks? :) Though some of my comments have warnings or cynical, I am grateful to SolidWorks Corp for supporting the natural organic growth that is going on. Maybe they can tap into it more effectively eventually.
That all said, there is one place where SolidWorks appears to have some level of success in the online community. This is in their forums. There aren’t thousands of people logged on at one time (and if there was, I imagine it would be chaos), but there is a large number of active users. Discussions include the frequent how-to question and answers. There are the occasional rants and raves. Requests for software improvement are frequent. And, included are tips and tricks. Though the forums are moderated, it is not done so with a heavy hand.
Perhaps the forums can be used as an example for SolidWorks on how they can tap into the online community more effectively. Simply, provide a useful and engaging resource that will compel individuals to participate (or at least frequently lurk). This seems fundamental, but it is something that escapes so many corporations. So far, SolidWorks is running par for the course. With some luck, maybe they can strike on an idea for the online community that takes off.
