A community lets people who share a common interest interact with one another.
Communities are groups of people with a common interest. A community with public access is available for all to join, while membership of a restricted community is limited to a particular group. You can also start a public community with moderated access, allowing you to control membership and manage access to the community's resources. Public communities and moderated communities are visible to all users, but restricted communities can only be seen by community members.
A community provides the means for users to stay in touch, share information, and exchange ideas. Communities provide an excellent way to connect members of a project team, organize a task force researching an emerging technology, or bring together a group of people who share any interest.
Starting a community can help you to build a valuable repository of information and expertise about a specific subject. In addition to sharing files, bookmarks, and other resources, when members need the solution to a specific problem, posting a question to the community forums is a great way to leverage knowledge within the community. Experts within the community can answer the questions and share their insights with other members.
Use the tools provided with the Communities application to reach out, make connections, get organized, and start sharing information. As a community owner, you can invite others to join, and manage the content and membership for the community. If owner moderation is enabled, you can also review and manage the content of community blogs, files, and forums.
Whether you are joining a community or starting one of your own, you can use these features to get the most out of your experience.