Abstract
Comments on the explosive growth of both the demand and the supply side of the Internet and the increasing problems caused by users, who are fuelling the growth in demand, being significantly less experienced than those who connected to the Internet earlier in its growth cycle. Notes that the explosion of products and services on the supply side is leading to an increasingly complicated and confusing array of products. Discusses the characteristics of community-oriented Web sites, tightly focused on the needs of particular professional communities, as a way of overcoming these problems and considers how they can impact the Internet strategies of niche publishers. Options for this type of Internet publishing are seen to be: migration strategies; new product strategies; new market strategies; and community strategies. Outlines briefly the common issues associated with the first three options then details the attractive features of the community-oriented approach in terms of: real-time news; database content; information wizards; local area search engines; Internet links; directories; discussion boards (forums); Web sites; alerts; and sector-specific malls.
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