What is the market size for community software and services depoyed in
consumer-oriented websites?

Please answer the following:

- Total aggregate dollars spent on community software and services

- Total number of sites

- Total number of participants

Please provide data for most recent year available: 2003 ideally;
2001-2 okay. Anything earlier is unacceptable.

But, some earlier (i.e. 1995-2001) historical context is desirable to
see growth patterns.

If possible, please break-down by category (e.g. hobbies, literature,
fitness, movies/tv, music, sports, shopping, etc.).

IMPORTANT: I don't want info on corporate intranet, extranet, or
enterprise markets. ONLY "Consumer-Oriented" sites, such as as those
for entertainment, literature, hobbies, current events, etc.

Thank you!

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Request for Question Clarification by ragingacademic-ga on 18 Jan 2004 18:12 PST

gideonblaze - thanks for submitting your excellent question to our
forum.  I've been working on this for quite a while now, have sent out
feelers and it's proving to be quite a doozie...

I want to verify that i'm not barking up the wrong tree...you say
"community software and services" - are you reffering to collaborative
software, to social software, or to both?

thanks,
ragingacademic

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Clarification of Question by gideonblaze-ga on 19 Jan 2004 06:25 PST

Hi Ragingacademic,


Thanks for investigating this. I'm not sure what the strict meaning of
social or collaborative software is, but, by "community software and
services" I am referring collectively to features such as message
boards (i.e. discussion forums), chat, IM, polls, and even blogs and
matchmaking, that a consumer-oriented website would typically add to
create and enhance user interactions (i.e. community).

Please let me know if this clarifies sufficiently.

Thanks,

Gideonblaze.

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Request for Question Clarification by ragingacademic-ga on 19 Jan 2004 09:33 PST

Gideonblaze - yes, thanks for your clarification, definitely sets me
straight.  It may take several days to gather all of the necessary
information - I will keep you updated, and possibly have additional
questions as we move forward.

thanks,
ragingacademic