Introduction

For the last 4 years PT Jawa Soft, based in Jakarta has been active in building innovative web based online communities, a form of social networks. During this time the idea has caught on and online communities are currently one of the trendiest areas of internet activity. This document details the approach taken by Jawa Soft and some of the lessons learned during the last 4 years of community building.

Background

PT Jawa Soft did not consciously decide to enter the social networking market. We were active in building web applications for corporate (intranet) use but had deliberately stayed avoided the hyperactive internet arena due to concerns about competition, security and lack of proven business models. The first community site, BrothersReunited was born out of a desire to link up with colleagues from an international career in the oilfield who had all gone their separate ways.

That project succeeded beyond all expectations today BrothersReunited is the undisputed of reference for anyone who works or worked for the oilfield service group Schlumberger and numbers 15500 members, and growing.

From that early success the software has evolved, been modified and is now applied to communities as disparate as :

• George Soros’s Open Society Networker
  www.osinetworker.org
• University of Queensland
  reunited.itee.uq.edu.au
• Researchers and Academics
  www.eurekahub.com
• Indonesia Australia Business Council ("IABC") Community
  online.iabc.or.id
• Global B2B Europe
  www.globalb2beurope.com

OUR OFFICE