It might be one of the most challenging questions your association faces when you set up an online community: Do you leave the community closed and keep it a member benefit, or do you let nonmembers in?
A lot of factors go into that decision, and on her site, "Community by Association," Marjorie Anderson, of the Project Management Institute, works out much of the calculus in a recent blog post.
“Most associations have a target segment that they cater to. They build their products and services around those segments and innovate on their behalf based on their needs,” she writes. “An online community fits nicely into that equation because it provides an opportunity to obtain insight into what members want/need, right-in-time developments in a specific area or topic, and ways to communicate with the market when feedback is needed quickly.”
Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.