Method and system for on-demand communities

Abstract

In an embodiment, communities are generated on demand. In this specification a community is a group of webpages in which users share ideas with one another by posting ideas and sending messages for one another to read. An on-demand community is a community that may be created via tools specialized for creating communities, with just a few keys strokes and/or mouse clicks and by adding information (e.g., about the members and/or the topic or set of topics that the community is focused upon), such that a community may be established within a short amount of time, such as a few minutes or a few hours. Optionally, the communities may be initially populated with ideas related to a particular topic or set of topics. Optionally, each member may be provided with tools for establishing one or more profile page and/or one or more friend pages.

1 - 10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . A method, comprising:
 storing, by a computing system, information for multiple linked web pages of an online community implemented on a software-as-a-service platform;   adding, by the computing system in response to a first user request, one or more content items to a first page of the plurality of linked web pages of the online community;   adding, by the computing system in response to a second user request, a connector widget to a selected content item of the online community, wherein selected content item is accessible via a second page of the plurality of linked web pages that is different than the first page and wherein the connector widget displays information that is based on other content posted by users such that the displayed information is updated based on changes to the other content;   executing the connector widget, during a first time interval, to display information from at least one of the one or more added content items; and   executing the connector widget, during a second time interval, to display different information from one or more content items added to the first page after the first time interval.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second page displays a dashboard. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the dashboard includes multiple widgets and also displays one or more statistics for the online community and data based on one or more reports for the online community. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 adding, in response to a user request, a notification widget; and   alerting, by executing the notification widget, a user based on an update to content on the online community.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the alert includes a link to the updated content. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second page includes multiple different selectable tabs and the connector widget is included on one of the selectable tabs. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second page includes a plurality of widgets that, in combination, store, process, and display information associated with the second page, in response to user interaction. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 adding, in response to a user request, a voting widget;   wherein the connection widget displays at least a portion of voting results from the voting widget.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 adding, in response to a user request, a messaging widget.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 displaying a list of pre-tested widgets for selection to add one or more of the pre-tested widgets to a web page in the online community.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of the one or more added content items are media content items. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 adding, in response to a user request, a feed widget that displays a list of recent activities associated with at least a portion the online community.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second user request includes a code snippet for the connector widget. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 adding, in response to user input, a particular widget to a template web page.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the online community is a self-formed group that the computing system is configured to generate based on users in the self-formed group adding one another as contacts. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 adding, in response to user input, a related-to widget to a particular web page that displays links to content related to a particular content item displayed on the particular web page.   
     
     
         27 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having computer instructions stored thereon that are executable by a computing system to cause operations comprising:
 storing information for multiple linked web pages of an online community implemented on a software-as-a-service platform;   adding, in response to a first user request, one or more content items to a first page of the plurality of linked web pages of the online community;   adding, in response to a second user request, a connector widget to a selected content item of the online community, wherein selected content item is accessible via a second page of the plurality of linked web pages that is different than the first page and wherein the connector widget displays information that is based on other content posted by users such that the displayed information is updated based on changes to the other content;   executing the connector widget, during a first time interval, to display information from at least one of the one or more added content items; and   executing the connector widget, during a second time interval, to display different information from one or more content items added to the first page after the first time interval.   
     
     
         28 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 27 , wherein the second page displays a dashboard that includes multiple widgets. 
     
     
         29 . A method, comprising:
 storing, by a computing system, information for multiple linked web pages of an online community implemented on a software-as-a-service platform;   adding, by the computing system in response to a first user request, one or more content items to a first page of the plurality of linked web pages of the online community;   adding, by the computing system in response to a second user request, a connector widget to a selected content item of the online community, wherein selected content item is accessible via a second page of the plurality of linked web pages that is different than the first page and wherein the connector widget displays information that is based on other content posted by users such that the displayed information is updated based on changes to the other content;   executing the connector widget, during a first time interval, to display information from at least one of the one or more added content items;   executing the connector widget, during a second time interval, to display different information from one or more content items added to the first page after the first time interval;   adding, by the computing system in response to a third user request, a voting results widget to the at least a second one of the plurality of linked web pages; and   executing the voting results widget to display different vote statistics at different times based on user input to a voting widget displayed on another one of the plurality of web pages.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the second page displays multiple different selectable tabs and includes different widgets on multiple ones of the selectable tabs.